RELN 200
SURVEY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

1. Catalog Entry

RELN 200. Survey of the New Testament
Three hours lecture (3).

This course examines the New Testament using the tools of contemporary scholarship. Through a study of the history of the early Church and of the varied stories presented by the different authors of the New Testament, students will learn to see the formative Christian tradition in all its variety. This course has been approved for General Education credit in the Humanities Area of the curriculum.

2. Detailed Description of Content of Course

Given the unique nature of many students' prior involvement with this set of texts, this course must begin by stringently distinguishing the academic study of the New Testament from the devotional study to which they may be accustomed. The teacher will particularly emphasize the occasional nature of each of the documents: all the writings of this collection were written under differing conditions and with differing agendas. Each document must therefore maintain its own integrity, and be studied without harmonizing the documents together. For example, although the Christian imagination has constructed a Christmas story in which both Magi and shepherds come to the baby Jesus in the manger, in fact the Magi appear only in Matthew and the shepherds only in Luke. The manger itself appears only in Luke. Each of these elements has a symbolic or narrative value which is lost when harmonized with elements from other gospels and then treated as objective history.

Part I: Gospels

In this unit we will first read one of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) with an eye to distinguishing its unique theological and literary contours. Some introductory attention will be given to the relationship between the Synoptic Gospels. The historical questions which arise from the incompatible stories (Matthew says x and Mark says y, then what did Jesus really say and do?) will be briefly introduced and the methodological tools used by contemporary scholarship to pursue these questions will be demonstrated. Finally we will read and discuss the Gospel of John, attending to its own particular historical context, story and theology.

Part II: Acts

Together with its prequel, the Gospel of Luke, Acts takes up fully one third of the New Testament. Much of our information about the development of the early Church must be gleaned from this narrative. Luckily, the writer of Luke-Acts was a careful historian, who preserved much material available nowhere else. Along with the narrative and theology of this text, particular attention will be paid to the figure of Paul, in order to distinguish this portrait from that which we receive from Paul's own letters.

Part III: Paul

In this unit we will first distinguish between the authentic letters of Paul and the pseudonymous letters, those written by his disciples. The evidence for making this distinction will be briefly discussed, showing the theological and institutional development which has occurred between the authentic and the pseudonymous letters. Having made this distinction, we will use the method of mirror-reading to reconstruct the particular situations/crises behind each of Paul's letters and analyze Paul's response in terms of its rhetoric and theology. The point which will be emphasized throughout is that Paul was not a systematic theologian, constructing a grand system in some kind of ivory tower isolation, but rather an occasional letter-writer, responding to the problems of the churches he founded in a creative and passionate manner.

Since twelve of the twenty-seven documents in the New Testament were written by Paul in his name, and one of the lengthiest remaining documents (Acts) focuses largely on Paul, his person and thought clearly form a major focus of the New Testament. In addition, just as Alfred North Whitehead called Western philosophy a "series of footnotes to Plato," so Christian theology in both its Western and Eastern branches could be called a series of footnotes to Paul. Augustine's domination and direction of Latin patristic theology (contributing to the alienation of the Greek East and the enduring split between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy), Martin Luther's Reformation, and Karl Barth's founding of Neo-orthodoxy as the most important theological movement of the twentieth century are all predicated upon "rediscoveries" of Paul. Indeed, Paul's immense influence provides both a rationale for his study in a university context and a challenge in reading him historically. Paul must be "unearthed" from centuries of theological accretions, accretions which tend to make Paul seem more familiar than he ought to.

Part IV: Hebrews, James, I Peter, Revelation

With the remaining time we will read selectively from the remaining texts of the New Testament, pursuing the sociological and theological crises which developed in the late New Testament period, and the creative attempts made to answer these problems. Our method will be that used up to this point.

3. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course

The academic study of the New Testament, which functions as the primary scripture for Christianity, many times ignites conflict so this course necessarily requires that instructor and students engage in discussion and argument. Lecture will be the primary means of presenting the critical issues and focusing the subjects for detailed discussion of particular texts. Formal and informal writing assignments will assist preparation for and participation in the class sessions. Whether or not a formal research paper is assigned in the class, students will be expected to employ basic research skills, including the use of computer technology, to investigate and gather information on various topics germane to the study of New Testament. Among the teaching activities students can expect in this course are the following:

• Lecture and discussion led by instructor
• In-class formal or informal debates
• Informal in-class and out-of-class writing assignments, particularly ones geared to the day's reading
• Small-group discussion
• Journals
• Written and oral analyses of texts
• Written summaries/evaluations of out-of-class events
• Individual and collaborative research activities involving library and Internet searches
• Individual and group oral presentations
• Attendance and subsequent discussion of artistic presentations which arise from the literature of the New Testament

4. Goals and Objectives of the Course

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to demonstrate:

• An understanding of first century Christian history and its first century Jewish background.
• A lively sense of the variety contained within the New Testament.
• The ability to clearly outline the plots/theologies of the different gospels.
• A sympathetic understanding of Paul's opponents, and a knowledge of the different problems facing Paul's different churches.
• A familiarity with the theological issues of the whole New Testament, e.g., the incorporation of Gentiles into the covenant people of God, the delay of the return of Jesus, the nature and mission of Jesus.
• An enhanced capability to critically read, write, and think through the close reading and analysis of the texts.
• An awareness of the New Testament as a constant reference point in Western literature, music, art, and philosophy.

Broad General Education Goals

As part of the General Education program, this course is designed to help students achieve a number of broad learning goals in addition to the course-specific goals identified above. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Think critically and creatively about the ideas, issues and problems encountered in the New Testament texts and treated by the lectures during the course.
• Identify and analyze arguments in the Biblical texts and its critics and construct logical and persuasive arguments appropriate to the subject matter of the course.
• Employ basic research skills, including the use of computer technology, to investigate and gather information on various topics (e.g., the second coming) and figures (e.g., the authors of the gospels) discussed in class.
• Collaborate with others in small group discussions, research projects, and presentations.
• Identify personal and cultural assumptions and values underlying the views presented in the Biblical texts, the classroom context, and in discussions with classmates.

Goals for Area 4--Humanities

In addition to the course-specific goals and the broad General Education learning goals indicated above, this course is intended to help students achieve a number of learning objectives in the Humanities Area of the General Education program. In particular, upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate general knowledge of the nature and various methods of inquiry which assist in the study of the New Testament and other disciplines in the Humanities.
• Demonstrate an appreciation of the characteristically human quest for meaning, value, and order in life by means of the analysis of the New Testament.
• Analyze and evaluate historically and culturally diverse conceptions of the meaning and purpose of human life as one views the world behind and shaped by the New Testament.
• Interpret and critically evaluate the New Testament and contemporary interpretations as diverse expressions of the human condition.
• Discuss in speech and writing the relevance of humanistic inquiry into meaning and value as this relates to the examination of the New Testament and to their own lives.

5. Assessment Measures

Student progress in achieving the course-specific objectives and the General Education goals established for this course will be measured in a variety of ways:

• Graded and ungraded homework assignments may be used to measure the student's ability to read texts carefully, both the sections from the New Testament and the supplementary material from the textbook, to identify underlying values and assumptions, to articulate central issues, to analyze and construct reasonable arguments, and to employ thoughtfully basic research methods.
• Journals may be used to measure the development of self-reflection and progress in critical and creative thinking about the ideas, issues, and texts of the course.
• Class discussions, debates, and small group discussion may be used to measure the student's reasoning and oral communication skills as well as the student's ability to work with others in a shared process of inquiry.
• Individual and group oral presentations may be used to measure the student's understanding of particular philosophical positions or issues as well as the student's ability to present reasonable and persuasive arguments.
• Quizzes and objective tests may be used to measure the student's fundamental knowledge of the course material and the student's ability to read carefully and think clearly.
• Essay exams may be used to measure the student's understanding of the nature of the New Testament and the methods used for its interpretation, knowledge of the course material, ability to enter into the interpretative enterprise, and ability to think and to write clearly.
• Research reports may be used to measure the student's ability to define a problem and to employ appropriate research methods and technologies in order to bring some resolution to the issues involved.
• Term papers may be used to increase and to measure the student's understanding of specific books or interlinked portions of the New Testament, as well as to measure the student's ability to develop a sustained and reasonable argument, to think and write clearly, and to demonstrate an appreciation of the significance of scripture, notably the New Testament, to his or her own life and concerns.

6. Other Course Information

7. Approval and Subsequent Reviews

Date Action Reviewed by
January 27, 1997 New course Approved by VPAA
April 17, 1998 Reviewed Kim Kipling, Chair
April 21, 1999 Syllabus revised Kim Kipling, Chair
September 18, 2001 Reviewed Kim Kipling, Chair