DESCRIPTION:

This course carries a double aim: (1) to enhance understanding and interpretation of 1 Corinthians and (2) to increase facility in using the Greek New Testament. This should allow students to perfect their own exegetical method by applying it to a biblical book of high contemporary relevance.

A study of 1 Corinthians shows how one of Paul's congregations met with problems that have a decidedly modern ring: divisiveness, ministerial favoritism, moral failure, spiritual elitism, charismatic excess, theological heresy, failed financial pledge. Using the Greek text should help make the Greek New Testament a life-long professional companion.

The course will meet twice weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays at 8:00-9:50 p.m. Usually, the first hour will be devoted to the Greek text and the second to an exposition of the letter.

Fee, Gordon D. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the NT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987. Recent, readable, thorough.

Nestle, Erwin and Kurt Aland et al. Novum Testamentum Graece. 27th edition. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelstiftung, 1993. The teacher will use this edition ("Nestle-Aland") primarily.

Rienecker, Fritz. A Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament (one volume edition). Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980. (Compare a similar aid: Max Zerwick, A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament. Revised, 1 vol. edition. Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1981.)

Aland, K.; M. Black; C. Martini; B. Metzger; and A. Wikgren, eds. The Greek New Testament (="GNT"). 4th ed. (revised). United Bible Societies, 1993. An aim of the course will be to understand the differences between "Nestle-Aland" and the "GNT," which now have the same text.

Aland, Kurt and Barbara Aland. The Text of the New Testament. Trans. Erroll F. Rhodes. 2nd edition, revised and enlarged. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989. See especially chapter 5, "Introduction to the Use of the Modern Editions."

Bauer, Walter, W. F. Arndt, F. W. Gingrich, and F. W. Danker. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 2nd edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979. A third English edition may be a year away. See Louw-Nida below.

Louw, Johannes and Eugene Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains. 2 vols. New York: United Bible Societies, 1988. Students should master the differences between Bauer and Louw-Nida.

Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome. 1 Corinthians. New Testament Message, vol 10. Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1979. A fresh, brief Roman Catholic treatment.

Weekly written assignments or quizzes over such matters as Greek vocabulary, principal parts, and edition features; and a 10-15 page exegetical paper on any brief section (two or three verses) of 1 Corinthians, selected by the student.

LG512, NE502, and NS501.

Meets M. Div. core requirement in New Testament Exegesis (NTE).