HSTAM/RELIG 209 — Ancient Christianity: From Jesus to Muhammad
Winter 2025
Professor Mark Letteney
Tuesday and Thursday, 2:30–4:20 PM
Who were the earliest followers of Jesus, and how did a small Jewish sect grow into a large gentile movement? What kind of religious world did early Christians inhabit, and what did their spaces of worship look, sound, and smell like? In this class, we will use archaeology and literature to explore the early history of Christianity. We will look at holy and discarded books, early Christian amulets and magical spells, demon-repelling inscriptions, and legendary accounts of Christian heroes and villains. We’ll follow as Christianity morphed from a small apocalyptic movement preparing for the end of the world to a governing elite reorienting the apparatus of state to serve a new theocratic regime, as the classical world transformed into the world of Late Antiquity. Ultimately, we will discuss the birth of monastic life, wandering holy men, and the social-religious crucible which bore another apocalyptic prophet: Muhammad.