 |
Vanderbilt
University
Department of Religious Studies, College of Arts and Science |
Schedule | Requirements | Books | Faculty | Notices | Assignments | Vumail | Acorn
Welcome to our
homepage!
Here's a brief
description of the course. Please do not hesitate to contact
Daniel, <input TA's names here> if you have questions, or you need to
make clarrifications, or you want to discuss whatever class-stuff there
is to discuss. We'd appreciate your suggestions on how to make
our class more interesting and fruitful,
hopefully, for everyone.
Garland 301, Box 1585 Station B, Nashville, TN 37235 : Tel (615) 322-4884 : send comments and suggestions to webmaster
RLST 109 Themes
in New Testament
Schedule
| Requirements | Books
| Faculty | Notices
| Assignments | Vumail
| Acorn
Course
Description
This introductory course focuses on New
Testament texts--with special attention on
the Gospel of John, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, the Cross/Resurrection
narratives according to the synoptic tradition (Mark, Matthew,
and Luke), and Paul's letter to the Romans. Students will learn tounderstand
how believers interpret NT texts as Scripture (with sample interpretations
from mainline Protestant and Catholic, African-American, and "Third-World"
churches, and from feminist circles).
"Reading the Bible is Not a Spectator Sport!" Thus, the class will proceed in three steps which require students' direct involvement. 1) Students will write a report on what they think is "The Teaching for Believers Today" of each assigned text. 2) Then they will proceed to comparing the themes and textual evidence of several interpretations including their own. 3) Then they will discuss the relative values of several intepretations seeking to spell out the reasons for their choice of an interpretation.
The requirements for the course include active participation in class discussions, a series of short reports/papers, and frequent quizzes (there are nocomprehensive exams and no long term papers).