SCRI 524: Synoptic Gospels and Acts of the Apostles

The objectives of this course are to gain an appreciation for and knowledge of the three Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, to understand their purpose and meaning, their historical significance and relationship to the life and person of Jesus. Each Gospel will be studied individually, considering the theology, history, and literary dimensions of each. We will also address theories of the formation of the Gospels (“Synoptic Question”), oral tradition, historical and literary concerns, issues of interpretation of sacred Scripture, and the role of the Gospels in the life of the Church. 

In this introduction to the Gospels, we will concentrate on the theological content of the Gospels in an integrative manner by considering the themes common amongst all the Gospels. In our study we will rely on our reading of the Gospels, Church documents, such as Dei Verbum and The Historicity of the Gospels (PBC), and current scholarly secondary literature.

Following the study of the Gospels, this course will also examine Acts of the Apostles as the second volume of a two-volume set with the Gospel of Luke. The Acts of the Apostles is a narrative history set in the earliest decades of Christianity that describes the growth of the Church and the spread of the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire.  As the second volume of the Gospel of Luke, on occasion we will draw connections and parallels to the themes of the Gospel, yet it is important to study the narrative and content of Acts in the context of Greco-Roman historiography as it is the only surviving history from the first 200 years of the early Church. Questions of authorship, date, structure, and theology will all be addressed