10544 - Philology and New Testament Exegesis (1)

Course contents

The course aims to provide students with basic knowledge about the formation of the New Testament and its historical, philological and cultural place in the context of Jewish-Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman literature.

The course will focus upon:

i) The formation of New Testament as a collection of Jewish-Hellenistic writings (re-assessment of the notion of ‘New Testament’; sketch of the development from the oral teaching of Jesus and his first disciples to the progressive constitution, and later ‘canonization’, of a literary corpus of ‘apostolic’, authoritative writings; language, style, and literary forms characteristic of New Testament writings: 15 hours).

ii) Overview of the New Testament writings (real or supposed authors; dating; contents); selected, analytical case studies in New Testament exegesis (15 hours).

Readings/Bibliography

a) Anthology of Texts

A. ANNESE-F. BERNO-M. FALLICA-M. MANTOVANI, Le origini cristiane. Testi e autori (secoli I-II), Carocci, Roma 2021, only pp. 21-353.

b) Literary Outline

C. MORESCHINI-E. NORELLI, Storia della letteratura cristiana greca e latina, I: Da Paolo all'età costantiniana, nuova edizione riveduta e ampliata, Morcelliana, Brescia 2019, only pp. 27-223:

c) Essays

F. ADINOLFI, Giovanni Battista. Un profilo storico del maestro di Gesù, Carocci, Roma 2021.

R.E. DeMARIS, The New Testament in Its Ritual World, Routledge, Abingdon 2008.

A. DESTRO-M. PESCE, Il Battista e Gesù. Due movimenti giudaici nel tempo della crisi, Carocci, Roma 2021.

J. EYL, Signs, Wonders, and Gifts. Divination in the Letters of Paul, Oxford University Press, OXford 2019, pp. 20-85.

S.R. HUEBNER, Papyri and the Social World of the New Testament, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2019.

H.O. MAIER, New Testament Christianity in the Roman World, Oxford University Press, New York, NY 2018.

G. RINALDI, Archeologia del Nuovo Testamento. Un'introduzione, Carocci, Roma 2020.

R.F. WALSH, The Origins of Early Christian Literature. Contextualizing the New Testament within Greco-Roman Literary Culture, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2021;

Teaching methods

Lectures; use of bibliographic and electronic databases.

Assessment methods

Oral exam. Students will have to prove

• to have read and be able to interpret the New Testament within the framework of the earliest Christian literary production, supplementing and integrating class notes with the anthology of texts quoted supra in Bibliography, point a);
• to be able to discuss the main exegetical problems arising from a critical reading of the writings included in the New Testament as complex literary, historical, and cultural products of 1st-2nd century CE Hellenistic Judaism, with the help of the critical introduction quoted supra in Bibliography, point b);

Additionally, students who cannot attend the lessons will substitute class notes with two chapters of their choice from the books listed supra in Bibliography, point c).

More to the point, skills will be assessed according to the following guidelines:
- failing grade (< 18): lack of knowledge of the New Testament corpus; inability to provide a correct interpretation of texts; lacking notions of literary history and the exegetical approaches relevant for the understanding and contextualization of the New Testament corpus and its formation.
- passing grade (between 18 and 24): elementary knowledge of the New Testament corpus; interpretation of texts is partially correct, but lacks accuracy and autonomy; schematic knowledge of the notions of literary history and the exegetical approaches relevant for the understanding and contextualization of the New Testament corpus and its formation.
- positive grade (between 24 and 30): good knowledge of the New Testament corpus; interpretation of texts is correct, but mostly superficial and not entirely autonomous; good knowledge of the notions of literary history and the exegetical approaches relevant for the understanding and contextualization of the New Testament corpus and its formation.
- excellent grade (30L): in-depth knowledge of the New Testament corpus; ability to interpret, contextualize and critically compare texts in detail and in full autonomy; full acquaintance with the notions of literary history and the exegetical approaches relevant for the understanding and contextualization of the New Testament corpus and its formation.

 

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