Early Christian Literature

The course of Early Christian Literature targets a twofold objective: 1) to introduce students to these fundamental literary traditions and to this peculiar history of thought - consider the constitutive cultural relevance of the New Testament collection or the peculiar longevity of the thought of authors such as Origen of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome of Stridon, etc. -, constituted in the Christian origins, and 2) to present the main methodological systems, characteristic of this Research area and distinctive of its most recent critical production, in order to allow students to concretely consider also the possibility of undertaking a research agenda in this specific field.
This articulated methodological and documentary resource is ultimately intended to allow the student to interact critically with the documentary heritage studied by the discipline and with the complex constellation of studies and research that the different scholar traditions animated around it.

At the end of the course, the student should know the main literary dynamics, the respective contextual referents (Sitz im Leben), the most significative moments of this literary history and the main methodological routes to interact with this varied and plural documentary heritage.
This knowledge should be followed by a basic skill for critical interaction with the main instruments developed by and for research in the field of New Testament and "patristic" criticism.