Introduction to Church History

This course contains introductory material on Paul and the Pauline corpus, and discussion of Paul's "theological discourse". Many up-to-date and judicious discussions of debated issues in Pauline studies are included. Primary and secondary source quotations are also examined. Paul's "apocalyptic narrative" is stressed as providing coherence to the letters, as well as reconstructing other metanarratives---about the covenant people Israel and the Roman imperial order---that help contextualize Paul within Jewish and Roman milieux.