Description    Learning Objectives     Textbooks     Requirements     Grading Basis     Schedule

Course Description:  Considers Paul’s correspondence with the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. Special note is made of the historical-cultural setting, content, doctrinal themes and modern application of these letters. Prerequisites: BNT101, BGN 201.

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Learning Objectives:  As a result of completing BNT303 in an attentive and disciplined manner, students will:

1.  be able to describe, discuss, and evaluate the traditional and alternate views of authorship, date, and historical-cultural setting of these letters.

2.  be able to identify the common rhetorical components of Pauline letters, and especially the rhetorical outline and sections of these letters.

3.  be able to describe and discuss the broad outline and contents of each letter, and identify its major highlights.

4.  be able to form and articulate personal, congregational, and societal interpretations and applications from these letters to inform and deepen their own lives and ministries.

5.  recognize some important parallels between first-century Greco-Roman and 21^st-century global culture and how these letters speak with a very contemporary relevance.

6.  exercise and expand their use of the texts and tools of biblical interpretation and exposition that are available in print and/or electronic media.

Textbooks:  The primary text is the Bible in any respectable committee translation. Consult me for clarification. Secondary (though integral to the class) required texts are:

Craddock, Fred.  Philippians, Interpretation Bible Commentary.  Louisville: John Knox Press, 1984.

Martin, Ralph P.  Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon, Interpretation Bible Commentary.  Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1992.

Students who have completed Hellenistic Greek I and II are required to bring their Greek texts to class and to be prepared to use them at appropriate levels in class discussion.

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1.  Consistent and punctual class attendance, along with constructive and informed class participation (10% of final grade). Genuine and verifiable emergency is the only acceptable excuse for absence. Absence from class, tardiness, and lack of productive  interaction with the class will adversely affect your grade.

2.  Advance reading, in the text and required commentaries, of those sections relevant to each day’s discussion, and at least one reading whole of each letter before we discuss it in class. Each exam will include statements about required reading up to that point.

3.  Three exams, each including true/false, fill-in-the-blank, and essay questions:

a.  On Philippians, 9/29/04 (20% of final grade).

b.  On Philemon and Colossians, 11/01/04 (20% of final grade).

c.  On Ephesians, 12/__/04 (Scheduled Final) (20% of final grade).

4.  Completion of an 8-10 page research paper on a passage from one of the letters (30% of final grade). The paper should exhibit awareness of and attention to:

a.  how background issues bear on the passage.

b.  the original Greek text, and appropriate grammatical/lexical tools.

c.  the passage’s function in the overall rhetorical structure and argumentation.

d.  what commentators and scholars have said/are saying about the letter/passage.

e.  careful and contemporary interpretation and application of the passage.

f.   proper synthesis of research into an effectively introduced, developed, and concluded presentation in the student’s own ‘voice.’

Discuss with me and submit your passage by the beginning of class on Sep 27. Submit a rough outline by beginning of class on Nov 8. Hand in your finished paper by beginning of class on Dec 8. Failure to meet these deadlines will result in a 1-point (out of 100) reduction in the paper’s final grade for every day or part of a day past the deadline. No work will be accepted after 12 noon on the last day of finals.

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Final Examination: Due to the nature of this course and the material to be covered, the weight of examination will be evenly distributed, as noted above and below, between three examinations, each confined to its own portion of the material, rather than between cumulative midterm or final examinations.

Grading Basis Explanation: The grading scale and grading formula used to determine your final grade are as follows:

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Incompletes are discouraged. They are intended for use only in emergency situations, not simply to cover failure to submit assigned material on time. Where a genuine emergency exists, the student must prepare a petition for an incomplete on the appropriate form available from the academic office, and present it to the instructor before the last class date. If the petition is approved, the student has six weeks from the last class date to complete course requirements.

Adjustments to Syllabus/Schedule: The instructor reserves the right to modify this syllabus or the requirements of the course throughout the semester.

Special Needs: In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), all qualified students enrolled in this course are entitled to ‘reasonable accommodations.’ It is the student’s responsibility to inform the instructor of any special needs before the end of the second week of class.

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Course Schedule:

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Bibliography  

Print Resources

Aland, Barbara, et al.  The Greek New Testament (with dictionary).  4th ed.  Münster: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1993.

Barth, Markus.  Ephesians. 2 vols. Anchor Bible.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974.

Brown, Raymond E.  An Introduction to the New Testament.  The Anchor Bible Reference Library. New York: Doubleday, 1997.

Bruce, F. F.  Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free.  Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977.

________.  The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians.  New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984.

Ferguson, Everett.  Backgrounds of Early Christianity.  2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993.

Francis, Fred O., and Wayne A. Meeks, eds.  Conflict at Colossae.  Sources for Biblical Study. Missoula, MT: Scholars Press: 1975.

Guthrie, Donald.  New Testament Introduction.  Downers Grove, IL, 1970.

Malherbe, Abraham J.  Moral Exhortation: a Greco-Roman Sourcebook. Library of Early Christianity.  Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986.

Martin, Ralph P.  “An Early Christian Hymn (Col 1:15-20).” Evangelical Quarterly 36 (1964): 195-205.

________.  “Reconciliation and Forgiveness in the Letter to the Colossians.” In Reconciliation and Hope. R. Banks, ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974.

Patzia, Arthur G.  Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians.  Good News Commentary. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984.

Wright, N. T.  Colossians and Philemon.  Tyndale New Testament Commentaries.  Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986.

________.  Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters.  Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.