TM103.5 Introduction to the New Testament

What is this Module all about?

• Full module description for TM103.5
• Sample class timetables
• Sample book lists
• Old sample essay titles

Books

• Wenham D and Walton S., Exploring the New Testament The Gospels and Acts London, SPCK, 2003
• Marshall I. et al. Exploring the New Testament The Letters and Revelations London, SPCK, 2003
• Goodacre M. The Synoptic ProblemSheffield Academic Press, 2001
• Malina B and Rohrbaugh R. Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels Minneapolis, Fortress Press 1992
• Prejeant R . Engaging the New Testament: An Interdisciplinary Introduction Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 1995
• IVP Bible Dictionary Series:
  • Green J et al. Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels Leicester, IVP, 1992
  • Hawthorne G et al. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Leicester, IVP, 1993
  • Martin R and Davids P. Dictionary of the Later New Testament and its DevelopmentsLeicester, IVP, 1997

TM103.5 NT Web Resources

The Internet is not 100% reliable and documents move, disappear and change their names. If you find a link does not work, try again in an hour, a day, or a week. But do feel free to email us to report a link doesn't work. Don't forget to tell us the name of the link!

Gateways to New Testament web sites (Links to links on the NT.)

Rutger's Virtual Religion Index

Links to all matters relating to the New Testament most of a good academic standard.

Hivolda University, Sweden

Lots of good links to English material of reasonable quality.

New Testament Gateway

A list of links to good scholarly and academic works on the NT created and maintained by a NT lecturer from Birmingham University

New Testament Maps

Birmingham's Maps of the Biblical World

The place to go for links to online maps - everything from the spread of Christianity to maps of Jerusalem.

Luther Seminary's Maps of the Biblical World

Maps of the Land of Israel during biblical times.

Maps for the Gospels

From the makers of the Jesus film a selection of maps related to the historic Jesus.

Maps for Paul

Maps related to the life of Paul and the Letter to the Corinthians.

Online Bibles and Commentaries (usually older versions because they are free)

Crosswire's Bible Tool

Crosswire together with the American Bible Society and SBL has set up this online Bible resource which has innumerable foreign language versions as well as the classic English texts including all Bible Society texts

CCEL Worldwide Study Bible

Gives links to bible versions and commentaries (again usually older and copyright free)for each book and chapter of the bible

Gospelcom's Bible Gateway

If you don't have your own bible search software this site lets you search and print for particular search words or verses in a variety of versions - also useful for comparing bible versions

Crosswalk's Bible Study Tools

Similar to the above, you can see various bibles, commentaries, concordances, dictionaries but also includes Hebrew and Greek.

Internet Christian Library

Articles and links to online bibles, commentaries, bible study materials and other christian books.

Birmingham's All in One Biblical Resources

Mark Goodacres's Birmingham University site includes among other things the ability to search a lot of bible sites i.e. bible versions for particular chapters and verses as well as key words.

Bible.org's commentaries and articles

Contains a growing set of online commentaries on the NT books by a variety of authors. Fairly conservative but engaging with academic subjects and the major scholars. Look around the home page for other useful articles.

McGill University

More biblical studies, bible, commentaries etc. lists

Theology Website

Theology Website has articles on each of the NT books giving background information on the book's structure and background, based on Guthrie's NT Introduction so broadly evangelical.

Bill Loader's NT articles

Bill Loader of Murdoch University Australia has written commentaries and scholarly articles for his classes and for respected journals

St Benet's Hall

Father D Wansbrough has prepared Introductions to the Gospels and Paul for his seminary students in Oxford

The Synoptic Problem (Links and Articles specifically on the relationship between Matthew, Mark and Luke)

A Synoptic Gospels Primer

An excellent site on the Synoptics, different theories and comparison of texts in RSV format from the Department of Religion Rutgers University New Jersey

Answers on the Synoptic Problem

Another very useful site on the Synoptic Problem and the different theories in FAQ format.

Torrey's Synoptic Links

A generally useful site, this section contains some good academic links on the Synoptic Problem and the Synoptic Gospels.

Gospel perspectives

A short introduction to the perspectives of the different gospels and the synoptic problem.

The Synoptics again

Specific links and articles from a site good on the gospels generally (see below)

The Case Against Q

Michael Goulder and Mark Goodacres attempt to solve the synoptic problems without Q - a minority view, well argued

The Gospels(Other Works dealing with Jesus and the Gospels)

Electronic New Testament Educational Resources

Felix Just SJ's site has good general introductions to most bible books and good links. He lectures at Loyola Marymount University

The Quest for the Historical Jesus

A scholarly (if rather sceptical) attempt to see behind the New Testament portraits of Jesus and the traditions of the church to discover the true identity and message of Jesus

Textweek's Gospel articles

A labour of love by Jenee Woodard. Textweek is designed to provide resources related to the Common Lectionary readings. Look around this site more widely as there are specific pages for each Gospel and Acts. The page on Mark is especially full

The Johannine Literature Web

A web site dedicated to the Fourth Gospel and the Johannine Epistles

John's Gospel

The Australian Catholic University has put up some samples fo their distance learning courses. This is a good overview course of John's Gospel. See also The world and literature of the bible

Paul and The Epistles (Works dealing with Paul and the Epistles attributed to him)

Pauline Literature

The Australian Catholic University has put up some samples fo their distance learning courses. This is a good overview course of the Pauline Literature. See also The world and literature of the bible

Textweek's Pauline Articles

A labour of love by Jenee Woodard. Textweek is designed to provide resources related to the Common Lectionary readings. She has come up with many links on Paul - academic and not so academic.

The NT Gateway on Paul

The Pauline section of the NT Gateway. A list of links to good scholarly and academic works on the NT created and maintained by a NT lecturer from Birmingham - lots of links to get you started.

St Paul the Apostle Home Page

A home page for St Paul set up by students at the Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando under Dr R Kidd's oversight

In the footsteps of St Paul

A web site of a tour made by 20 Methodists and Catholics to the sites of Paul's ministry. Helps to root the Pauline epistles in real places and environments. Plenty of photos and good descriptions of then and now.

Bible.org's commentaries and articles

The place to go for online commentaries and articles on each of the Pauline epistles, but fairly traditional and conservative.

Paul's life and theology

Using the Pauline letters this site explores what we can know of Paul's work, his teaching. There is also a section on how the letters interact with the Book of Acts.

The Paul Page

Articles by Mattison on the new perspective on Paul - i.e. the move since Sanders to see Paul in his Jewish context with a much more positive approach to Judaism, the law etc.

Acts, Revelation and the non-Pauline Epistles (Works not attributed to Paul)

Preaching Apocalyptic Passages

William Willimon, outstanding American preacher writes on preaching Apocalyptic passages such as Revelation.

The Johannine epistles

A website devoted to academic study of the Johannine Literature.

NT Studies and Methodology (NT Interpretation)

Trends in NT Study

"Drawing from the Treasure both Old and New" an article by Mark Goodacre NT Lecturer at Birmingham from Scripture Bulletin 27/2 on current trends in NT Studies.

Historical and Newer Criticism Explained

An easy to follow explanation of the different types of historical criticisms - source, form, redaction and more recent literary and post-modern criticisms from Goshen University. Less detailed than the explanations from Santa Clara below.

Another Explanation of the Biblical Criticisms

Another fairly easy to follow explanation of the different types of historical literary and post-modern criticisms from Santa Clara University. More detailed than the explanations at Goshen University above.

The Interpretation of Ancient Manuscripts

A fascinatingly detailed site dealing with the production of ancient manuscripts and how to decipher them i.e. NT textual criticism, including notes on all the Greek NT variants and an exercise in textual comparison.

The Bible Researcher

A site for Bible students who are looking for detailed information on the history of the canon, texts, and versions of Scripture.

The New Testament World Sites that deal with the Roman and Jewish worlds of the first century

The Perseus Project

The Perseus Project is an ambituous project to get many ancient documents on line in the original languages and in translation. Besides Greek Grammars and the Latin Vulgate you will find here Whiston's translation of the Works of Josephus.

Online Biblical Journals Bible Studies Journals that appear online

BSW Journal

A site aimed at encouraging biblical studies journals to go online. It gives links to those that are online such as Biblica and American Journal of Biblical Theology. Also has links to commentaries and other bible study tools.

Apocryphal Works Apocryphal Works and Gnostic Gospels

Gospel of Thomas

Full text of the Gospel of Thomas as well as links to other Gnostic and Apocryphal works.

Why not tell us of some sites you have found useful? If the webmaster agrees we'll list them here.

Documents for this module online include:

• Class timetable and schedule
• Book list
• Current essay titles (if not yet available you will see sample essay titles. The same essay titles are used at all three Centres)
• Any handouts submitted for circulation (many tutors are not yet happy to have their handouts online - but the number available is growing -so keep checking)

Documents for this module online include:

• Class timetable and schedule
• Book list
• Current essay titles (if not yet available you will see sample essay titles. The same essay titles are used at all three Centres)
• Any handouts submitted for circulation (many tutors are not yet happy to have their handouts online - but the number available is growing -so keep checking)

Documents for this module online include:

• Class timetable and schedule
• Book list
• Current essay titles (the same essay titles are used at all Centres - if not available you will see samples.)
• Any handouts submitted for circulation (many tutors are not yet happy to have their handouts online - but the number available is growing -so keep checking)

Go ahead - be the first to submit something

Module Description for TM103.5

Code and title

Tutor

Brief description

Level and Credits

Status

Type

Prerequisites

Recommended prior study*

Restrictions*

Content summary

• A brief introduction to the principal types of New Testament literature (gospel, epistle, narrative, apocalyptic) and their main characteristics
• An introduction to current thinking on the historical and sociological background to the New Testament
• An introduction to the similarities and differences between the gospels and issues of historicity and interpretation
• A more detailed look at Mark's gospel, Hebrews and Revelation and the issues involved in applying them today
• A survey of current issues in Pauline studies
• A brief introduction to the most significant approaches to the New Testament in current scholarship and the main issues under scholarly debate
• Discussion on how one might move from text to application

Learning outcomes

1. Knowledge and Understanding
   • Be familiar with the principal types of New Testament literature and their main characteristics.
   • Have an understanding of the social, historical and intellectual forces that produced and shaped the literature.
   • Be aware of the main historical, literary and post-structural criticisms being applied to the New Testament.
   • Be aware of the main areas of debate in Pauline scholarship
   • Have an overview of the structure, theology and possible interpretations of Mark's gospel, Hebrews and Revelation
   • Understand the Synoptic problem and the main answers given
2. Skills
   • Be able to make discriminating use of commentaries and other aids to biblical study.
   • Be able to handle the diversity of material and theology found within the New Testament in a way that way that does justice to the complexities and subtleties of the Bible
   • Have begun to apply biblical passages to modern church issues in a way that demonstrates awareness of the complex theological, historical and pastoral issues involved.
   • Be able to gather and evaluate information for relevance to a particular issue including the ability to use library resources in order to identify source material, compile bibliographies, inform research and enhance presentations.
   • Be able to express conclusions and communicate information and ideas, clearly and cogently with appropriate evidence and support material.

Teaching and learning

Assessment

Exceptionally, this assignment may be combined with that for assessment of the TM103.5 Introduction to New Testament unit provided that both tutors responsible are satisfied that the chosen subject will adequately test the student's grasp of both fields.

Indicative resources

• Wenham D and Walton S., Exploring the New Testament The Gospels and Acts London, SPCK, 2003
• Marshall I. et al. Exploring the New Testament The Letters and Revelations London, SPCK, 2003
• Goodacre M. The Synoptic ProblemSheffield Academic Press, 2001
• Malina B and Rohrbaugh R. Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels Minneapolis, Fortress Press 1992
• Prejeant R . Engaging the New Testament: An Interdisciplinary Introduction Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 1995
• IVP Bible Dictionary Series:

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