Sample Syllabus The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus

Transcription

1 Daniel A. Smith Revisiting the Empty Tomb: The Early History of Easter (Fortress Press, 2010) Course Objectives: Sample Syllabus The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus (1) To engage in a detailed and critical exegetical survey of the Passion and Resurrection accounts, and to discuss in detail their historical, compositional, redactional, and [*theological] features. (2) To help the student appreciate the evangelists characteristic and distinctive theological emphases in their Passion and Resurrection narratives [*with a view to homiletical, theological, and other related applications]. (3) To introduce the student to the [*theological and hermeneutical] issues related to the Passion, the Resurrection, and the beginnings of Christology, and to the history of their interpretation. (4) To clarify ethical [*and ecumenical/interfaith] concerns related to the interpretation of the passion and resurrection narratives. [*objectives more suitable to religious studies programs could be substituted] Course Materials: (1) Gerard S. Sloyan, The Crucifixion of Jesus: History, Myth, Faith (Fortress Press, 1995). [required] (2) Daniel A. Smith, Revisiting the Empty Tomb: The Early History of Easter (Fortress Press, 2010). [required] (3) Kurt Aland, ed., Synopsis of the Four Gospels: English Edition (American Bible Society/Fortress Press, 1997). [required] Evaluation (undergraduate): (1) Midterm exam (20%) Week 6 (2) Research Paper, initial topic development and progress report: 2-3 pages (10%) due Week 7 (3) Research Paper: 8-10 pages (40%) due last session (4) Final exam (30%) during final examination period Evaluation (postbaccalaureate/ma level): (1) Seminar presentation (25%) various due dates and topics (see course outline) (2) Research Paper, initial topic development and progress report: 2-3 pages (10%)

2 due Week 7 (3) Research Paper: pages (50%) due last session (4) Class participation (15%) Course Outline: Note: for Weeks Two through Six, students should study the appropriate sections in Aland, noting the similarities and differences between the four narratives, and should come to class prepared to discuss the distinctives of each gospel s presentation of the events of the Passion. The instructor may wish to suggest students do this in consultation with Matera 1986 or Brown 1994 (see course bibliography below). If the course is taught seminar-style, students could opt to focus their seminar presentation on textual questions (e.g., the last words of Jesus according to the different gospels), or on other questions as suggested here in the course outline. If teaching the course for undergraduates, the instructor may wish to deal with some of these topics in mini-lectures. Week One: Introduction: Issues, Interests, and Goals Reading the Gospels: Their Composition and Interpretation [* if required] The Passion Narratives: Basic Literary and Historical Questions Required Reading: Sloyan 1995: 9-44 Week Two: Textual focus: The Last Supper (Mark 14:1-25 and parallels) Interpretive focus: Jesus Death as Sacrificial Required reading: Sloyan 1995: The Last Supper texts and Jesus understanding of his death Contemporary views of eucharistic development Judas in Christian tradition Week Three: Textual focus: Gethsemane and Arrest (Mark 14:26-52 and parallels) Interpretive focus: Depictions of the Passion in Art [Recommended background reading for instructor: Harries 2004] Jesus prayer in Gethsemane The flight of the young man in Mark (cf. Secret Mark ) The Romans, the Sanhedrin, and historical/juridical questions Week Four: Textual focus: The Trial of Jesus (Mark 14:53-72; 15:1-15 and parallels) Interpretive focus: The Passion Narratives and Christian Anti-Judaism Required reading: Sloyan 1995: 72-97; Gilbert 2004; Siker 2004

3 Passion plays and anti-semitism Pilate in early Christian literature Week Five: Textual focus: Abuse and Crucifixion (Mark 15:16-32 and parallels) Interpretive focus: The Passion and Christian Devotion Required reading: Sloyan 1995: , Crucifixion: historical background Christian devotion to the Passion: mystic, reflective, reparative, reenactive Week Six: Textual focus: The Death and Burial of Jesus (Mark 15:33-47 and parallels) Interpretive focus: The Death of Jesus in Contemporary Theology Required reading: Sloyan 1995: [other readings may be assigned]; McCane 2003: Ancient burial customs Tombs & ossuaries, lost & found Descensus ad inferos in Christian theology Week Seven: Resurrection: Background & Historical Issues Required reading: Segal 1997; Crossan & Wright 2006; Price 2008 Recommended reading: Nickelsburg 2006: ; Easter faith as the beginnings of Christology Dying and rising gods: comparisons with the incomparable? Early Christian visionary experience of the vindicated post-mortem Jesus Week Eight: Textual focus: The Appearance Tradition (1 Cor 15:3-8; Rev 1:9-20) Required reading: Smith 2010: chs. 1-2 Origin, history, form, function of the (pre-pauline?) resurrection kerygma in 1 Cor 15:3-8 Resurrection appearances, post-mortem apparitions, and resurrection anthropology Resurrection and eschatology/parousia in the letters of Paul Week Nine: Textual focus: The Disappearance Tradition (Q 13:34-35; Mark 16:1-8) Required reading: Smith 2010: chs. 3-5 Disappearance, assumption, & apotheosis? Jesus as Son of God/Son of Man in Q or Mark The origin and function of the empty tomb story Women as witnesses to the empty tomb

4 Week Ten: Textual focus: Luke 24 Required reading: Smith 2010: chs. 6-6E The disappearances of Jesus in Luke 24 Assumption, ascension, and exaltation in Luke-Acts Easter as hermeneutical moment in early Christian reflection Week Eleven: Textual focus: Matthew 28 Required reading: Smith 2010: ch. 7 Rolling away the stone: the angelophany in Matthew The guard at the tomb in Matthew and in the Gospel of Peter Universal authority and mission: the claims of Matthew s risen Jesus Week Twelve: Textual focus: John Required reading: Smith 2010: ch. 8 Peter, Mary, and the Beloved Disciple: Founding Figures in Competition? Mary Magdalene in history and tradition John 21 as Appendix to the Fourth Gospel Week Thirteen: Textual focus: Mark 16:9-20 [etc.]; Gos. Pet.8 14; Epist. Apos. 7 13; [etc.] Required reading: Smith 2010: chs Anti-Judaism in early Christian interpretation of the resurrection narratives The disappearance of Jesus and the assumption of Mary Veneration of/at the Holy Sepulchre The ends of the trajectories: why beginnings matter Bibliography of Additional Readings and Additional Resources: Brock, Ann Graham Mary Magdalene, The First Apostle: The Struggle for Authority. Harvard Theological Studies 51. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Brown, Raymond E The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave. New York: Anchor Doubleday. Bultmann, Rudolf K The History of the Synoptic Tradition. Revised edition. Translated by J. Marsh. Oxford: Basil Blackwell; New York: Harper & Row. Carroll, James T., and and Joel B. Green, et al The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson.

5 Catchpole, David R Resurrection People: Studies in the Resurrection Narratives of the Gospels. London: Darton Longman & Todd. Collins, Adela Yarbro The Beginning of the Gospel: Probings of Mark in Context. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Craig, William Lane The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus. New Testament Studies 31: Crossan, John Dominic Empty Tomb and Absent Lord (Mark 16:1-8). Pages in The Passion in Mark: Studies on Mark Edited by W. H. Kelber. Philadelphia: Fortress Press The Cross That Spoke: The Origins of the Passion Narrative. San Francisco: Harper & Row The Resurrection of Jesus in Its Jewish Context. Neotestamentica 37: Davis, Steven T Risen Indeed: Making Sense of the Resurrection. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Seeing the Risen Jesus. Pages in The Resurrection: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Resurrection of Jesus. Edited by S. T. Davis, et al. Oxford: Oxford University Press. de Jonge, Henk J Visionary Experience and the Historical Origins of Christianity. Pages in Resurrection in the New Testament: Festschrift J. Lambrecht. Edited by R. Bieringer et al. BETL 165. Leuven: Peeters. Dodd, C. H The Appearances of the Risen Christ: An Essay in Form-Criticism of the Gospels. Pp in Studies in the Gospels: Essays in Memory of R. H. Lightfoot, ed. D. E. Nineham. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Fitzmyer, Joseph A The Ascension of Christ and Pentecost. Theological Studies 45: Fuller, Reginald H The Formation of the Resurrection Narratives. New York: Macmillan. Garland, David E One Hundred Years of Study on the Passion Narratives. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press. Gilbert, Gary AntiSemitism without Erasure: Sacred Texts and Their Contemporary Interpretations. Pages in After The Passion is Gone: American Religious Consequences. Edited by J.S. Landres and M. Berenbaum. Walnut Creek, Cal.: Altamira. Harries, Richard The Passion in Art. Aldershot, U.K.; Burlington, VT: Ashgate. Jeremias, Joachim The Eucharistic Words of Jesus. Translated by A. Ehrhardt. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Kelber, Werner H., ed. The Passion in Mark: Studies on Mark Philadelphia: Fortress Press. Kloppenborg, John S Q, The Earliest Gospel: An Introduction to the Original Stories and Sayings of Jesus. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

6 La Potterie, Ignace de The Hour of Jesus: The Passion and the Resurrection of Jesus According to John. New York: Alba. Lüdemann, Gerd The Resurrection of Jesus: History, Experience, Theology. Translated by J. Bowden. Minneapolis: Fortress Press The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry. Amherst, NY: Prometheus. [Revision of Lüdemann 1994] Marcus, Joel The Old Testament and the Death of Jesus: The Role of Scripture in the Gospel Passion Narratives. Pages in J. T. Carroll, J. B. Green, et al., The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson. Martin, Dale B The Corinthian Body. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. Marxsen, Willi The Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Translated by M. Kohl. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. Matera, Frank J Passion Narratives and Gospel Theologies: Interpreting the Synoptics through their Passion Stories. New York: Paulist. [Reprinted Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2001.] McCane, Byron R Roll Back the Stone: Death and Burial in the World of Jesus. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International. Nickelsburg, George W. E The Genre and Function of the Markan Passion Narrative. Harvard Theological Review 73: Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in Intertestamental Judaism. Expanded edition. HTS 56. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. O Collins, Gerald Jesus Risen: An Historical, Fundamental, and Systematic Examination of Christ s Resurrection. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Interpreting the Resurrection: Examining the Major Problems in the Stories of Jesus Resurrection. New York: Paulist. Patterson, Stephen J The God of Jesus: The Historical Jesus and the Search for Meaning. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International Beyond the Passion: Rethinking the Death and Life of Jesus. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Perkins, Pheme Resurrection: New Testament Witness and Contemporary Reflection. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. Price, Robert M., ed The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave. Amherst NY: Prometheus Brand X Easters. The Fourth R 20/6 (Nov./Dec. 2007): 13-15, 18-19, 23. Robinson, James M. Jesus From Easter to Valentinus (or to the Apostles Creed). Journal of Biblical Literature 101 (1982): Segal, Alan F Life After Death: The Social Sources. Pages in The Resurrection: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Resurrection of Jesus. Edited by S. T. Davis, et al. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

7 Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in the Religions of the West. New York: Doubleday. Senior, Donald The Passion of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Collegeville, Minn.: Michael Glazier/Liturgical The Passion of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. Collegeville, Minn.: Michael Glazier/Liturgical The Passion of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. Collegeville, Minn.: Michael Glazier/Liturgical The Passion of Jesus in the Gospel of John. Collegeville, Minn.: Michael Glazier/Liturgical. Shoemaker, Stephen J Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Siker, Jeffrey S Theologizing the Death of Jesus, Gibson s The Passion, and Christian Identity. Pages in After The Passion is Gone: American Religious Consequences. Edited by J.S. Landres and M. Berenbaum. Walnut Creek, Cal.: Altamira. Sloyan, Gerard S The Crucifixion of Jesus: History, Myth, Faith. Minneapolis: Fortress Press Why Jesus Died. Minneapolis: Fortress Press Jesus on Trial: A Study of the Gospels. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Smith, Daniel A Revisiting the Empty Tomb: The Post-Mortem Vindication of Jesus in Mark and Q. Novum Testamentum 45: Appearance or Disappearance? Early Beliefs about Jesus Vindication. The Fourth R 21/1 (Jan./Feb.): 3-8, Revisiting the Empty Tomb: The Early History of Easter. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Soards, Marion L The Question of a PreMarcan Passion Narrative. Pages (Appendix IX) in R. E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave. New York: Anchor Doubleday. Stewart, Robert B., ed The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N.T. Wright in Dialogue. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Tomson, P. J Presumed Guilty: How the Jews Were Blamed for the Death of Jesus. Trans. J. Dyk. Zoetermeer: Uitgeverij Meinema; Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Tyson, Joseph B The Death of Jesus in Luke-Acts. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press. Wedderburn, A. J. M Beyond Resurrection. London: SCM; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson. Wright, N. T The Resurrection of the Son of God. Vol. 3 of Christian Origins and the Question of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

8 Wright, N. T., and J. D. Crossan The Resurrection: Historical Fact or Theological Explanation? A Dialogue. Pages in The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N. T. Wright in Dialogue. Edited by R. B. Stewart. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Zwiep, Arie W Assumptus est in caelum: Rapture and Heavenly Exaltation in Early Judaism and Luke-Acts. Pages in Auferstehung Resurrection: The Fourth Durham-Tübingen Research Symposium. Resurrection, Transfiguration, and Exaltation in Old Testament, Ancient Judaism, and Early Christianity. Edited by F. Avemarie and H. Lichtenberger. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.