After a brief historical survey of the New Testament era, the Passion Narratives of the gospels are studied in detail for clues concerning the theological agenda and intended audience of each. Next, a similar treatment is given the resurrection and birth narratives. The second half of the course is a survey of Jesus' teachings and certain themes which the gospel writers stressed in their accounts of Jesus' ministry. Some class sessions are lectures, but most are a mixture of lecture and discussion formats. The final examination is partly a unit examination and partly comprehensive.
Students choose between two paper options.
Choices include a research paper or a critical review of a book or film on the life of Jesus. This course undertakes a careful examination of the four gospels with a view to discovering the tradition about Jesus behind them and the theological perspective of each gospel in its portrayal of Jesus. We begin with an introduction to the method and bibliography of gospel studies and then take a comparative look at key sections of the gospel narratives. Normally, in the second half of the semester we will focus on one of the four gospels in order to come to an in-depth understanding of one gospel writer. Workshops on specific biblical texts, lectures, and discussions will take up most of our time.