There is a very interesting new academic discussion list begun by Zeba Crook and Bill Arnal which looks at Christian Origins from an academic-study-of-religion perspective (setting aside modern theological and philosophical or faith-based issues). The following is the description:

We’d like to announce the formation of a new list on Yahoo Groups entitled “Christian Origins.” The list is intended to be broader in scope than lists such as Crosstalk (which at least in theory focuses on the historical Jesus), Gospel of Thomas (whose focus is self-evident), Corpus Paulinum (whose focus is also self-evident), etc. Like these other lists, the list will be moderated and is intended for an essentially scholarly audience, but its scope is broader, and could provide a forum for issues of only marginal relevance on these other lists, particularly when their discrete subject-matters overlap (e.g., the relationship between Pauline theology and the Gospel of Thomas), as well as for matters which strictly do not belong on any of those lists (the theology and literary shape of the canonical gospels, for instance, or the historical provenance of 1 Clement, or the Johannine epistles). At the same time, this list is distinctive in its exclusive commitment to exploration of ancient Christianity from a non-confessional and secularist perspective. The list is being formed with the explicit intention of providing a forum for the discussion of ancient Christianity that is not informed by faith commitments and in which philosophical discussions of the import of faith commitments is not permitted. The intent is not to replace or compete with existing lists, but to provide an additional forum for the discussion of the whole scope of Christian origins, and this from an exclusively secular perspective.

Following is the list’s “official” description , and the relevant e-mail address to subscribe.

“This list focuses on the social and historical location and the earliest Jesus communities, the development of their thought concerning Jesus, the development of their writings, the spread of their movement, and related topics: in other words, the stuff of Christian Origins. This is a moderated and scholarly list: lurking is welcome, but contributors to the list will either have knowledge of the languages, methodologies, and history of scholarship pertinent to the academic study of Christian Origins, or a willingness to become conversant in these. Contributors to this list attempt to understand the various phenomena of Christians Origins exclusively from an humanist perspective: to explain the rise of Christianity and the development of Christian beliefs without invoking or relying upon such assumptions such as the existence of God, the reality of miracles, foreknowledge of the future, resuscitations of the dead, or any unique status accorded to Jesus, his earliest followers, or Christianity as a religion. This list takes the following quote of Jacques Berlinerblau with the utmost seriousness: “[T]he academic study of the Bible . . . desperately needs an infusion of learned critics who are willing to draw blood . . . Such an endeavor would not necessarily be exclusionary. All researchers would be welcome to participate as long as they pronounce something approximating a secular shahada, or profession of faith: to love critique more than God.” (The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers must Take Religion Seriously [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005], p. 139).”

To Subscribe: christian_origins-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

List owner: christian_origins-owner@yahoogroups.com

(I’m told that if I advertise it, I am allowed to join. I’m not so sure I’m enthusiastic about the drawing of blood or the professing of a creed, but I think I’ll join anyways–but it sounds like you are not allowed to joke about this.  Can I approach anything with “utmost seriousness”? might be the question.)