Course Syllabus
Instructor: Pamela Eisenbaum
Course Overview and Objectives
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Course Description
This course serves as a general introduction to the New Testament, its literature, its background and origins, its history, and its significance to the Christian tradition. There are no prerequisites.
Objectives
- To provide you with a basic knowledge of the literary contents of the New Testament
- To locate New Testament texts in the Roman and Jewish context of the first century
- To gain an understanding of the beliefs and practices of the first generations of Jesus-followers
- To help you become critical interpreters of the New Testament.
- To develop an appreciation for the biblical text and the scholarly resources that can be used to deepen one’s understanding of it
Books
Required
- Krister Stendahl, The Final Account: Paul’s Letter to the Romans (Fortress, 1995) ISBN-10:0800629221; Kindle edition okay
- Bart Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction (Sixth Edition; Oxford, 2016) ISBN-10:978-0-19-020382-5 Note: This text may be rented from Amazon (which costs less than half the retail price).
- Pamela Eisenbaum, Paul Was Not A Christian (HarperOne, 2009/10) ISBN-10:0061349917 or ISBN-10: 0060722916; Kindle okay
- Marc Brettler and Amy-Jill Levine (eds.), The Jewish Annotated New Testament (Oxford, 2011); ISBN-10:0195297709
- Although we will primarily use the JANT, you should also have a Bible in one of the following versions: NRSV (recommend HarperCollins Study Bible, but any NRSV will do); New International Version (Updated 2011); New American Bible (Revised 2011); New American Standard Bible (Updated 1995); Note: Pay attention to the date and edition; older versions are not acceptable, though anything published later than the stated date is fine if it is the same version.
Optional
- Brian Blount, et al, True to Our Native Land: An African American Commentary on the New Testament (Fortress, 2007); ISBN-10:0800634217
- Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley (eds.), Women’s Bible Commentary, (Third Edition Revised and Updated; Westminster/John Knox, 2012); ISBN-10:066423707X
- Kurt Aland (ed.), Synopsis of the Four Gospels (Revised 1982; English only; American Bible Society, 2010) ISBN-10:1585169420
Other Books of Interest
- Jouette Bassler, Navigating Paul: An Introduction to Key Theological Concepts. (WJK, 2007). A Theological Introduction to Paul, organized thematically.
- Joe Marchal, Studying Paul’s Letters: Contemporary Perspectives and Methods. (Fortress, 2012). A collection of essays by various authors introducing readers to new contemporary approaches to reading Paul.
- James D. G. Dunn, Jesus, Paul and the Gospels (Eerdmans, 2011). A set of lectures on the Gospels and Pauline letters from one of the most influential evangelical scholars of the Twentieth-Twenty-first Century.
- Stephen Patterson, Beyond the Passion: Rethinking the Life and Death of Jesus (Fortress, 2004). A creative reading of the gospel tradition that interprets the meaning of Jesus’ death not just as atonement for sin, but in terms of his life and teachings.
- Mark Goodacre, The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze (T & T Clark, 2004). A substantive but accessible overview of the synoptic problem. Goodacre does not hold the mainstream view but this volume is nevertheless a fairly balanced approach.
Course Summary:
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