Winter 2018/Pasadena

NE527

Sechrest

 

NE527:  NEW TESTAMENT EXEGESIS: REVELATION (4 Units: 160 hours).  Love L. Sechrest.

                                                                             

 

DESCRIPTION:  This course offers a close reading of selected passages in the book of Revelation, with special attention given to literary, socio-historical, and theological understandings of John’s Apocalypse, with particular attention to the theo-political implications of its message.

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Having successfully completed this course, students will have demonstrated the ability (1) to interpret Revelation within its socio-historical, literary, and canonical contexts; (2) to identify central issues in the critical study of the Christian Apocalypse; (3) to articulate primary theological and ethical concerns of Revelation; and (4) to use Greek based language tools for interpreting the text; and (5) to interpret this text for faithful use of Scripture in their own lives and ministries.

 

COURSE FORMAT: This class meets twice weekly for two hour sessions for a total of 40 instructional hours in the classroom for lecture and discussion.

 

REQUIRED READING: 923 pages required

 

COURSE TEXTBOOKS: 698 pages

Blount, Brian K. Revelation: A Commentary (New Testament Library). Westminster John Knox, 2009. ISBN: 978-0664221218, Pub. Price $60.00 [418 pp. assigned].

O'Hear, Natasha and Anthony O'Hear. Picturing the Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation in the Arts over Two Millennia. OUP, 2015. ISBN: 978-0198779278, Pub. Price $16.95 [183 pp. assigned]

Rhoads, David, ed. From Every People and Nation: The Book of Revelation in Intercultural Perspective. Fortress, 2005. ISBN: 978-0800637217, Pub. Price $23.00 [97 pp. assigned].

 

CHOOSE ONE VERSION OF THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT: 25 pages

Aland, Kurt, et.al. The Greek New Testament. 5th ed. United Bible Societies, 2014 [UBS 5]. ISBN: 978-1619701397, Pub. Price $69.95;              OR

Nestle, E., and Aland, K. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th ed. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012 [NA 28]. ISBN: 978-1619700307, Pub. Price $40.99.

 

E-RESERVES that include 200 pp. from the following:

Duff, Paul. Who Rides the Beast: Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse. Oxford Press, 2001, pp. 86-126

Gorman, Michael J. Reading Revelation Responsibly. Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation. Cascade, 2011, pp. 1-60 pp.

Levine, Amy Jill ed. with Maria Mayo Robbins. A Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John. T&T Clark, 2009. [58 pp. assigned].

Rossing, Barbara R. The Choice Between Two Cities: Whore, Bride, and Empire in the Apocalypse. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1999, pp. 1-16.

Sechrest, Love L. “Antitypes, Stereotypes, and Ante-types: Jezebel and the Sun Woman for Contemporary Black Women,” in Womanist Biblical Interpretation: Expanding the Discourse, Gay L. Byron and Vanessa Lovelace, editors (Society of Biblical Literature; Semeia Studies 85, 2016), 113-137.

 

RECOMMENDED READING:

Beale, Gregory. Revelation (New International Greek Text Commentary). Eerdmans, 2013. ISBN: 978-0802871077, Pub. Price $78.00.

Gorman, Michael J. Reading Revelation Responsibly. Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation. Cascade, 2011. ISBN: 978-1606085608, Pub. Price $27.00.

 

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT: Total expected workload: 160 hours

1. Attendance (5%) [40 hours].
2. 923 pages of required reading [This assignment is related to learning outcomes 1-5] [62 hours].
3. Interpretive Working Papers: Students will choose a passage and prepare a three-page single-spaced summary of the exegetical and theological issues in that passage according to guidelines given in class, which will focus the class discussion of these issues (30%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes 1-5] [20 hours].
4. Formal Interpretive Paper: Beginning with work done for the working paper above, students will prepare a 10-page paper on the same passage (45%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome 1-5] [20 hours].
5. Journals: Using guidelines given in class, students will submit their interpretive, theological, and ethical questions about assigned passages in Revelation as well as course readings (20%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes 1, 3, and 5] [18 hours].

 

PREREQUISITES:  LG510 or LG512A/B or LG512; BI500 or NE502; NT500 or NS500 or NS501.

 

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM:  Meets the Biblical Language Exegesis requirement in the 120 MDiv program. Meets the NTE in the 144 MDiv Program.

 

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.