Fall 2018/Pasadena
NT801/NS581
Downs
NT801/NS581: RESEARCH METHODS IN NEW TESTAMENT STUDY (4 Units: 195 hours; 6 Units: 374 hours). David J. Downs
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 the Fall Quarter of 2018, illustrative materials for the seminar will relate to the representation of Jesus’s resurrection and ascension 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 approaches; (2) to determine what methods are appropriate to particular problems or questions in NT interpretation; (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: This class meets once per week for three hour sessions for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for presentations on method, review of assignments, and practice of methods, plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional hours. The final week of the course will involve student presentations of work and critical responses to that work.
REQUIRED READING: NT801: 2300 pages; NS581: 1300 pp.
The SBL Handbook of Style for Biblical Studies and Related Disciplines. 2nd ed. SBL Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-1589839649, Pub. Price $39.95 [368 pp.].
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. 4th ed. University of Chicago Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-0226239736, Pub. Price $18.00 [317 pp.].
Clark, Elizabeth A. History, Theory, Text: Historians and the Linguistic Turn. Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN: 978-0674015845, Pub. Price $32.00 [185 pp.].
Green, Joel B., ed. Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation. 2nd ed. Eerdmans, 2010. ISBN 978-0802864208, Pub. Price $30.00 [432 pp.].
Marchal, Joseph M. Studying Paul’s Letters: Contemporary Perspectives and Methods. Fortress, 2012. ISBN: 978-0800698188, Pub. Price $32.00 [228 pp.].
Porter, Stanley E. and Sean A. Adams, eds. Pillars in the History of Biblical Interpretation. Volume 1: Prevailing Methods before 1980. Pickwick, 2016. ISBN: 978-1498202367, Pub. Price $49.00 [385 pp.].
Porter, Stanley E. and Sean A. Adams, eds. Pillars in the History of Biblical Interpretation. Volume 2: Prevailing Methods after 1980. Pickwick, 2016. ISBN: 978-1498292900, Pub. Price $60.00 [477 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:
PREREQUISITES: NS581: Written permission of the professor. NT801: ThM or PhD students.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Counts as biblical elective in the 120 MDiv, 80 MAT, and 80 MATM Programs (Fall 2015).
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.