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Unit of study_

BBCL2609: Historical Jesus to Written Gospels

This unit examines the relationship between the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth and the literary-theological achievement of the early Christian Gospels (including non-canonical Gospels). Students are encouraged to apply rigorous historical method and careful literary analysis in order to gain a nuanced understanding of how the leader of a Jewish renewal movement became the object of devotion in earliest Christianity. The unit will read Biblical texts in English translation.

Code BBCL2609
Academic unit Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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12 Junior credit points including at least 6 in BBCL1001, BBCL1002, HBRW1111, HBRW1112, RLST1002 and 6 in Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies, Ancient History, Anthropology, Archaeology, History, English, Philosophy, Studies in Religion, Arabic Studies or 6 Senior credit points in BBCL2603, BBCL2607, BBCL2610 or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Biblical Studies and Classical Hebrew or Jewish Civilisation, Thought and Culture or Ancient History
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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BBCL2003

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. articulate the main quests for the historical Jesus from the gospels to the present day
  • LO2. give examples of several Graeco-Roman and Jewish sources for the study of Jesus and the Roman East
  • LO3. identify the type of literature of the Gospels in an ancient context
  • LO4. explain why historians take the collection of writings in the New Testament seriously as sources for the study of the historical Jesus
  • LO5. discuss the criteria (or indices) of historicity most modern scholars employ when reading the New Testament texts
  • LO6. explain the historical context and significance of several primary texts
  • LO7. compare and contrast the four Gospels
  • LO8. discuss the historical evidence for the death and resurrection of Jesus
  • LO9. understand the account for the rise of earliest Christianity in its Jewish and Roman contexts
  • LO10. assess the significance of archaeology for the study of a figure like Jesus.

Unit outlines

Unit outlines will be available 2 weeks before the first day of teaching for the relevant session.

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