A study of the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in the four gospels. Prerequisites: Introduction to the New Testament and Biblical Interpretation.

The following are intended learning outcomes specific to this course:

1. Become familiar with the significant life events of Jesus.

2. Gain an understanding of the significant elements of the message of Jesus.

3. Describe the impact of the historical background of the New Testament on the message of Jesus.

4. Examine the gospel records of Jesus’ ministry in order to understand the contribution of each evangelist to our understanding of Jesus and the Early Christian Church.

5. Seek to understand Jesus’ message in its first environment through exegetical analysis of the historical, literary, social and theological issues in the texts.

6. Establish the principles of Jesus’ message which were being taught in these texts and interpret their significance for today.

7. Establish a broad outline of the course of Jesus’ public ministry.

8. Explore and assess current scholarship on issues of the historical Jesus, "Q" and archeological findings.

The following are competencies for Ministry as outlined in the Sourcebook for Ministerial Development that will be addressed in this course:

• Ability to identify the literary structure, theological concepts and main storyline of the New Testament. (CN3)

• Ability to describe the historical and cultural contexts of the New Testament including an ability to Biblically affirm pastoral leadership of men and women within the Church. (CN4)

• Ability to exegete a passage of Scripture using contextual, literary, and theological analysis. (CN6)

Introduction to the New Testament and Biblical Interpretation.