NT050-812 - New Testament Christology

  • 2,976 Standard Tuition Fee
  • 12
    Credit Points
  • 0.125 EFT 
  • 8
    AQF level
  • Category advanced unit
    C
  • new testamentUnit Discipline

Prerequisites

24cps NT (NT001 and NT002)

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will

A. Know and understand

Demonstrate Advanced knowledge and understanding of, and research principles and methods used in, investigating the Christologies in select New Testament writings for current Christian living and thought.

B. Be able to

1. Examine recent scholarship in the investigation of the issue of interpreting the Christologies in select New Testament writings for contemporary Christian living and thought.
2. Demonstrate skill in utilising diverse scholarship in investigating the problem of interpreting the Christologies in select New Testament writings for contemporary Christian living and thought.
3. Present Research-Aware evidence-based perspectives which interact with current writing and research on the problem of interpreting the Christologies of select New Testament writings for Christian living and thought.

C. Be in a position to

Applying Research-Aware perspectives and skills from ‘New Testament Christology’ for ministry practice and Christian living as a reflective praticioner.

Content

Section A: Graeco-Roman and Second Temple Jewish Concepts of Divinity (25%)
   1. Common religious beliefs and ritual practices relating to divine beings in the Graeco-Roman world and philosophical discourses on the nature of divinity.
   2. Second Temple Jewish conceptions of “monotheism” and intermediary agents (e.g., divine hypostases; principal angels; messianic figures including rulers, priests, or prophets).

Section B: Christologies in the New Testament (75%)
   1. The Historical Jesus and Christology
   2. Pre-Pauline Christology (e.g., creeds, hymns, worship or ritual practices, the sermons attributed to leaders of the Jerusalem Church in the book of Acts).
   3. Pauline Christology
   4. Synoptic Christology
   5. Johannine Christology
   6. Systematic theological reflection on the diverse Christologies in the New Testament

Set Readings

This unit's indicative bibliography is currently being revised. Students should contact their home college for further details at the time of taking this unit.


1. Bates, Matthew. The Birth of the Trinity: Jesus, God, and Spirit in New Testament and Early Christian Interpretations of the Old Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
2. Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
3. Bird, Michael F. Jesus is the Christ: The Messianic Testimony of the Gospels. Downers Grove: IVP, 2012.
4. Casey, Maurice. From Jewish Prophet to Gentile God: The Origins and Development of New Testament Christology. Cambridge: James Clarke and Co, 1991.
5. Collins, Adela and Collins, John. King and Messiah as Son of God: Divine, Human and Angelic Messianic Figures in Biblical and Related Literature. Grand Rapids: Erdmans, 2008.
6. Douglas, Sally. Early Church Understandings of Jesus as the Female Divine: The Scandal of the Scandal of Particularity. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016.
7. Dunn, James. Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation. Second Edition. London: SCM, 1989.
8. Fee, Gordon D. Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study. Peabody: Hendrickson, 2007.
9. Fletcher-Louis, Crispin. Jewish Monotheism Volume 1, Christological Origins: The Emerging Consensus and Beyond. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2015.
10. Gathercole, Simon J. The Pre-existent Son: Recovering the Christologies of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006.
11. Grindheim, Sigurd. God’s Equal: What can we Know about Jesus’ Self- Understanding in the Synoptic Gospels? LNTS 446. London: T&T Clark, 2011.
12. Hengel, Martin. The Son of God: The Origin of Christology and the History of Jewish-Hellenistic Religion. London: SCM, 1976.
13. Hooker, Morna. The Son of Man in Mark: A Study of the Background of the Term ‘Son of Man’ and Its Use in St. Mark’s Gospel. London: SPCK, 1967.
14. Hurtado, Larry W. One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism. Third Edition. London: Bloomsbury and T&T Clark, 2015.
15. Kaiser, Christopher B. Seeing the Lord’s Glory: Kyriocentric Visions and the Dilemma of Early Christology. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014.
16. Kirk, J. R. Daniel. A Man Attested by God: The Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016.
17. Litwa, M. David. IESUS DEUS: The Early Christian Depiction of Jesus as a Mediterranean God. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014.
18. Longenecker, Richard N. Editor. Contours of Christology in the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005.
19. McDonough, Sean M. Christ as Creator: Origins of a New Testament Doctrine. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
20. Peppard, Michael. The Son of God in the Roman World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
21. Tilling, Chris. Paul’s Divine Christology. WUNT 323. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012.
22. Witherington III, Ben. The Christology of Jesus. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990.