Research is sponsored in this area primarily in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the writings of the “Apocrypha” and “Pseudepigrapha,” early Rabbinic and Greco-Roman period Jewish sources, and ancient Jewish biblical interpretation. A variety of approaches and methodologies for the study of Early Judaism are introduced, such as, textual, literary, social historical, feminist and philosophical/ theological.

Research is sponsored in this area primarily in the writings included in the New Testament, particularly the gospels, Pauline literature, Hebrews, and in the early Greek Church Fathers. Course work and comprehensive examinations include the history of Christian beginnings (from Jesus to Constantine), the Jewish and Greco-Roman environment and a diversity of approaches and methodologies currently used in the study of Early Christianity.