Celebrating Biblical and Messianic Feasts in Early Christian Traditions

Celebrating Biblical and Messianic Feasts in Early Christian Traditions

SB HIST 201

Course Instructor: Dr. Petra Heldt

Class Times: The course will be presented in 12 sessions on Tuesdays between the dates 18 October 2022 and 17 January 2023 at 17:00-19:30 PM Israel Time (10:00AM -12:30PM Eastern Time).
The sessions will be recorded and made available in the days following the classes for those who cannot make the live sessions.

Overview Syllabus – Celebrating Biblical and Messianic Feasts in Early Christian Traditions

Course description: This course will investigate the development of the Christian feast calendar celebrating God’s history with mankind. In view of the progressing Biblical and Messianic feasts in the early Church period the course will explore the relations between Rabbinic, proto-Christian and orthodox Christian traditions in the first centuries after the destruction of the Second Temple. The course will investigate the claim that Jewish traditions of Biblical feasts often are preserved in Eastern Orthodox Church traditions. Middle Eastern Churches took leading roles in the development of Biblical feasts celebrated in the early Church, like Pascha and Pentecost, and extra Biblical feasts, like Good Friday, Epiphany and Christmas. The course will look into Western Protestant celebrations of Biblical and Messianic feasts and their relations with those rich traditions.

Learning Outcomes

1. Students will be able to read the main Christian feasts through the lenses of their origins in the Jewish and Early Church traditions.
2. Students will become familiar with Jewish literature of the Second Temple period and of the following Jewish and Christian periods.
3. Students will reflect on the (inter-)dependence of major Biblical feast practices in Jewish and Christian developments.
4. Students will gain insights into misconceptions of those feasts during some periods of Western Christian practice.
5. Students will take a close view on the preservation of Jewish and Christian feast practices since the Second Temple until today.
6. Students will gain a new perspective of the theological relevance of Christian feasts and their importance for the growth of the Church.
7. Students will gain tools for renewing feast practices on the basis of the origins of the Biblical and Messianic feasts in the Jewish and Early Church tradition.

Course Requirements (for credit):

1. Students are required to participate in the 12 weekly seminar sessions.
2. Students are requested to actively participate in classroom discussions.
3. Students are obliged to take the Midterm Test (due 6 December 2022).
4. Students are expected to complete a 10-page research paper (due 17 January 2023).