My '24-'25 Courses
I’m kicking off a new Substack series featuring the seminary courses I am teaching this year. Fellow professors might find some material that interests them pedagogically; prospective students might be interested in checking out a degree at Northern Seminary.
Orientation to NT Studies
The first course I will teach this year is “Orientation to New Testament Studies,” the kick-off course for a new cohort of Northern Seminary’s Master of Arts in New Testament (*there’s still spots left in this upcoming fall cohort!). This course sets the foundation for the whole degree. I approach the course as a combination of (1) basics of biblical interpretation, (2) introduction to the biblical world, and (3) history of New Testament studies.
Some Northern Seminary courses are taught as weekly Zoom classes, and some are taught as one-week in-person intensives. This course is always taught as an in-person course (~5 days) in Chicago at the Northern campus. It is a great chance for the new cohort to meet and get to know each other.
Case Study Text
For this course, I like to have a case study text that allows the how-to information to get practical. This year, the case-study text is the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew’s version). I chose this text because it is (1) short, (2) familiar, and (3) exegetically and theologically rich.
Textbooks
Michael Gorman, Elements of Biblical Exegesis.
*I’ve used this as a textbook for years and years and years; it is clear, practical, and methodologically solid. 10/10.
Nijay K. Gupta. A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Studies.
*I basically wrote this book with this kind of class in mind. It gives students a sweeping overview of most of the key debates in the field.
F. Scott Spencer, Seven Challenges that Shaped the New Testament.
*This is a brand new book; I know Spencer very well, he is a great scholar and teacher and I wanted something that would help a polarized world find comfortability with tensions. Spencer covers topics like: tradition/innovation, power/weakness, blessing/poverty, inclusion/exclusion, knowledge/mystery, now/not-yet (and more).
A.J. Levine, The Sermon on the Mount.
*I chose this textbook for a couple of reasons: (1) since we are studying the Lord’s Prayer, it is helpful to contextualize it within the Sermon on the Mount, and (2) Levine is a widely-respected Jewish scholar who is sympathetic to evangelicals who want to better understand the Bible and avoid anti-Jewish interpretation.
Assignments
Students will do critically-engaged reviews of some of the textbooks, but the major assignment is an exegesis paper, where they practice well-rounded biblical interpretation.
Bonus Experience
As an added bonus to this course, Dr. Matthew Bates (newly hired professor of NT at Northern) will co-teach the final day of class with me. I love co-teaching, but I rarely get to do it. This will be a blast! (I call Matt and I the “Bald Bards of Biblical Books”)
Come to Northern Seminary!
If you read about this course and it sparks joy (!), feel free to reach out to me or Matt Bates to learn more about our programs. Head over to www.seminary.edu to get program details and fill out an application. We have a stellar faculty including folks like Dr. Beth Jones, Dr. David Fitch, and Dr. Ingrid Faro. And we have a rich and gracious learning community. There’s never been a better time to jump into a Master or Doctoral Degree at Northern.