Unit information: Questing for the Historical Jesus in 2009/10

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Unit name Questing for the Historical Jesus
Unit code THRS20062
Credit points 20
Level of study I/5
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director Dr. John Lyons
Open unit status Not open
Pre-requisites

THRS1108 Introduction to the Bible or equivalent
Co-requisites

None
School/department Department of Religion and Theology
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

Following an examination of previous Quests for the historical Jesus this unit focuses on the current debate and engages in detail with the methodologies and motives of the major protagonists involved (Borg, Crossan, the Jesus Seminar, Meier, Sanders, and Wright). A discussion of source materials (Mark, Q, and the Gospel of Thomas) lays the foundations for an examination of the manner of production of each Jesus 'discovered' by these historians. Critical reflection on responses from the third world and from the wider Christian theological enterprise to the Quest and its results complete the unit.

Aims:

1. To help students gain a perspective on the development of a major project in Biblical Studies.

2. To familiarise students with the basic source materials for the Quest (Mark. Q, etc.).

3. To facilitate a critical examination of different approaches to the same taskfinding Jesus.

4. To introduce the theological implicationsif anyof the results of the Quest.

5. To provide an encounter with critical objections to the claims of the current Quest.

6. To provide training in the assessing, presenting, analysing and evaluating of complex ideas.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the unit the students will be expected to:

1. be able to contextualise works on the various Quests within the wider history of the modern discipline of Biblical Studies.

2. handle appropriately questions concerning the historical value of the source materials. be able to critically compare different methodological approaches to the Quest for Jesus.

3. appreciate the reasoning behind both objections and enthusiastic acceptance of the Quest.

4. have acquired further skills through an assessed essay and an examination, in presenting, analysing and evaluating complex ideas and arguments.

Teaching Information

Interactive seminars

Assessment Information

One written formative piece of work (500 words) and one two hour examination.

Reading and References

  • J.D. Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant (San Francisco: 1991).
  • M.A. Powell, The Jesus Debate: Modern Historians Investigate the Life of Christ (Oxford: 1999).
  • N.T. Wright, Jesus, Quest for the Historical, in D.N. Freedman (ed.), Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 3 (New York: 1992) 796-802.
  • N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (London: 1996).

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