Johannine Literature & General Epistles

Biblical Theological Seminary, Summer 2002 Monday,Tuesday,Thursday 6-9:30pm

Dr. James F. McGrath Room 27

SYLLABUS: NT 552 The Johannine Literature and General Epistles

Course aims and scope:

This course provides an opportunity for intermediate-level study of the New Testament literature, through a study of the date, authorship, and theological emphases of the following New Testament writings: the Gospel and Epistles of John, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. In the classroom, we will refer for the most part to the Biblical text in English translation, and therefore Greek is not a requirement for taking this course. However, for those students whose programs include Greek, additional quizzes relating to the Greek text will be administered online through Blackboard.com. These will involve translation and comment on specific texts that we will be studying in detail in class. The quiz in question will be available to be taken online after the text in question has been studied in class. [For those students not taking Greek, alternative quizzes, which call only for comment on the set passages in English, will be taken through Blackboard].

In the provisional class schedule provided below, the passage that is set in English is the one that will be discussed in detail in class; when a shorter passage is specified for students taking the Greek option, this refers to that part of the passage to be studied in class which students are to prepare to translate and comment on for the quiz. In addition to reading the specified passage (in Greek if appropriate, otherwise in two different English translations) prior to class, students must also read the discussion of the date, authorship, etc. of the book(s) to be studied that day in a New Testament introduction or a commentary of an appropriate level.

The final exam will cover questions of authorship, dating, background, and major themes of the works studied. One question will consist of several very short passages (1-2 verses) in Greek or English, from which students are to choose 3 and comment on them. The other questions will require answers in short essay format.

In view of the intensive nature of this course on the one hand (3 weeks) and the wide range of books to be studied, students will not be required to purchase one particular textbook. Rather, a list is provided here of appropriate books that will provide an introduction to the questions of authorship, date, context, and theology of the writings studied. Students should have their own copy of at least one of them, but students are encouraged as well to refer to and cross-reference as many additional works as possible. The list below is not intended to be comprehensive, but it does indicate the level of books that students will be expected to read. Thus students are encouraged to read beyond the bounds of the books listed below if they have the time and the interest, but you are warned that books which simply give homiletic reflections rather than dealing with the text exegetically will not be adequate to prepare you either for the discussions in class or for the final exam.

New Testament Introductions

Brown, Raymond E., An Introduction to the New Testament, New York: Doubleday, 1997. [An excellent balanced introduction to the writings of the New Testament by the late Raymond Brown, one of the finest examples of 20^th century Catholic New Testament study. Brown is always fair in his arguments and gives the reader enough detail to understand the issues and make up their own minds]

Guthrie, Donald, New Testament Introduction, Downers Grove: IVP, 1970. [A classic conservative Evangelical work, which focuses almost exclusively on questions of authorship and date]

Johnson, Luke Timothy, The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation, Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986. [A helpful book by scholar who emphasizes looking at not only questions of date and authorship, but also the message and meaning of the books in question]

Commentaries

Students who already have a good series of academic commentaries (e.g. Word Biblical Commentary) will find that the sort of introductory information they need regarding questions of date and authorship are readily available to them in the introductions to the relevant volumes. For students selecting to take the Greek element of the course, the volumes of the New International Greek Testament Commentary series on Hebrews and James can also be recommended.

There are two commentaries on the Johannine literature that include both Gospel and epistles, and thus are particularly useful resources: R. Alan Culpepper’s The Gospel and Letters of John (IBT), Nashville: Abingdon, 1998; and Charles H. Talbert’s Reading John, New York: Crossroad, 1992. F. F. Bruce’s commentary on Hebrews in the NICNT series is excellent, and students may find some of the other volumes in this series helpful as well. Other short commentaries like the Tyndale or New International Biblical Commentary series can also be helpful, provided students are aware that should they need to do an in-depth, detailed study of a particular passage, they will need to use other books and commentaries as well.

New Testament Theologies

The most convenient place to find a helpful introduction to the theological vision of the writings studied, one that is accessible and short enough to be read through (unlike a commentary), and yet long enough to give a feel for the details and not only very broad general features, is the New Testament Theology series published by Cambridge University Press. The volume by Richard Bauckham on Revelation is particularly recommended; also available in the library are Barnabas Lindars’ volume on Hebrews and a volume on the letters of James, Peter and Jude written by Andrew Chester and Ralph P. Martin).

Other books

All students will probably find books in the Guides to New Testament Exegesis series published by Baker helpful. The relevant volumes are Andrew Trotter’s on Hebrews, Gary M. Burge’s on John, and J. Ramsey Michaels’ on Revelation. The series of New Testament Guides published by Sheffield University Press will all provide helpful introductions for students to the issues and approaches of modern (and postmodern) critical scholarship (see e.g. the one by Jonathan Knight on 2 Peter and Jude).

Course schedule (The new page for links to class notes is http://www.oocities.org/jamesfrankmcgrath/Bible/NT/ The links below will not be updated):

Date Week Topic Texts to be studied

6/3 1 John’s Gospel John 1:1-18 (English & Greek)

6/4 1 John’s Epistles John 5:1-47 (Greek: 5:16-47)

6/6 1 Hebrews

6/10 2 James Hebrews 3:7-4:11 (Greek: 4:1-11)

6/11 2 1 Peter 1 Peter 3:18-22 (English & Greek)

6/13 2 2 Peter, Jude

6/17 3 Revelation Revelation 16:17-17:18 (Greek: 17:8-14)

6/18 3 Canon of the NT

6/20 3 Final Exam