New Testament (REL 102)

Part One: Bible 101

This course uses Blackboard for announcements, assignments, grades, etc.

Abbreviations:

HB/OT: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
HSB: HarperCollins Study Bible
NOAB: New Oxford Annotated Bible (4th ed.)
NT: New Testament

Supplemental Resource: Dale Martin, "Why Study the New Testament" (Open Yale Courses)

Reading: Sumney, 3-18 (Chapter 1)

Supplemental Resources: "The Editors' Preface" (NOAB, xiii–xiv); "To the Reader" (NOAB, xv-xviii); "The Canons of the Bible" (NOAB, 2185-91);

Supplemental readings are not required.  They are resources to go further into subjects that interest you.

Reading: Sumney, 19-25 (From the beginning of chap. 2 through "A Striking Variant")

Supplemental Resources: Luther's Treatment of the 'Disputed Books' of the New Testament; The Reformation; The Non-canonical Homepage

Reading: Sumney, 25-31 (From "Translations" in chap. 2 to the end of the chapter)

Supplemental Resource: Can We Trust the Text of the NT? A Debate between Bart D. Ehrman and Daniel B. Wallace

More Supplemental Resources: "Textual Criticism" (NOAB, 2192-97); "Translation of the Bible into English" (NOAB, 2197-2201); Farley, "Hart's 'The New Testament'"; Ian Paul, "Can we fix Bible translation?"; Experience Codex Sinaiticus; Gupta and Sandford, "Introduction to Textual Criticism"; for more, click here.

Reading: Sumney, 33-46 (Chapter 3)

The Sumney chapter provides a concise overview of the history of the concept of biblical inspiration.

Supplemental Resources:

Gnuse, "Inspiration," 2258-59 (See Course Content)

"Strategies for Reading Scripture" (HSB, xxxix-xliii)

Evangelical Faith and the Challenge of Historical Criticism (a new book on a recurring problem)

Evangelical Christianity has had a long debate about historical criticism of the Bible.  At the fundamentalist end of the interpretive spectrum, the method is usually rejected and even vilified.  More moderate evangelicals--often referred to as "conservatives" as opposed to fundamentalists--have long used historical criticism with caution.  Indeed, some of the finest historical-critical commentaries available are written by theologically moderate to conservative biblical scholars.  This online article is an interview with the authors of a recent book about the use of historical criticism by Evangelical biblical scholars.  The authors are themselves Evangelicals writing to convince fellow Evangelicals that historical criticism of the Bible is necessary and beneficial.

The Interpretation of the Bible in the [Catholic] Church (Pontifical Biblical Commission, Presented on March 18, 1994)

This long but quite readable official document explains why the Catholic Church considers historical criticism to be indispensable for understanding the Bible.

"Applied Peshat: Historical-Critical Method and Religious Meaning"

Some of the finest historical-critical biblical scholars in the world today are Jewish but, as in Christianity, there are Jews who object to it.  This is an article by Stephen Garfinkel, a professor at Jewish Theological Seminary of America, defending the importance of historical criticism.

More Historical Criticism Links

Reading: Sumney, 33-46; Given, "The Interpretive Spectrum" (See Course Documents)

Supplemental Resources: The Society of Biblical Literature; C. S. Lewis on the Bible; Graves, "Augustine and the Inspiration of Scripture"; Fiddler on the Roof - Tradition

Part Two: The Backstory

Reading: Sumney, 67-69 (From "Israel's Ancestors" through "The Promise"); 71-72 ("The Promise Fulfilled," "Dissension," and "Faithfulness and Grace"); 79-95 (The Exodus and Leviticus portions of chap. 5)

Paper: Personal Introduction and Reflection on Biblical Interpretation (Due Sep 8 by midnight)

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 95-99; "The Ancient Near East and Ancient Israel to the Mid-First Millennium BCE" (NOAB, 2234-42); "Israelite Religion" (HSB, xliv-xlviii); Rosenberg, "Babylon – was it so awful?" (Jerusalem Post); click here for more.

Reading: Sumney, 99-102 (The Deuteronomy portion of chap. 5); 105-107 (From the beginning of chap. 6 through "Preparing for the Conquest"); 110-16 ("The Distribution of the Land" through "Conclusion"); 117-130 ("1-2 Samuel: The Monarchy Begins" through "Deuteronomistic Evaluations")

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 107-110; "Israelite Religion" (HSB, xliv-xlviii)

Reading: Sumney, 130-137 (From "The End of the Northern Kingdom" to the end of the chapter); 197-206 (From the beginning of chapter 10 through "Hasmoneans and Sadducees")

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 156 (Map 7:1); "The Persian and Hellenistic Periods" (NOAB, 2242-47); Pearce, "How Bad Was the Babylonian Exile?" (BAR); click here for more.

Reading: Sumney, 141-42 (The beginning of chapter 7 through "The Ethics of the Prophets"); 207-212 (From "Roman Domination of Palestine" in chap. 10 through "Summary")

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 142-70; 158 (Map 7:2); 175-80 (From the beginning of chap. 8 through the Job portion)

Reading: Sumney, 212-22 (From "Parties within First-Century Judaism" in chap. 10 to the end of the chapter)

Discussion Paper: "Who is the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah?" (See Assignments)

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 173-94; 180-83 ("Esther"); "The Roman Period" (NOAB, 2247-53); Hillel and Shammai; Hillel; Shammai; 151 (Box 7.5, "The Servant Songs"); "Servant of the Lord" in The New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible (Course Documents); "Servant of the Lord" in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Course Documents); Burns, "Pharisees and Rabbinic Judaism" (Bible Odyssey); Lim, "Essenes in Judaean Society: the sectarians of the Dead Sea Scrolls" (OUPBlog)

Part Three: The Synoptic Stories of Jesus and Luke's Story of the Early Church

Reading: Sumney, 245-58 (Chap. 12); Three Gospel Synopsis

The link takes you to an online synopsis of the gospels.  Don't read the whole thing, just test drive it. For example, find "The Temptation" in chapter 1 of Mark and click on the little color-coded Bibles at the beginning of the account.

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 53-54 ("Varieties of Genres"); "A Table of Parallel Passages in the Gospels" (HSB, 1653-63); "Introduction to the Gospels" (NOAB, 1743-45); The Two Source Hypothesis; The Synoptic Problem; More Supplemental Synoptic Problem Reading; Supplemental Synoptic Problem Exercises; Harris, "The Continuing Quest for the Historical Jesus" (See Course Content, Supplemental Reading); Licona, "Why are there differences in the Gospels? Ancient biography, Plutarch & the Gospels"; McKnight, The Jesus We'll Never Know; Search for the Historical Jesus

The first two links take you to lots of info supplementing the basics you get in the textbook and presenting alternative theories.

Reading: Mark 11:1-16:8; review Isaiah 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12; Jeremiah 31:31-34 (w/footnotes)

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 152-54 ("Jeremiah")

Reading: QLuke and QMatt (In Course Documents)

Most NT scholars believe that the writers of the Gospels we call Matthew and Luke used a lost written source made up mostly of sayings of Jesus.  This source is referred to as "Q," an abbreviation for the German word "Quelle" which means source.  Plausible dates for composition of this source range from the 40s to the 60s C.E., making these materials common to Matthew and Luke among the earliest surviving traditions about Jesus.  Though written in Greek when incorporated into Matthew and Luke, it may have been composed originally in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his disciples.  Even if the Q source theory were ever proven wrong, the inclusion of these similar materials in two Gospels would seem to confirm their importance for understanding the message of Jesus.

Discussion Paper: "The Kingdom of God in Q" (See Assignments)

Supplemental Resources: Papias; Q Source (Wikipedia)

The Papias link takes you to the earliest surviving traditions concerning Papias (ca. 135 C.E.), including his comments about the writing activities of Mark and Matthew.  Since what he ascribes to Matthew here does not sound like the book of Matthew we know, but rather a collection of Aramaic "sayings" later "translated" (or "interpreted"), some scholars think that the disciple Matthew could have been the author of the earliest edition of Q.

Reading: Sumney, 268-76 (Chapter 13, Matthew section); HSB, 1665-66

Supplemental Reading: QLuke and QMatt (In Course Documents)

Most NT scholars believe that the writers of the Gospels we call Matthew and Luke used a lost written source made up mostly of sayings of Jesus.  This source is referred to as "Q," an abbreviation for the German word "quelle" which means source.  Plausible dates for composition of this source range from the 40s to the 60s C.E., making these materials common to Matthew and Luke among the earliest surviving traditions about Jesus.  Though written in Greek when incorporated into Matthew and Luke, it may have been composed originally in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his disciples.  Even if the Q source theory were ever proven wrong, the inclusion of these similar materials in two Gospels would seem to confirm their importance for understanding the message of Jesus.

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 148-49 ("Christian Interpretation"); HSB, 1666-67; Papias; Q Source (Wikipedia)

The Papias link takes you to the earliest surviving traditions concerning Papias (ca. 135 C.E.), including his comments about the writing activities of Mark and Matthew.  Since what he ascribes to Matthew here does not sound like the book of Matthew we know but rather a collection of Aramaic "sayings" later "translated" (or "interpreted"), some scholars think that the disciple Matthew could have been the author of the earliest edition of Q.

Reading: Matthew 1:1–2:23; 5:17–24, 27–48; 6:1–8, 16–18; 7:6,12–20, 28; 8:16–17; 10:5–8, 23–25, 40–41; 11:28–30; 12:5–7, 17–21, 34, 36–37; 13:14–15, 24–30, 36–52; 14:28–33; 16:11–12, 17–19; 17:24–27; 18:15–35; 19:10–12; 20:1–16; 21:4–5, 10–17, 28–32, 43; 22:1–14; 23:1–36; 25:1–13, 31–46; 26:52–54; 27:3–10, 24–25, 51–53, 62–66; 28:1–20

Since almost all of Mark is repeated in Matthew, and you have already read the materials found in both Matthew and Luke designated Q, the reading assignment only includes material unique to Matthew. Of course Matthew's form of the material in Mark and Q is often significantly different. I will include a few examples in class.

Supplemental Resources: Bar Mitzvah (from Judaism 101); Burns, "Pharisees and Rabbinic Judaism" (Bible Odyssey)

Reading: Sumney, 276–87 (Chapter 13, Luke section); HSB, 1759-61; Luke 1:1-3:38; 4:14-30

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 146-48 ("Micah"); Goldberg, "The Josephus-Luke Connection"

Reading: Sumney, 305-314; Acts 8-15; Galatians 2:1-14

Supplemental Resources: Cf. Gal 2:15-3:18 with James 2:14-26; Was James Being Legalistic in Acts 15? or “Can I Eat a Rare Steak?”

Reading: Sumney, 305-314; Acts 8-15; Galatians 2:1-14

Supplemental Resources: Cf. Gal 2:15-3:18 with James 2:14-26; Was James Being Legalistic in Acts 15? or “Can I Eat a Rare Steak?”

See Assignments for Study Guide

Part Four: To What End? Rhetorical and Theological Goals in Early Church Literature

Reading: Sumney, 315-21 (Beginning of chap. 15 through "1 Thessalonians: Context")

Supplemental Resources: Dr. Mark's Annotated Chronology of Paul; E. P. Sanders, "Paul" (Britannica)

Reading: Sumney, 321-24 (The rest of the 1 Thessalonians section); Acts 16:1-18:1; 1 Thessalonians

Reading: 1 Thessalonians

Supplemental Resources:

Reading: Sumney, 324-28 (Chapter 15, 1 Corinthians section); Acts 18:1-19:20; 1 Corinthians 1-7

Supplemental Resources: Nordquist, "Exigence in Rhetoric"

Reading: Sumney, 328-30; 1 Corinthians 8-14

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 187-94; Speaking in Tongues

Reading: Sumney, 342-45 (Chapter 15, "Romans: The Context" section); Romans 1:1-3:20; Sumney, 373-75 ("James")

Supplemental Resources: Acts 19:21-20:3; Sumney, 60-62 ("The Fall"), 311-15; Galatians; Galatians Supplemental Links;

Reading: Sumney, 345-46 ("Three Images of Salvation" section); Romans 3:20-8:8

Discussion Paper: "Paul and Homosexuality" (See Assignments)

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 69-71 ("Sodom and Gomorrah" and "Abraham Bargains with God"); Given, Homosexuality and the Bible; Dolansky, "The Immortal Myth of Adam and Eve"

Reading: Sumney, 347-48 ("The Life of Faith" section through the "Conclusion"); Romans 12-16

Supplemental Resources:

Reading: Sumney, 353-55 (Chapter 16, Introduction); 335-37 (Chapter 16, Ephesians section); Ephesians

Supplemental Resources: Sumney, 330-33; 1 Thessalonians; 333-34; Colossians; Click here.

Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha: Old Testament Pseudepigrapha; New Testament Apocrypha

Some people like to say we can’t “know” what ancient Greek music sounded like, but there is in fact solid scholarship that yields something well beyond mere “educated guessing” about instrument construction, scales, and rhythm.  There’s a fascinating short video about the oldest surviving Greek music manuscript on this page:

http://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Music/

Early Christian music:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyrhynchus_hymn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFDfyihG6o0

I like to think that the music in Paul’s churches sounded a bit more “popular” and occasionally exciting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkPlNQ4ap1o

Reading: Sumney, 362-66; 1 Timothy

Discussion Paper: "Paul and Women" (See Assignments)

Supplemental Resources: 2 Timothy; Titus; Sumney, 60-62 ("The Fall"); Ian Paul, "Can we fix Bible translation?"

Reading: Sumney, 340–42 (Chapter 15, Philemon section); Philemon

Supplemental Resources: Acts 23:12-28:31; Mamertine Prison; Slavery in the Roman World; Slavery in Ancient Rome

Part Five: The Never Ending Story?

Reading: Sumney, 266-69; HSB, 1814-16; John 1-11

Supplemental Resources: Origen on the Differences Between the Gospels; The Gospel of John Film; The Five Gospels Parallels; The Johannine Literature Web; The Gospel of John: Conflicts and Controversies; Allegory of the Cave Links; The Gnostic Archive; Heracleon: Fragments from his commentary on the Gospel of John; The Gospel of Thomas; Click here;

Supplemental Video: Johannine Christianity: The Gospel (Dale Martin, Yale University)

More information on Dale Martin and his Yale NT course, click here.

Reading: Sumney, 269-76; John 12-21

Supplemental Resources: Origen on the Differences Between the Gospels; The Gospel of John Film; The Five Gospels Parallels; The Johannine Literature Web; The Gospel of John: Conflicts and Controversies; Allegory of the Cave Links; The Gnostic Archive; Heracleon: Fragments from his commentary on the Gospel of John; The Gospel of Thomas; Click here;

Supplemental Session Materials:

The Johannine Defense of the True Story (The Johannine Epistles)

Reading: Sumney, 356-60; 1, 2, 3 John

Supplemental Resources: Allegory of the Cave Links; The Gnostic Archive; Heracleon: Fragments from his commentary on the Gospel of John; The Gospel of Thomas; Click here.

Supplemental Video: Johannine Christianity: The Letters (Dale Martin, Yale University)

Reading: Sumney, 363-70

Supplemental Resources: Click here.

The following links offer explanations from conservative biblical scholars of the problems with the doctrine of "the Rapture"

N. T. Wright on the Rapture; Middleton, "Does Tom Wright Believe in the Second Coming?" (The answer is yes; he just doesn't believe in "the rapture" version of it.)

Ben Witherington III: Where Did Rapture Theology Come From?; Is the Rapture Doctrine Biblical?; Revelation and Apocalypticism

Reading: Sumney, 370-83; Revelation 1-7; 12-22

Supplemental Resources: Revelation 8-11; Sumney, 143 (Box 7:1); Koester, "Interpreting the Mystery" (See Course Content, Supplemental Reading); click here for more on Revelation; Sumney, 353-56; Jude, 2 Peter; A scene from the moive Pi (Math is Everywhere); A Coo Coo Clock (listen for this sound in the Pi clip ☺)

Final Exam

REL 102-1 Final Exam

Wednesday, May 17, 8:45 am to 10:45 am

For final exam description and preparation instructions, see Assignments.