NT634 - The Fourth Gospel (Greek Text)

  • 0 Standard Tuition Fee
  • 4
    Credit Points
  • 0.125 EFT 
  • 8
    AQF level
  • new testamentUnit Discipline

Prerequisites

LA004A, LA004B.

Corequisites

NT501.

Exclusions

NT624.

Set Text Greek

This unit counts towards the "set text" unit requirements of courses, and the original language set text requirement of the Master of Divinity.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will

A. Know and understand

1. The Fourth Gospel: authorship, date, occasion, formation, setting, purpose.

2. The themes and theology of the Fourth Gospel.

3. Interplay between narrative, encounter, sign and teaching.

4. Relation to the synoptic gospels and the gospel tradition.

5. The Greek text of the Fourth Gospel.

6. The nature and methods of New Testament exegesis.

7. A selection of historic and contemporary interpretations of the Fourth Gospel.

B. Be able to

1. Use sources such as lexicons, theological dictionaries, grammars, textual analyses, commentaries and on-line resources.

2. Identify the authorship, date and purpose.

3. Translate into English.

4. Evaluate textual variants and issues in the history of the text.

5. Recognise literary form, genre, structure and rhetorical conventions.

6. Utilize the historical, social and cultural contexts.

7. Assign passages to the literary and canonical contexts.

8. Establish the meaning of significant words and phrases in the contexts of John’s writings.

9. Trace inter-textual references and allusions.

10. Discuss the main themes, arguments and theological teachings.

11. Translate and Exegete the Greek text of selected passages from the Fourth Gospel.

12. Discuss interpretations of the Fourth Gospel.

C. Be in a position to

1. Exegete the Greek text of the Fourth Gospel for personal understanding and for use in ministry contexts.

2. Integrate perspectives from the Fourth Gospel into biblical interpretation and  Christian thinking.

3. Apply the teaching of the Fourth Gospel to situations and issues in contemporary Christianity and society.

4. Evaluate interpretations of the Fourth Gospel.

Content

Candidates are required to learn and employ exegetical methods of modern critical scholarship.  Candidates who pursue exegesis in the Greek text are also urged to include OT647 in their studies, as Greek exegesis will expect an acquaintance with the issues in the major textual variants.

Candidates may not take any unit in which they repeat material completed in another unit. 

1. The theology of the Fourth Gospel, including such topics as:

Christology; pneumatology; the church; eschatology; salvation/life/judgement; sacraments; faith and signs.

2. The critical issues in the Fourth Gospel, such as: authorship; dating; provenance; formation of and historical background to the gospel; John and the synoptic gospels and the gospel tradition.

3. Translation and exegesis of the Greek text of John 1–3, 5–6, 15–16 (or a comparable block of chapters).

Set Readings

General Studies

Carter, W., John: Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2006).

Ferreira, J., Johannine Ecclesiology (Sheffield: SAP, 1998).

Fortna, R. T. and T. Thatcher (eds), Jesus in Johannine Tradition (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001).

Lincoln, A. T., The Gospel According to Saint John. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2005).

Malina, B. J. and R. L. Rohrbaugh, Social Science Commentary on the Gospel of John (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998).

Orton, D. E., The Composition of John’s Gospel: Selected Studies from Novum Testamentum (Leiden: Brill, 1999).

Painter, J., R. A. Culpepper & F. Segovia (eds), Word, Theology and Community in John (St. Louis: Chalice, 2002).

Thatcher, T., Why John Wrote a Gospel: Jesus, Memory, History (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2006).

Classics

Ashton, J., (ed.), The Interpretation of John (2nd ed ; Edinburgh: T & T Clark,1997).

Culpepper, R. A. and C. C. Black (eds), Exploring the Gospel of John (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996).

Porter, S. E. and C. A. Evans (eds), The Johannine Writings: A Sheffield Reader (Sheffield: SAP, 1995).

Pryor, J. W., John: Evangelist of the Covenant People: The Narrative and Themes of the Fourth Gospel (Downers Grove: InterVarstiy Press, 1992).

Smalley, S. S., John: Evangelist & Interpreter (Exeter: Paternoster, 1998).

Smith, D. M., The Theology of the Gospel of John (Cambridge: CUP, 1995).

Commentaries

Brown, R. E. and F. J. Maloney, An Introduction to the Gospel of John (New York: Doubleday, 2003).

Kruse, C. G., The Gospel according to John (rev.; Leicester: InterVarsity, 2004).

Keener, C. S., The Gospel of John: A Commentary (2 Vols; Peabody: Hendrickson, 2003).

Lincoln, A. T., The Gospel According to Saint John. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2005).

Köstenberger, A. J., John (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004).

Moloney, F. J., The Gospel of John (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1998).

Classics

Carson, D. A., The Gospel According to John (Leicester: IVP, 1991).

Ridderbos, H., The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997).

Schnackenburg, R., The Gospel According to St. John, 2 vol. (New York: Seabury Press, 1968, 1980).

Witherington, B., John’s Wisdom: A Commentary on the Fourth Gospel (Lousville: Westminster John Knox, 1995).