Have you ever wondered what the life of the early church was really like? The first Jesus Movement has been the subject of intense study in recent years. In particular, the Jewish Jesus Movement, sometimes referred to as the Nazarenes or “Jewish Christianity” has been illuminated by relatively recent discoveries. This course will give you an intimate view of their history, theology, and lives.
The Nazarene course will take you through the first few centuries of the history of the earliest Jewish believers in Jesus, from the origins of Jewish Messianism around the time of Ezra the priest and scribe to the revelation of the Messiah, Jesus, to the ongoing Messianic movement. These Nazarenes lived in the context of both the Jewish and Christian worlds, and their story is both compelling and instructive.
This course comprises of 49 short video lectures, each about ten minutes long. Suggested readings and assignments are also given, to be completed at your pleasure. While the course is not graded other than on the basis of complete or incomplete, I encourage you to put in more if you want to get more out of it.
- Professor: Daniel Nessim