Fall 2014/Pasadena
NS581
Green
NS581: RESEARCH METHODS IN NEW TESTAMENT STUDY (4 Units: 195 hours). Joel B. Green
DESCRIPTION: A seminar in which participants explore through readings, practice, and critical discussion the range of methods employed in contemporary NT study. The entire research process will be discussed, modeled, and practiced. In Fall Quarter 2014, illustrative materials for NT581 will relate to the representation of Jesus’s death in the NT.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Having successfully completed this course, participants will have demonstrated the ability (1) to describe, evaluate, and use a variety of major approaches to NT study today — including diachronic, synchronic, and reader-oriented; (2) to determine what methods are appropriate to particular problems or questions in NT interpretation; and (3) to construct, follow, and revise a research agenda around a NT text; and (4) to engage in thoughtful and generous criticism of the research agenda and products of others.
COURSE FORMAT: The course meets weekly for three-hour sessions for a total of 30 instructional hours for presentations on method, review of assignments, and practice of methods. The final week of the course will involve student presentations of work and critical responses to that work.
REQUIRED READING:
Alexander, Patrick H., et al., eds. The SBL Handbook of Style for Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies. Hendrickson, 1999. ISBN 978-1565634879, Pub. Price $24.95 [304 pp.].
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. 3rd ed. University of Chicago Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0226065663, Pub. Price $17.00 [317 pp.].
Green, Joel B., ed. Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation. 2nd ed. Eerdmans, 2010. ISBN 978-0802864208, Pub. Price $28.00 [432 pp.].
Green, Joel B., and Max Turner, eds., Between Two Horizons: Spanning New Testament Studies and Systematic Theology. Eerdmans, 2000. ISBN: 978-0802845412, Pub. Price $25.00 [256 pp.].
Herman, David. Basic Elements of Narrative. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. ISBN: 978-1405141543, Pub. Price $37.95 [272 pp.].
eReserves: Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 280-97; Kenneth E. Bailey, “Informal Controlled Oral Tradition and the Synoptic Gospels,” Asia Journal of Theology 5 (1991): 34-54; reprint ed., Themelios 20, no. 2 (1995): 4-11 (http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_tradition_bailey.html); Mark Bevir, “Why Historical Distance Is Not a Problem,” History and Theory 50, no. 4 (2011): 24-37; John J. Collins, “The Politics of Biblical Interpretation,” in Encounters with Biblical Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005), 34-44; Joel B. Green, “Rethinking ‘History’ for Theological Interpretation,” Journal of Theological Interpretation 5, no. 2 (2011): 159-74; Stephen Greenblatt, “Culture,” in Critical Terms for Literary Study (ed. Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 225-32; Stephen C. Barton, “Paul and the Cross: A Sociological Approach,” Theology 85 (1982): 13-19; Robert Wuthnow, Communities of Discourse: Ideology and Social Structure in the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and European Socialism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989), 1-22; R.W.L. Moberly, “What Is Theological Interpretation of Scripture?” Journal of Theological Interpretation 3 (2009): 161-78. (130 pp.).
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
Attendance at and readiness to participate in all sessions of the seminar is expected.
1,300 pp. of required reading [87 hours].
Weekly assignments on method (35%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1-2.] [28 hours.
Major research paper [5,000 words] (50%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #2-3.] [45 hours].
Critical Response to Seminar Presentation (15%). [This assignment is related to outcome #4.] [5 hours].
PREREQUISITES: Written permission of the professor.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Counts as biblical elective in the 120 MDiv Program.
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.