5AAT2201 The World of Jesus
Credit value: 15
Module tutor: Dr Joan Taylor
Assessment: one 2,500-word essay (40%) and one two-hour examination in the summer term (Period II) (60%)
Teaching pattern: One one-hour weekly lecture and one one-hour weekly seminar over ten weeks.
This module is an introduction to Second Temple Judaism. It explores the culture of Jesus and his earliest Jewish disciples in first-century Judaea and in the wider Graeco-Roman world. It is a module strongly focused on history and society, using historical methods and looking widely at evidence from literature and archaeology. The historical background of Judaean society will be reviewed, with an overview of Israel’s history. There will be a special focus on the century of Jesus’ birth (the 1st century BCE) through to the end of Judaean territorial identity in 135 CE. This was the tumultuous and creative period of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Herodian dynasty, the major Jewish schools of law (Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes), a vibrant Jewish Diaspora, the rule of Rome and deep social unrest.
Sample topics
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Introduction: Jesus the Jew and historical contextualisation. Sources.
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The past: Israel’s history, from Moses to the Hasmoneans.
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The historic present: Herod and his dynasty. Buildings and power.
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The land of Israel and the world beyond: geography and ethnic/cultural groups of the region; the clash of empires.
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Second Temple Judaism: temple, synagogue, and scripture.
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The Jewish Diaspora in the Graeco-Roman world: Alexandria and Corinth.
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Romans: Prefects, procurators, and the imperial cult.
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Jewish schools of law: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes.
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The Dead Sea Scrolls.
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Revolt: rebellions, revolutionary leaders and consequences
Module aims
Generic educational aims
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To engage competently and critically with primary and secondary sources.
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To become confident in individual research, within set parameters and with guidance.
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To gain awareness of new theories, concepts, contexts and terms
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To present ideas competently in both written and oral form, identifying and analysing data and evaluating secondary literature.
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To demonstrate the capacity to conduct research at the appropriate level and make appropriate choices in answering critical questions.
Module specific aims
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To come to an informed understanding of Second Temple Judaism, the cultural context of Judaea and the wider Jewish world at the time of Jesus.
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To become familiar with methods of historical enquiry.
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To develop awareness of the relevance of contextual study for study of the New Testament and other religious literature of the period in question.
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To develop critical skills for assessing the relevance and accuracy of historical evidence
Learning outcomes
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to operate in a situation requiring new skills and intellectual techniques, in order to understand new information sources, in this case the historical evidence pertaining to the world of Jesus.
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to act with limited supervision and direction within well defined guidelines, to accept responsibility for achieving personal outcomes and outputs, in regard to the assessed task of an essay and exam.
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to obtain detailed knowledge of well-established theories and concepts, with awareness of different ideas and contexts, and to recognise where knowledge is least secure.
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to identify, analyse and communicate historical knowledge and the interpretation of evidence, recognising competing interpretations, discussed in class and assessed work.
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to explore existing data and identify patterns and relationships, using appropriate interpretational methods to judge the significance of the data, recognising the limits of the enquiry.
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to evaluate information from ancient history and archaeology.
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to self-evaluate in terms of recognising the value of written work and accept suggestions for improvement.
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to articulate ideas in a class context and interact with others towards the goal of understanding historical evidence.
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to become aware of cultural and religious pre-conceptions and categorisations with growing self-reflection.
Preliminary Bibliography
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Grabbe, Lester L., Judaic Religion in the Second Temple Period: Belief and practice from the Exile to Yavneh (2000).
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Sanders, E. P., Judaism: Practice and Belief 63 BCE - 66 CE (1992).