Exploration of early Judaism, from circa 450, B.C.E. to 200 C.E. Focus on the development of the, religion in the multicultural, pluralistic context, of the Greco-Roman world. Study of the, archaeological and written evidence for Jewish, origins (i.e., the archaeology and literature of, pre-Jewish Israelite religion and of early Jewish, communities in Egypt and Palestine, the Hebrew, Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the related, excavations at Qumran, documentary and literary, texts of Jews in Egypt, and related archaeological, evidence). Analysis of key themes in the study of, early Judaism (i.e., gender, colonialism,, multiculturalism and identity, early Judaism's, relationship to earliest Christianity).