Orthodox reading of the New Testament: a text-exegetical approach to the church 30-160 AD

The course introduces beginning students to the New Testament together with critical tools and methodological ideas which make an Orthodox exegesis possible. The course will encounter modern "historico-critical" methodologies for New Testament study which have become dominant in Western theological studies, and which have raised many issues of meaning which faithful Orthodox often find puzzling; we must ask both what Orthodox faith ought to learn from modern exegesis and also what critique or correction an Orthodox critical exegesis of the New Testament might offer in response to recent Western critical interpretation.