- Course code: TEOL5223
- Credits: 10
- Language: English
Study program affiliation:
The Taboo Bible: Confronting Controversies and Troubling Texts in the New Testament TEOL5223
Does the New Testament support slavery? Have forgers and scribes corrupted the New Testament? Is Christianity bad for the environment? Will non-Christians be tormented forever in Hell? Do Jesus and Paul condemn homosexuals and forbid women from speaking in church? Do the disabled need healing or have demons? Are miracles real? Did Jesus ever exist in the first place and how would we know? Questions like these are important for understanding the New Testament and its role in the world today. Unfortunately, whether because of scandal, discomfort, or our inadequate knowledge, it is common to feel that we cannot respond to them adequately or prefer to avoid them altogether.
This course introduces students to the academic study of the New Testament through a head-on encounter with some of its most troubling texts and central topics of controversy. Topics are chosen that play a role in modern public discourse and pastoral controversies that stem from New Testament interpretation. The aim of the course is to equip students with the knowledge, the tools, and experience to speak with nuance and sophistication about New Testament controversies like these and others.
The course will provide knowledge of pertinent historical-cultural contexts of the New Testament. The biblical text will be illuminated by grasping how people in the first century Mediterranean world conceived of topics such as human sexuality, cosmology, authorship, and disability.
The course will also introduce scholarly methods and the diversity of hermeneutical approaches to the New Testament. We will address how scholars draw historical conclusions about antiquity, and how contextual hermeneutical approaches such as feminist, queer, and disabled readers respond to troubling texts.
The course will also provide a venue for students to test the implementation of their acquired knowledge for application outside of the classroom. Students will encounter a safe space to discuss the controversies and troubling texts, and through completing the study requirements will cultivate the skills to move beyond simplistic answers and avoiding the issues.
This is a basic New Testament course that does not require knowledge of Greek.
The course is primarily a seminar format.
The course is thought in English.
About the study
Study requirements
In order to receive a final assessment, students must:
- attend a minimum of 70% of the seminar meetings.
- complete course readings
- write weekly journal entries based on readings
- write one book review of 1000 words and serve as expert facilitator for one session
- participate in the evaluation of the course it it is to be evaluated in depth in the relevant semester
When course requirements are not fulfilled, this will count as one examination attempt, unless the student withdraws before the set deadline (1 May).
Final assessment/Exam
In order to receive a final assessment, the student must fulfill the course requirements within the fixed deadline. The course and final exam will be graded as A-F.
The final assessment for TEOL5223 is based on an oral examination (30 minutes).
The oral examination will consist of a mock discussion between the instructor and student about one of the controversies we have discussed in class. The instructor will present themselves as someone holding a particular view about one of the weekly issues, to which the student will need to take up an opposing viewpoint, engaging in a dialogue that offers persuasive arguments on the basis of our course materials and discussions.
Exam dates
- Exam date:
- 9. December 2025
- Final deadline to withdraw from examination:
- 1. November 2025
Oral exam day 1 - Ordinary exam
- Exam date:
- 10. December 2025
- Final deadline to withdraw from examination:
- 1. November 2025
Oral exam day 2 - Ordinary exam
Learning outcome
KNOWLEDGE
The student has:
- good knowledge of the cultural backdrops (Jewish, Graeco-Roman) and historical context of the New Testament
- good knowledge of the scholarly methods and hermeneutics used in contemporary New Testament interpretation
- good knowledge of how interpretation of New Testament texts takes place against the backdrop of and in the context of Jewish and Greco-Roman culture
- good knowledge about different and substantial viewpoints found in antiquity and in present-day scholarship pertaining to the specific course topics
SKILLS
The student can:
- relate knowledge of Jewish and Graeco-Roman culture to the interpretation of New Testament texts
- clarify what it means that the New Testament texts are created in and reflect a particular historical and cultural context
- discuss the strengths and weaknesses of different stances on troubling and controversial New Testament texts
- determine strengths and weaknesses of the different methods of New Testament interpretation for addressing specific texts
- reflect critically on the ecumenical, social, and political implications that different interpretations of New Testament texts may have
GENERAL COMPETENCE
The course shall convey skills to:
- reflect critically on assumptions a reader brings to the interpretation of New Testament texts, and also how these assumptions are at work in the process of interpretation
- communicate meaningfully on relevant questions and controversies, based on the knowledge and skills conveyed in this course
Overlapping courses
TEOL5223: The Taboo Bible: Confronting Controversies and Troubling Texts in the New Testament does not overlap with other courses.
