DESCRIPTION: This is a CATS doctoral seminar (for which students at the 800
level will register Spring and Summer, NT843A and NT843B), open to a limited
number of master's level students (NS543). This course is structured to deal
with some vital issues concerning Christian origins, such as the relationship
between Jesus' gospel of the Kingdom of God and Paul's gospel of Christ's death
and resurrection, or more generally between the Jesus of history and the Christ
of faith/kerygma, Paul's knowledge and use of the Jesus tradition, the
continuity and discontinuity between Jesus and Paul in attitude and ministry,
etc. Discussion of these topics should shed light both on the origin and nature
of the gospel and the Christian faith and on the Pauline hermeneutics and
method of theologizing.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: By the end of the course students should have obtained (1)
a comprehensive knowledge of the relationship between Jesus' gospel of the
Kingdom of God and Paul's gospel of Christ's death and resurrection; (2)
insights into Paul's way of developing his theology from the Jesus tradition
for his new contexts; (3) a training in the exegetical skills and in systematic
theological reflection; and (4) an ability to reflect critically on how they
might effectively preach the gospel in their situation today.
RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: The seminar should help students to know more clearly
what to preach/teach and to develop insights as to how to
preach/teach the gospel effectively today.
COURSE FORMAT: After an introductory lecture, topics will be distributed among
participants for research presentation and discussion in the seminars of the
subsequent weeks. The seminar will meet weekly for a three-hour session.
REQUIRED READING: