STPS4100

This is the online synchronous version of this seminar. In relation to the world's religions, the special feature of Christianity is Jesus himself. But who was Jesus? Was he a wandering sage expressing the deep wisdom of God? Was he a social revolutionary, acting against the Romans and Jewish elite? Was he the Messiah of God, the one whom many of the Jews expected? Using current historical Jesus research, this course investigates who Jesus was. The first part of the course looks at a Jesus who did not see himself as a messianic figure. Jesus was a mystic in touch with the divine sphere of reality, a figure who knew the wisdom known by all great religious leaders. He taught that God's kingdom was already here, for those who had eyes to see it. In contrast, the authors of the opposing view see Jesus as a messianic prophet who believed that God was about to bring in the New Creation, through his actions. Students will look at differing views of Jesus by the best historical Jesus scholars, compare them, and develop their own view of who Jesus was. This seminiar involves discussion, two papers; open to students from MA, M.Div., D.Min. and Ph.D. levels.

Institutional