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

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 Eagle and the Philologist: Notes for a Historical Exegesis of the Gospel of John.

In the traditional view, the fourth canonical gospel represents the theological and christological pinnacle of Gospel writing, its plot and texture being replete with hidden meanings to be decoded by way of a careful allegorical reading. This course aims to help both demolish this idolum and bring the interpretation of the Gospel of John back to the 'earthly' and 'material' conditions underlying the genesis and transmission of the text, by integrating into the analysis the most promising approaches which have emerged in the last decades of critical exegesis.

After a brief methodological introduction (first two lessons), we will be reading the Greek text of the Gospel for the rest of the course: the attempt will be made to re-contextualize the work within Hebrew - and non Hebrew - literature of the Graeco-Roman period and to offer a more detailed, philological and historical commentary of some of the most relevant passages.

Readings/Bibliography

a) Ancient Sources:

Scritti di Qumran, 2 voll., a cura di C. Martone, Paideia, Brescia 2014-2016;

Testi di Qumran, a cura di F. García Martínez, Paideia, Brescia 2003.

b) Comprehensive Studies:

A. Destro - M. Pesce, Come nasce una religione. Antropologia ed esegesi del Vangelo di Giovanni, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2000.

S. Guijarro Oporto, I quattro vangeli, Morcelliana, Brescia 2019, pp. 191-202 and 443-532.

c) Essays:

F. Adinolfi, Il Vangelo dei Segni e i suoi predecessori. La Sēmeia-Quelle come rilettura post-70 di Marco e di Q [I parte], Annali di Storia dell'Esegesi 37/2 (2020), pp. 339-379;

Id., ll Vangelo dei Segni e i suoi predecessori. La Sēmeia-Quelle come rilettura post-70 di Marco e di Q [II parte], Annali di Storia dell'Esegesi 38/1 (2021), pp. 109-147;

A. Destro - M. Pesce, Il profetismo e la nascita di una religione: il caso del giovannismo, in Carisma profetico, fattore di innovazione religiosa, ed. by G. Filoramo, Morcelliana, Brescia 2003, pp. 87-106;

T. Nicklas, Creating the Other: The “Jews” in the Gospel of John: Past and Future Lines of Scholarship, in Perceiving the Other in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, ed. by M. Bar-Asher Siegal, W. Grünstäudl and M. Thiessen, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2017, pp. 49-66.

Teaching methods

Lectures; analysis of literary texts; use of bibliographic and electronic databases; audio- and video resources.

Assessment methods

Oral exam. Students will have to prove their abilities

• to read, understand, and discuss the Greek text of the Gospel of John;
• to interpret and profile the Gospel of John as a cultural, historical and literary artifact, supplementing and integrating class notes with one collection of Qumran texts of their choice from among the two enlisted supra in Bibliography under the entry Ancient Sources;
• to sketch and discuss the material, socio-historical, and cultural processes that lead to the production and transmission of the texts as we know it, in the light of the two volumes cited supra in Bibliography under the entry Comprehensive Studies.

Students who cannot attend the lessons will substitute class notes with two readings of their choice to be selected from those cited supra in Bibliography under the entry Essays.

Alternatively, upon agreement with the teacher, attending students can substitute the oral exam as a whole with a written paper focusing on the translation and interpretation of a selected passage from the Greek text of the Gospel of John.

Skills will be assessed according to the following guidelines:
- failing grade (< 18): inability to translate short sections from the Greek text of the Gospel of John; inability to provide a correct interpretation of the texts discussed during the course and/or to comment on the selected critical essay(s).
- passing grade (between 18 and 24): elementary ability to translate short sections from the Greek text of the Gospel of John; inaccuracy and lack of autonomy in providing a correct interpretation of the texts discussed during the course and/or in commenting on the selected critical essay(s).
- positive grade (between 24 and 30): good comprehension of the grammatical and syntactical structures of the Greek text of the Gospel of John; interpretation of the texts discussed during the course is correct, but mostly superficial and not entirely autonomous; the critical discussion of the selected essay(s) is vague and cursory.
- excellent grade (30L): in-depth knowledge of the grammatical and syntactical structures of the Greek text of the Gospel of John; precision and full autonomy in interpreting, contextualizing and critically comparing the texts discussed during the course; the critical discussion of the selected essay(s) is detailed and deep-ranging.

Teaching tools

Computer and projector; bibliographic and electronic databases; fotocopies; texts and segments of texts in PDF format uploaded by the teacher as teaching materials (downloadable from https://iol.unibo.it).

Office hours

See the website of Daniele Tripaldi