RUTGERS UNIVERSITY 
RELIGION
DEPARTMENT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY RELIGION
DEPARTMENT
840:202 
New Testament
Introduction to current scholarship
on the formation of the canonical Christian scriptures.The New Testament (NT) is sacred scripture for Christians & revered by many as the inspired word of God. Yet, even a casual reading shows that its contents are not focused on abstract theology but rather on particular historical events in the first century of the current era.
The NT developed over a half century or so in a critical period of the early Roman empire. It is not a unified work composed by a single author, but a collection of writings by many writers, each with a distinctive viewpoint. These works were originally composed for different first-century audiences, each faced with its own unique problems.
For much of history these distinctions were ignored, as Christian preachers and scholars mined the biblical text as a source of authoritative doctrine for their own contemporaries. Unfortunately, instead of promoting unanimity this procedure frequently resulted in bitter controversy and sectarian feuds.
About three centuries ago, however, during the intellectual renaissance that is generally called the Enlightenment, scholars began to put the NT into historical perspective. They realized that each book in the NT should be studied as a separate literary work, that could be compared to and contrasted with other writings both within the NT and beyond. Modern biblical research has had its own share of controversies. But the scholars engaged in historical-literary analysis of the NT have committed themselves to clarifying the contents and original rationale for the composition of each writing. And this has produced consensus on a broad range of findings about the history of the NT and early Christianity that transcends confessional differences.
This survey course is designed to introduce students to the discoveries and major problem areas of modern NT research, to enable them to assess current contributions to the scholarly debate about Christian origins intelligently. The course focuses on three primary issues:
comparison of the four gospel portraits of Jesus & the problem of their literary relationship.
development of the message of Paul & the problem of authenticity of the letters ascribed to him.
the relation of early Christians to Jews & historical reasons for the separation of the two traditions.
The modern historical quest of the Jesus behind the gospels is also introduced; as is the historical setting of NT works such as Hebrews & Revelation.
Course Syllabi
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This page was revised 01 November 2002