Wednesday 1 November 2017

Johannine Christianity



The Gospel of John is a gospel dramatically different from the Synoptic Gospels. 

It is full of long dialogues, it speaks of "signs" rather than exorcisms or miracles, and its narrative differs at many points from the Synoptics. 

Themes in the Gospel are also repeated throughout--themes such as ascending and descending, light and darkness, seeing and knowing.

Johannine literature also presents a high Christology that equates Jesus with God. 

The Gospel also reflects the sectarian nature of the community to which the author belonged.

00:00 - Chapter 1. 
Narratival Differences between the Gospel of John and the Synoptic Gospels
23:54 - Chapter 2. 
Major Themes of the Gospel of John
32:25 - Chapter 3. 
Johannine Sectarianism
42:47 - Chapter 4. 
Johannine Christology

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2009.


Introduction to New Testament (RLST 152)

The Jesus of the Gospel of John often speaks in riddles so that his dialogues with characters such as Nicodemus appear confusing, rather than clarifying. 

The focus, however, of the Gospel of John is on Christology. 

In the Gospel, Jesus is divine. So it is also in 1 John, where many of the themes of the Gospel are echoed. 

1, 2, and 3 John possibly present us with correspondences of the Johannine community, a sectarian group insisting on the divinity and humanity of Jesus, against the Docetists and other differing forms of early Christianity.

00:00 - Chapter 1. 
Riddles and Division in the Gospel of John

13:24 - Chapter 2. 
Differing Christologies in Early Christianity

24:23 - Chapter 3. 
Themes in 1 John

36:38 - Chapter 4. 
Sectarianism and 1 John

41:50 - Chapter 5. 
The Changing Community of 2 and 3 John

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses


Introduction to New Testament (RLST 152)

It is obvious that certain narratives in the New Testament contradict each other and cannot be woven into a historically coherent whole. 

How, then, do scholars construct who the "historical Jesus" was? 

There are several principles that historical Jesus researchers follow, which include considering data that 

1) has multiple attestations and 
2) is dissimilar to a text's theological tendencies as more likely to be historical. 

Using the modern methods of historical research, it becomes possible to construct a "historical Jesus."

00:00 - Chapter 1. 
Contradictory Accounts in the New Testament

13:25 - Chapter 2. 
Finding History in the New Testament

26:27 - Chapter 3. 
Methods of Historical Jesus Research

47:53 - Chapter 4. 
Who Was the Historical Jesus?

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

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