Historical Jesus:
Lecture Plan

1. Introduction

2. History of the Quest

John P. Meier, "The Present State of the ‘Third Quest’ for the Historical Jesus: Loss and Gain", Biblica 80 (1999), pp. 459-487.

3. Materials for the Quest

From Jesus to Christ (Frontline, PBS, 1999), "The Story of the Storytellers"

4. Methods for the Quest

Norman Perrin, "The Reconstruction and Interpretation of the Teaching of Jesus", Chapter 1 in Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus (New York: Harper & Row, 1967)

5. Resetting the Scene

From Jesus to Christ (Frontline, PBS, 1999), "A Portrait of Jesus' World"

6. Jesus' Teaching

Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels (London: Collins, 1973), pp. 19-31

7. Jesus and Healing

Cam Howard, A Portrait of Jesus: From Galilean Jew to Face of God (Go to section on "Spirit Dimension")

8. Conflict, Trial and Death

The Search for Jesus (Beliefnet, 2001), Section on "Trial and Crucifixion"

9. Jesus in Film and Fiction

Adele Reinhartz, "Jesus in Film: Hollywood Perspectives on the Jewishness of Jesus", Journal of Religion and Film Vol. 2, Number 2 (Fall 1998)

10. Conclusion: Jesus Inside & Outside the New Testament

 
Where readings appear under a lecture title, these are suggestions for stimulating introductions to the topic. In almost every case, I have chosen on-line material so that there are no problems over availability. For further material, see the Reading List.