DESCRIPTION:

The seminar is designed for Ph.D. and Th.M. students in the CATS program. A maximum of 5 advanced students at the master's level may be admitted by written permission of Dr. Brown. This seminar consists of a critical examination of writings by leading Jewish, Protestant and Catholic scholars. Attention will be paid to theological method and orientation.

The seminar will meet once a week for three hours. Each week three members will introduce sections of the selected text. All members are expected to study beforehand the readings for the week, and to take part in the ensuing discussion. Assignments will be made on a first-come-first-served basis. Selections from the required texts will be studied in the following order: Keck provides a general introduction; Vermes sees Jesus from a Jewish point of view; Sanders and Meier represents Christian attempts to see Jesus as a Jew; Fredriksen represents a Jewish woman scholar's viewpoint; Crossan represents the Jesus Seminar viewpoint; Robinson and Franzmann focus on the Jesus of Q and Thomas; Wright, Dunn, and Hurtado represent distinctive approaches from the "Third Quest."

Crossan, John Dominic. The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.

Dunn, James D. G. Christianity in the Making, 1: Jesus Remembered. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.

Franzmann, Majella. Jesus in the Nag Hammadi Writings. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1996, 1-23.

Fredriksen, Paula. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity. New York: Knopf, 2000.

Hurtado, Larry W. Lord Jesus Christ. Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.

Keck, Leander E. Who Is Jesus? History in Perfect Tense. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001.

Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, 2: Mentor, Message, Miracles. New York: Doubleday, 1994.

Robinson, James M., Paul Hoffmann, John S. Kloppenborg, eds. The Critical Edition of Q. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000, xix-lxxi.

Sanders, E. P. Jesus and Judaism. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.

Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2nd ed. 1981; Jesus and the World of Judaism. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984; The Religion of Jesus the Jew. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.

Wright, N. T. Christian Origins and the Question of God, 2: Jesus and the Victory of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.

Cowdell, Scott. Is Jesus Unique? New York: Paulist Press, 1996.

Meyer, Marvin and Charles T. Hughes, eds. Jesus Then & Now: Images of Jesus in History and Christology. Harrisburg, Penn.: Trinity Press International, 2001.

In addition to class presentations and participation, a paper on one of the topics covered by the seminar to be presented at the end of the quarter (master's students: 25 pp.; CATS: 40 pp.).

Master's level students must receive Dr. Brown's permission in order to register for the seminar.