Course Co-ordinator: Professor S Mason

Pre-requisite(s): Either 'Founders of Christianity: Introduction to the New Testament' (level 1), or 'Earliest Portraits of Jesus' (level 2), or permission of the course coordinator.

Note(s): This course will be available as DR 4083 in 2012/13.

Jesus of Nazareth has been the most consequential figure in Western history. But what can we know about him, and how can we know it? This course covers three areas, which may be ordered and integrated differently from year to year:

• Culture and society in the first-century Galilee, where Jesus lived and taught. This field has been dramatically opened up in recent decades by archaeological excavation.
• The history of modern scholarship on Jesus, since the European Enlightenment, and its various approaches to the literary evidence.
• The central questions that need addressing in a 'life of Jesus, for example: his birth and early influences, relation to John the Baptist, modes and content of teaching, important actions, arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.

1 two-hour and 1 one-hour seminar (total 3 seminar hours) each week.

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (40%); continuous assessment (60%), comprising:
1 in-class presentation: review of a scholarly study relevant to the student's research essay (20%). NB: summative assessment will be based solely on the written basis of this presentation, not on the art of the presentation.
1 essay of ca. 3000-3500 words(40%)

The exam may be taken only if each and every item of coursework is submitted and assessed at CAS 6 or above.

Resit: usually no resit provision at level 4.