3-4 Credits
Professor Smith
MWF 12:55-1:45 pm
Cross-listed with THEO 329X and THEO 529X
Fulfills upper level theology requirement

Who was Jesus? A first-century Jewish rabbi calling Israel to return to covenant fidelity with Yahweh? A Galilean peasant proclaiming a subversive message of social and economic justice? A wandering Cynic sage? A mystical healer? The Son of God? The four canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) represent some of the earliest and most widely known literary attempts to interpret the significance of this man’s life, death, and resurrection. They are by no means the only such attempts, however: numerous non-canonical gospels give strikingly different accounts of the importance of Jesus. Moreover, throughout the history of the church, readers of these primary sources have interpreted them in myriad ways, yielding portraits of Jesus that both complement and contradict each other.

This course examines some of the aims, methods, and results of attempts—both religious and secular—to understand Jesus of Nazareth over the past two millennia. In our study of the Gospels, we will concern ourselves with the following broad questions: What can be known about the historical person of Jesus? Of what theological significance is this figure for contemporary Christian faith? How has this figure shaped western intellectual history, and how have various cultural concerns shaped our portrayal of him? We will further explore the portrayal of Jesus in fiction and film. Among the films to be viewed and discussed will be: The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorcese, 1988); Jesus of Montreal (Arcand, 1989); The Passion of the Christ (Gibson, 2004); and Son of Man (Dornford-May, 2006).

Requirements will include the following: weekly critical assignments, writing assignments totaling approximately 20 pages, facilitation of a class discussion, and an oral presentation.

Texts may include:

• Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) with Apocrypha (Oxford University Press) 9780195283808.
• Chris Keith and Larry Hurtado, eds., Jesus Among Friends and Enemies (Baker Academic) 9780801038952
• N. T. Wright, Simply Jesus (HarperOne) 9780062084392
• Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus Through the Centuries (Yale) 9780300079876
• Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (Harcourt) 9780156001410
• Mark Noll, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind (Eerdmans) 9780802866370