Course Description

SCHEDULE

COURSE

'A Well of Living Waters and a Beehive of Temptations': Biblical Exegesis in the Early Church
James Kang Hoon Lee
Assistant Professor of the History of Early Christianity

The interpretation of Scripture was perceived as a "dangerous" enterprise among Christians in the early Church, for in seeking "honey" from the beehive, one is exposed to the "sting of bees"(Origen, Homily XXVII on Numbers). Passages that contain the most beautiful mysteries may at first be offensive and scandalous, yet it is by struggling along this road of obstacles that one reaches the "river of God" and the "living waters" of wisdom and divine knowledge. Journey through the Scriptures with the early Christians, including Origen, Augustine, the Cappadocians, and the desert Fathers and Mothers, so as to draw "living water" from the well.

Suggested Reading: The Spirit of Early Christian Thought by Robert Louis Wilken 

Jim Lee is the newest faculty member of Perkins School of Theology as assistant professor of the History of Early Christianity. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame with interests in patristic exegesis, Augustine and Latin patristics, the history of Christianity, monasticism, ecclesiology, and sacramental theology. He was awarded the Kaneb Center Award for Excellence in Teaching while at Notre Dame.