30358 - Philology and Exegesis of the New Testament (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Docente: Antonio Cacciari
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: L-FIL-LET/06
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Philology, Literature and Classical Tradition (cod. 0970)

Learning outcomes

The students will get a deep knowledge on exegetical methods, from introductory notions to guided use of research instruments applied to the text of the New Testament.

Course contents

The Gospel of Mark (30 hours, 6 cfu)

The program of the course will be developed as follows:

1st part (10 hours):

– the Gospel of Mark within the whole corpus of the New Testament;

– the Gospel of Mark within the synoptic tradition;

– authenticity, canonicity, date, authorship, literary structure, theological contents.

– the influence of the Gospel of Mark from the beginnings of Christian literature to contemporary age.

2nd part (20 hours):

– reading of the Greek text of the Gospel of Mark, translation and commentary.

Readings/Bibliography

a) A short introduction to the New Testament:

G. THEISSEN, Il Nuovo Testamento, Roma, Carocci 2003

b) Text of the Gospel of Mark:

i) Greek text of the Gospel of Mark: E. Nestle - K. Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, (ed. 28a), Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart 2012 (the pages containing the text of the Gospel of Mark will be uploaded by the teacher in the didactic materials);

ii) Italian text of the Gospel of Mark: ed. CEI (= Conferenza Episcopale Italiana), 2008, freely downloadable (the text will also be uploaded caricato dal docente by the teacher in the didactic materials). The text of Bibbia di Gerusalemme (1st ed., EDB, Bologna 1974 [repr.]; 2nd ed., EDB, Bologna 2009 [repr.] is recommended, as containing many useful footnotes.

c) Commentaries to the Gospel of Mark:

E. BEST, Mark. The Gospel as Story, Edinburgh, T & T Clark 1983;

C.E.B. CRANFIELD, The Gospel according to Saint Mark, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 19773

J. ERNST, Il vangelo secondo Marco, Morcelliana, Brescia 1991

R. PESCH, Il Vangelo di Marco, Paideia, Brescia 1980-1982 (2 voll.);

E. SCHWEIZER, Il Vangelo secondo Marco, Paideia, Brescia 1971

H.B. SWETE, The Gospel according to Saint Mark, London, Macmillan & Co. 1913

V. TAYLOR, The Gospel according to Mark, London 1966

V. TAYLOR, Marco: commento al Vangelo messianico, Assisi, Cittadella 1977;

F. URICCHIO – G. STANO, Vangelo secondo S. Marco, Torino, Marietti 1966

Teaching methods

The students will get an advanced knowledge concerning exegetical methods, from an introductory learning about the contents of the New Testament to the use of exegetical tools applied to an important gospel, the Gospel of Mark.

Students will be guided to the exegesis of New Testament texts by oral lessons and seminars.

Assessment methods

The exam will consist of:

— reading, translating and commenting some lines of the Gospel of Mark (integral reading; for the students of Classics, in the Greek text); the chosen commentary (see Bibliography, [b]) will be the work of reference;

— discussing the texts given by the professor during the lessons and uploaded;

— discussing the full reading of the New Testament in Italian translation; the short introductory handbook will also be considered.

The students who cannot attend lessons:

a) will study the whole program (see above);

b) will substitute the lesson notes with 2 essays at choice from the following collections:

- D.E. ORTON (a c. di), The Composition of Mark’s Gospel, Brill, Leiden 1999;

- M. BOCKMUEHL – D.A. HANGER (a c. di), The Written Gospel, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2005;

- H.N. ROSKAM (ed.), The Purpose of the Gospel of Mark in its Historical and Social Context, Leiden, Brill 2004;

– A. BELANO, La non-finale del Vangelo di Marco (Mc 16,8), “Rivista Biblica” 58/3 (2010), 371-378;

– C. MAZZUCCO, Per una rilettura del "discorso escatologico" di Marco: osservazioni sulla struttura e sui rapporti col contesto, “Rudiae. Ricerche sul mondo classico” 12 (2000), 103-133;

– E. CORSINI, 'Egli viene con le nubi'. Le profezie messianiche di Daniele nel vangelo di Marco e nell'Apocalisse, in: Atti del IV Simposio di Efeso su S. Giovanni Apostolo, Turchia: la Chiesa e la sua storia (Turchia 6), Roma, Istituto Francescano di Spiritualità - Roma, Pontificio Ateneo Antoniano, 1994, 7-28.

In order obtain a good mark, the students will demonstrate:

– to be able to translate from Greek one or more verses of the Gospel of Mark;

– to know the main critical issues concerning the Gospel of Mark;

– to know in general the writings of the New Testament;

– (for the students who cannot attend lessons) to know the content of 2 of the essays assigned. 

Teaching tools

Lectures; use of bibliographic and electronic databases.

Office hours

See the website of Antonio Cacciari