KAREN KING: Welcome to Understanding Christianity Through its Scriptures.
Today, Christianity is a global religion.
From modest beginnings 2000 years ago, it has grown to encompass nearly a third
of the human population.
Diverse in languages and cultures, histories and creeds,
Christians nonetheless share a common collection of sacred scriptures
called the Bible.
This course introduces you to these scriptures.
You might ask why learn about the sacred scriptures of Christians?
Indeed, why study religion?
One motivation is surely the fact that religions
have an enormous impact on many aspects of our complex changing world,
on group belonging and identity, on art and architecture,
on the understanding of current events, on controversies
over ethical and moral issues, on violence and justice, and much more.
Studying Christian scriptures will help us
understand better the impact of Christianity on these and other issues.
Christians are not, however, the same everywhere.
Although Christianity is a global religion,
people live and practice their traditions locally.
In its long history, Christianity has shaped
and been shaped by many cultures and political contexts.
Its scriptures have been translated into hundreds of languages.
Everywhere Christians live, interact with people of other faiths
and with people who have no formal religious tradition.
This long history of Christian scriptures
has left a deep and a complex legacy in many parts of the world.
The aim of this module is to gain familiarity
with the contents and some of the ways of interpreting these scriptures.
We will examine all kinds of Bibles from ancient papyrus
to modern print versions.
You will read some of the most well-known stories and teachings
in the Bible.
This course will introduce you to how these stories order time and place,
taking you to places of pilgrimage on three continents.
We will read and talk about how Christian scriptures address
fundamental existential questions such as suffering and persecution, how
they portray the earliest Christian groups,
and how they talk about non-Christians.
We will ask about the contested and varied uses
of scripture in multiple time periods and geographical contexts--
in the ancient Roman world where Christianity began, in its spread
through European and American colonialism, and in the diverse forms
it takes in varied locations around the globe.
We will see how religion belongs in local cultures
and how those cultures shape Christian beliefs and practices.
We will also pay attention to change over
time looking, for example, at the impact of modern science and history
and shifting attitudes toward sexuality, marriage, and the roles of women.
In all of this, I hope to highlight the diversity, the richness,
and the complexity of Christian scriptures and interpretations.
In doing all of this, it will become apparent
that believers and scholars ask different questions.
For example, Christians might read Scripture for guidance
on whether to marry or not or how to gain eternal life.
Scholars, however, might ask what are Christian attitudes toward marriage
and sexuality, noting a wide variety of different perspectives and practices
in different places and times.
Or they might ask what rituals do Christians perform, again,
noting distinctive practices and the theological beliefs associated
with them.
The approach I'll take in this course is that of the scholar.
But I hope that all of you, whatever your own aims and interests
in taking the course, will find much that is engaging and illuminating.
There are many ways, very many ways to approach the study of Christianity
through its scriptures.
It's not possible to give a complete picture, especially
in the short time we have together.
It's also not a goal of this class to offer right and wrong answers
to the kinds of existential questions that religions so often address.
As I already pointed out, the instructors in the course
will not be engaging in devotional study nor asking you to.
Rather, the goal is to offer some tools to help
you enter into this complex and fascinating tradition,
it's writings, history, and the many peoples
and places it has touched and is still affecting.
I'm assuming that you yourselves are a diverse group with varied perspectives
and commitments.
The "we" of this class that I keep referring to
probably includes Christians and people of other religious traditions,
agnostics, atheists, and some who don't identify with any religion.
That diversity will be our strength in learning from each other with respect.
Multiple points of view help us look with fresh eyes
or they add entirely new information perspectives.
Our conversations with each other can potentially expand our curiosity
and lead to new insights.
I expect to learn a great deal from you.
And I hope you will learn from each other as well.
Conversations about religious matters can be contentious, even painful,
sometimes intensely so.
But I hope our interactions with each other
will be engaged and respectful, that we will listen carefully and contribute
thoughtfully and kindly to each other in discussions and postings.