New Testament I: Life of Christ
Overview
[Begin Transcript] Hello. Have you ever wondered how the gospels hang together? How you read all four of them, possibly in sequence? Of course, you can’t always have sequential elements in the gospels. There’s quite a bit of thematic structure in the gospels, in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Have you ever wondered how to make all of that hang together? Why do you have three gospels sort of gathered together on one side, we call them the Synoptics, and then you have the fourth gospel, the gospel of John over here, and they never seem to be correlated? Is it possible to correlate those gospels? These types of questions we attempt to answer in this course, BIB203, Life of Christ.
In this course, you will be exposed briefly to a treatment of the history of critical methodology that’s been applied to the gospels in the last two to three hundred years before we actually dive into the gospels. And of course, the gospels are quite voluminous in terms of the themes and the topics that we can actually delve into. So what we are going to do is something a bit more truncated than that. We are going to, Lord willing, look at the Synoptics and see where they correlated with the fourth gospel where possible. We’re also going to look at the Synoptics by themselves and seek to harmonize, to whatever extent is possible, all of those narratives that see together, as it were. That’s the meaning of the word synoptic. I hope this is an enjoyable journey for you, and God bless. [End Transcript]
Course Description: This course is an introduction to the principles and practice of interpreting the Bible using the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method of interpretation. The course introduces students to key principles related to this method and then provides guidelines for applying these principles to determine the author's originally intended meaning. Students learn how to integrate electronic tools into the process. The course concludes with suggestions on how to determine the relevance of these original thoughts to our own lives.
Learning Outcomes: The learner will:
- Describe the key elements in the interpretive process and their relationship to the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method.
- Recall the basic principles and practices of the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method of interpretation.
- Demonstrate competence in doing Bible study following the principles and guidelines of the historical-grammatical-rhetorical method of interpretation.
- Utilize online resources to assist in the study of Scripture.
- Demonstrate the ability to apply the teachings of Scripture to their lives.
Course Outline:
Unit 1: Synoptic Problem/Background to the Gospels
This unit will introduce the main outlines of the Synoptic Problem, which will include background to the authorship of the Gospels.
| View: | Introduction/Course Overview |
| View: | The Synoptic Problem: Form Criticism |
| View: | The Synoptic Problem: Source Criticism |
| View: | The Synoptic Problem: Redaction Criticism |
| Reading: | Reading Assignment |
| Complete: | Assignment |
| Complete: | Quiz |
Unit 2: Background to the Gospels: The Evangelists
This unit will continue the discussion on the background to the authorship of the Gospels, focusing on the biographies of the evangelists.
| View: | Mark as Author |
| View: | Matthew as Author |
| View: | Luke as Author |
| View: | John as Author |
| Read: | Reading |
| Complete: | Assignment |
| Complete | Quiz |
Unit 3: Mark and Its Arrangement in Matthew and Luke, Part 1
This unit will explore the Gospel of Mark in terms of content, in addition to looking at Matthew's and Luke's handling of the Markan material.
| View: | Content of Mark |
| View: | Matthew's Use of Mark |
| View: | Luke's Use of Mark |
| View: | Summary |
| Read: | Supplementary Reading Assignments (2) |
| Complete: | Assignment |
| Submit: | Quiz |
Unit 4: Mark and Its Arrangement in Matthew and Luke, Part 2
This unit will explore the Gospel of Mark in terms of content, in addition to looking at Matthew and Luke's handling of the Markan material.
| View: | Synoptic Example 1 |
| View: | Synoptic Example 2 |
| View: | Synoptic Example 3 |
| Read: | Supplementary Reading Assignments (3) |
| Complete: | Assignment |
| Submit: | Quiz |
Unit 5: John and Its Contribution to the Synoptic Gospels, Part 1
This unit will explore the content of the Fourth Gospel and Its Contribution to the Synoptic portrait.
| View: | Johannine/Synoptic Example 1 |
| View: | Johannine/Synoptic Example 2 |
| View: | Johannine/Synoptic Example 3 |
| View: | Johannine/Synoptic Example 4 |
| Read: | Supplementary Reading Assignment |
| Complete: | Assignment |
| Submit: | Quiz |
Unit 6: John and Its Contribution to the Synoptic Gospels, Part 2
This unit will explore the content of the Fourth Gospel and Its contribution to the Synoptic portrait.
| View: | Johannine/Synoptic Example 1 |
| View: | Johannine/Synoptic Example 2 |
| View: | Johannine/Synoptic Example 3 |
| View: | Johannine/Synoptic Example 4 |
| Read: | Supplementary Reading Assignments (2) |
| Complete: | Assignment |
| Submit: | Quiz |
| Submit: | Course Final Examination |
The courses available through the Blue Letter Bible Institute are taught from a range of evangelical traditions. Therefore every idea and principal conveyed in each course may not necessarily be held in total by the ministry of Blue Letter Bible or the Blue Letter Bible Institute. For more information please visit our site at www.BlueLetterBible.org.
Note: All Scripture references are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise indicated.