BI172 on-line Syllabus 2011

BI 172 (On-Line)-INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT (2 cr.)

Spring Semester 2011 Sharon H. Ringe, Instructor E-mail: sringe@wesleyseminary.edu Katherine Brown, Teaching Assistant E-mail: katherinebrown2002@yahoo.com The purpose of this course is to introduce you to “critical” study (that means careful, active, inquiring study, not fault-finding) of the New Testament letters, Acts, and Revelation—in other words, everything but the Gospels, which are the focus of BI 171. You will be learning information about the social, historical, cultural, and religious background of the early church and (to the extent that it is possible in a survey course) critical skills for investigating how that background shaped the literature we call the New Testament. Most of all, you will be acquiring confidence in your growing ability to understand and to think theologically about the New Testament and its continuing importance for the Christian church and for life in covenant with God and our neighbors.

Objectives for students as co-learners with the instructor: --to survey the contents of the relevant part of the New Testament --to trace the history of the New Testament period --to reconstruct the emergence of the literature of the New Testament out of the life of the early churches --to hear the questions and perspectives of people from diverse racial, cultural, and economic contexts as they/we encounter the New Testament --to develop a critical consciousness of the ideological nature of both the theological witnesses within the New Testament and contemporary appropriation of those witnesses --to discover how the New Testament can inform Christian praxis, i.e., serve as a “spiritual” (moral, theological, and devotional) resource for the life of the churches Assessment of how well the objectives have been met will take place through students’ participation in weekly postings on the discussion board, which will reflect the breadth of content of the appropriate parts of the NT and the assigned readings; and through their satisfactory performance on the 2 assigned essays, which delve more into contextual and theological issues raised through the biblical texts and the assigned readings.

The principal text for the course is the New Testament. If you are not able to work on the Greek text, the best English translation is the NRSV, and you would be well advised to acquire an “annotated” edition like the New Interpreter’s Study Bible. That translation will be assumed for all work in this class. If you are able to use modern languages other than English, you should develop the habit of reading assignments in those languages as well (or at least of checking what appear to be key passages). If you encounter differences of interpretation that seem important or interesting, please bring them up in your discussion postings.

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Other assigned readings are identified in the schedule below. They include Brian K. Blount et al., eds., True to our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary; the Global Bible Commentary; Richard A. Horsley and Neil Asher Silberman, The Message and the Kingdom; Elsa Tamez, The Amnesty of Grace; Jouette Bassler, Navigating Paul; Elsa Tamez,Struggles for Power in Early Christianity; and selected articles that are posted on the Blackboard site. In addition, a new web-site produced by the faculty of Luther Seminary in Minnesota gives excellent concise introductory essays on the various biblical books. The address of the site is www.//enterthebible.org. It would be a good idea to bookmark that site and read the materials there as you study each letter. (The site deals with all of the biblical books, and my friends who teach Hebrew Bible recommend it for their area of tudy as well.) If academic writing is something with which you are not familiar, I recommend that you read Gerald Graf and Cathy Birkenstein, They Say, I Say, for guidance on building coherent arguments.

Grades in the course will be based on the following factors: a) Postings on the discussion board, usually 2 each week. The first one, due by Tuesday noon of the assigned week, will address my assigned topic. The second, due by Thursday noon, will be your response to someone else’s posting. If I do not hear from you during the first 2 weeks of the semester, the registrar will drop you from the class roll. Be sure you notify Joe Conte (jconte@wesleyseminary.edu) right away if you are having difficulty getting onto the discussion board. (4% for each week’s postings; 40% total) b) 2 take-home essays (30% each), due on 3/28 and 4/29. The questions to be addressed in the essays are included in the syllabus. Each essay should be no shorter than 1500 words, and it may be no longer than 1800 words. (That’s about 5-6 pages, if you think in those terms.) They should be sent to Professor Ringe or Ms. Brown (whoever is working with your discussion group), not posted on the discussion board. These are not research papers, but rather they take the place of exams in the course. They must, therefore, reflect your critical reading of all materials assigned in the course. Do not consult the internet or other books not on the list of assigned readings for this course in the preparation of your essays.

The final grade for the course will be assigned according to the following scale: A = 94-100; A= 90-93; B+ = 87-89; B = 83-86; B-= 80-82; C+ = 77-79; C = 73-76; C-= 70-72; F = below 70.

I assume that all papers and postings will be written with correct grammar and accurately spelled words, and in language that does not exclude or offend. In addition, all papers must be accompanied by bibliographies, and all use of opinions, ideas, or information from other scholars must be properly cited using in-text references. A brief MLA style sheet for citing references is available under Week One of this course. That format is required for all work in this class.

Remember that stringing quotations end to end does not constitute a proper essay or posting! Essays that do not meet these criteria will be returned for revision, and your grade will be reduced. You may write your essays (but not your postings) in Spanish, French, or German if that is easier for you (Professor Ringe will grade them).

Disabilities Policy: If you have a physical, psychological, or learning disability and might require accommodations in this course, please contact the Associate Dean for Community Life immediately regarding Wesley’s policies and procedures for documenting and accommodating disabilities. (Contact information: x8612 or shaggray@wesleyseminary.edu)

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Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism is regarded as a serious offense and will result in substantial penalties, including the possibility of academic dismissal. The Faculty regards the following as forms of plagiarism or dishonesty: • Copying from another student’s paper • Giving or receiving unauthorized assistance to or from another student during an examination • Using unauthorized material during an examination • Borrowing and presenting as one’s own (i.e., without proper attribution) the composition or ideas of another. NOTE: This includes any material downloaded from the web!

• Submitting as one’s own work a paper written (or partially written) by another person Schedule Week 1 (1/19-21) – Introduction to the course. Read Robert Wright, “One World under God.” Posting assignment: Introduce yourself to the folks in your discussion group (posting due by noon on Friday, 1/22; no grade for this posting).

Week 2 (1/24-28) – Introduction to Paul. Read: Horsley and Silberman, pp. 114-162, 234-235; Benny Tat-Siong Liew, “Acts,” in Global Bible Commentary, pp. 419-428; Abraham Smith, “Paul and African American Interpretation,” in True to Our Native Land, pp. 31-42, and Craig Hill, “Paul and Power.”

Posting assignment: Liew, Smith, and Hill present three contextual perspectives on Paul’s work. Respond to the one of them that most challenges you.

Week 3 (1/31-2/4) – Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon.

Read the letters to the Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon; articles on those letters

by Monya A. Stubbs, Cain Hope Felder, and Lloyd A. Lewis in True to Our Native Land, pp. 363-379, 389-400, 437-443; Mitzi J. Smith, “Slavery in the Early Church,” in True to Our Native Land, pp. 11-22; Tamez, Amnesty, pp. 47-69, 79-84; and Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (a modern “prison letter”). If you have not read Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison, I’d recommend that you obtain a copy to guide your devotional reading. Posting assignment: By now it should already be clear to you that we are reading documents addressed to communities unlike ours. Why is it important to spend time getting to know those ancient contexts, as well as becoming aware of how our own contexts shape our reading of these documents that we call part of Scripture?

Week 4 (2/7-11) – 1 Corinthians. Read 1 Corinthians; the article on 1 Corinthians by Boykin Sanders in True to Our Native Land, pp. 276-306; Tamez, Amnesty, pp. 70-75, 84-91; and Bassler, pp. 1-47. A web site produced by United Methodist Women provides excellent resources on Corinth. Posting assignment: How have the geography, history, and culture of Corinth shaped the ethics and theology of this letter?

Week 5 (2/14-18) – 1 Corinthians, continued. Read Nicole Wilkinson Duran and Derya Demirer, “1 Corinthians 11 in Christian and Muslim Dialogue,” in Global Bible Commentary, pp.

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451-454; Richard Hayes, “Women should be silent in the churches.” Posting assignment: What do you see as the theological heart of this letter, and how does it inform Paul’s pastoral discussion of the specific issues?

Week 6 (2/21-25) – 2 Corinthians. Read 2 Corinthians and the article on 2 Corinthians by Guy Nave in True to Our Native Land, pp. 307-332. Posting assignment: Paul is rather harsh in his criticism of the “super-apostles.” What do you understand to be the criticisms he raises against them? Which of his criticisms strike you as legitimate and which strike you as illegitimate, and why?

Week 7 (2/28-3/4) – Galatians. Read Galatians; the article on Galatians by Brad R. Braxton in True to Our Native Land, pp. 333-347; Bassler, pp. 49-96; Tamez, Amnesty, pp. 75-79; and Horsley and Silberman, pp. 184-204. Posting assignment: What do you understand to be the theological reasons underlying Paul’s quarrel with the “other teachers” who have arrived in Galatia, and his anger at the Galatians who have accepted their teachings?

Reading week (3/7-11) – No reading assignments or postings due.

Week 8 (3/14-18) – Romans. Read Romans; the article on Romans by Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., in True to Our Native Land, pp. 249 -275; Tamez, Amnesty, pp. 93-166; and Horsley and Silberman, pp. 205-223. Posting assignment: Scholars debate the purpose of this letter. Was it to provide a summary of Paul’s theology for a congregation he did not found? Was it to address the pastoral situation of the Roman church once the Jews were allowed to return to the city? Was it a rehearsal of the arguments he planned to present in Jerusalem? Which of those alternatives strikes you as most pertinent, and why?

Week 9 (3/21-25) – James. Read James; the article on James by Gay L. Byron in True to Our Native Land, pp. 461-475; Cain Hope Felder, “Class and God’s Law: The Epistle of James,” in Troubling Biblical Waters, pp. 118-134; Tamez, “The Scandalous Message of James: The Angle of Praxis,” in The Bible and Liberation, pp. 531-540 (on Blackboard).

There is no posting assignment for this week. Instead, you should begin work on the paper that is to be posted by noon on 3/28, on the following topic: Discuss “faith” and “works” in Paul (especially in the letters to the Galatians and to the Romans) and James. What does each of these theologians mean by those terms? How do the respective social and historical contexts of the two Pauline letters shape his argument? What are your conclusions about the circumstances to which James is a response? How do you encounter these issues of “faith” and “works” in your own life or ministry?

Week 10 (3/28-4/1) – Faith and Works: Issues in Paul and James.

Your first paper is due by noon on 3/28, then start on the reading for week 11.

Week 11 (4/4-8) – Building on Paul: Colossians, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and 2 Thessalonians. Read Colossians, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and 2 Thessalonians; the articles on those letters by Mitzi J. Smith, Lloyd A. Lewis; Clarice J. Martin, and Cain Hope Felder in True to Our Native Land, pp. 348-362, 380-388, 409-436, and 401-408;

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Horsley and Silberman, pp. 224-232. Posting assignment: There is a saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Reflect on that saying as it relates to the meaning of Christ as that is reflected in Colossians and Ephesians.

Week 12 (4/11-15) – Cultural Shifts Shape the Church. Read Clarice J. Martin’s classic article, “The Haustafeln (Household Codes) in African American Biblical Interpretation: ‘Free Slaves’ and ‘Subordinate Women’,” in Stony the Road, pp. 206-231 (or on Blackboard).

Posting assignment: Spend some time studying the “household codes” in Col 3:18-4:1; Eph 5:22-6:9; and 1 Pet 2:13-3:7. We tend to lump them together, but there are substantial differences that distinguish them. Make notes for yourself (not part of your posting) about what groups are mentioned in each, and in what order, what groups are omitted, and what instructions are given to each. In your posting reflect on where the emphasis lies in each of the codes, and what leads you to that conclusion. What rationales are given? To what common ground is appeal made? Can you draw and conclusions about the circumstances being addressed in each community? How do you think different groups in the communities would have received these rules? (Mary Ann Tolbert reminds us that we should ask of every text, Cui bono?—“Who benefits?” Be careful: the answers are not as obvious or one-sided as you might think!)

Week 13 (4/18-22)—Other “letters”: Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude. Read Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude; articles on those letters by James Earl Massey and Larry George in True to Our Native Land, pp. 444-460, 476-495, and 518-522; Sharon H. Ringe, “1 Peter,” “2 Peter,” and “Jude,” in the Global Biblical Commentary; and Teresa Okure, “Hebrews: Sacrifice in an African Perspective,” in the Global Bible Commentary, pp. 535-538. Posting assignment: These “letters,” along with James, are called the “general” or “catholic” letters.

Do find them to have this sort of universal applicability or appeal today? Why or why not?

Week 14 (4/25-29)—Revelation. Read Revelation; article on Revelation by Brian Blount in True to Our Native Land, pp. 523-558. There is a suggestion on the discussion board for an optional discussion, if you wish to participate.

Your second paper is due by 9 a.m. on 4/30, on the following topic: Discuss the transition from a generally “charismatic” to a predominantly “institutional” model of Christianity (as we have been using those terms in this course). What were some of the theological, liturgical, and ecclesial consequences of that shift? What was its effect on — and how was it affected by — the changing social and economic constituency of the church, questions of ethnicity and gender, and the church's relationships with other social institutions?

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