SMC Core Curriculum Course Proposal Form
1. Name of Proposer: Michael Barram
2. Email address: mbarram@stmarys-ca.edu
3. Department/Program of Proposer: Theology & Religious Studies (TRS)
4. Name of Department/Program housing the course: TRS
5. Name(s) of Program Director/Department Chair: Michael Barram
6. Course Acronym, Number and Title: TRS 115: Jesus and His Teaching
7. Semester(s) in which course will be offered: Fall or Spring (varies each year)
8. How often is this course taught? Once per year
9. Course Prerequisites (if any): TRS 97 (“The Bible and Its Interpretation”)
10. Unit Value of Course: 1.0
11. Proper Audience for the course (delete those that don’t apply):
Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors
(A spring-semester freshman, having
completed TRS 97 in the fall, could feasibly take the course.)
12. The Learning Goals for which the course is being submitted
 Theological Explorations
TEACHING
A brief narrative (300 words) that explains how the course will guide students
toward achieving the Learning Goal. The CCC believes it would be simplest both for
the proposer and for the Working Groups if the narrative addressed the Learning
Outcomes one by one.
TRS 115: “Jesus and His Teaching”
1. Demonstrate an understanding of one or more aspects of Christian tradition and/or
another religious tradition or traditions, acquired through focused study in a subfield of theology or religious studies; and
Students in this course will meet the first outcome by means of semester-long training in
biblical studies, a foundational and crucial sub-field of theological studies. The course is
focused on Jesus’ most famous teaching in the Synoptic Gospels—with primary attention
given to his parables and the Sermon on the Mount. Students can anticipate gaining
thorough familiarity with these biblical texts and traditions, and they will begin to
develop the kind of hermeneutical awareness and core interpretive skills needed for
advanced biblical scholarship (e.g., the interpretive role of social location, an ability to
use redaction- and narrative-criticism, and an ability to engage with scholarly biblical
commentaries). Thus, students will not only learn the content of these texts, they will
learn how to interpret them—even as they explore how they have been interpreted.
2. Demonstrate an ability to explore religious questions from a believer’s point of
reference and from the critical perspective of the academy.
Students in this course will meet the second outcome through exploring—and learning to
reflect deeply upon—how Jesus’ parables and Sermon on the Mount can be and have
been understood by a range of interpreters. Students will consider the import and
significance of these texts from the perspective/s of believers, that is, from the vantage
point of those who understand these texts as a form of revelation about the nature and
character of God, as a window into the human situation, as guide for life, and so forth.
Interpretive questions of this nature are inherently theological, ethical, existential,
communal, and personal. Also, students will learn to explore texts as budding biblical
scholars, incorporating analytical methods (e.g., literary, historical) and critical tools
(e.g., scholarly commentaries) standard in the academy. The book by Adams is
particularly good at introducing students to perspectives in the academy. And the
historical novel by New Testament scholar Gerd Theissen, with which we begin the
course, does an excellent job of providing insight from the perspective of modern
scholarship, while also exploring the existential questions relevant to issues of belief.
Incidentally, the fact that students in Saint Mary’s classrooms come from a range of
different religious and non-religious perspectives naturally means that our class
discussions explore texts from both believers’ and a non-believers’ perspectives. Students
from any perspective can learn from an academic exploration into the content,
worldview, values, and potential implications of biblical texts, even if their primary
orientation to the material is one of comparing biblical literature and interpretation with
their own perspectives. Indeed, ‘believers’ inevitably benefit from interpreting the course
material along with other students of different perspectives.
LEARNING
Learning: A brief explanation of how coursework (e.g., papers, exams, videotaped
presentations) will be used to measure student achievement of each of the Learning
Outcomes. Please address the outcomes directly and one by one.
TRS 115: “Jesus and His Teaching”
1. Demonstrate an understanding of one or more aspects of Christian tradition and/or
another religious tradition or traditions, acquired through focused study in a subfield of theology or religious studies; and
Students learn about biblical studies, generally, and the Synoptic Gospels, more
specifically, through lectures, readings, and written assignments and tests. The “content”
of the course is oriented around three main texts.
First, we use biblical scholar Gerd Theissen’s historical novel, The Shadow of the
Galilean, as a way for students to encounter the culture, religion, and socio-political
framework of Jesus’ first-century world. We discuss this book a number of times in class
as they’re reading it, and they are also required to post written responses (via our online
Moodle website) to their reading of Theissen. Discussing Theissen’s book in the initial
weeks of the class provides a perfect opportunity for introducing lecture- and discussionbased issues for learning, all of which are live material for the first mid-term
examination.
Second, students learn through reading the biblical text—at two levels. That is, they
read and are encouraged to demonstrate learning (through Moodle assignments, papers,
and exams) with regard to the Synoptic Gospels as literary wholes, as well as with regard
to smaller, individual pericopae. Learning is assessed primarily through examinations and
papers, though students do demonstrate reflection via written (Moodle) assignments as
well.
Third, we read and discuss the majority of Edward Adams’s book, Parallel Lives of
Jesus, which provides an introduction to most of the most important scholarly issues
pertaining to each of the four New Testament Gospels, as well as a thoughtful
introduction to narrative criticism of the Gospels. Students are required not only to know
this information for the mid-term examination, but they must demonstrate in their papers
that they can utilize and draw on their learning from Adams in their exegetical work.
In the final analysis, the written assignments, exams, and exegetical papers combine
to give students ways to show that they have learned the content of the Bible; that they
know about scholarly discussions regarding the Synoptic Gospels, and the parables and
Sermon on the Mount more specifically; that they know how to go about interpreting a
passage; and that they have learned to think through a variety of hermeneutical issues and
concerns that face interpreters of biblical texts. The various assessment mechanisms
function in an interlocking way. Content issues are covered primarily in written
assignments and tests. Awareness of scholarship is assessed primarily through tests and
papers. Written assignments and papers are the primary forms of assessing students’
ability to interpret texts and their knowledge of hermeneutical issues. At certain points,
though, all three primary forms of assessment (written assignments, tests, papers) assist
in giving students an opportunity to demonstrate their learning in these various areas.
2. Demonstrate an ability to explore religious questions from a believer’s point of
reference and from the critical perspective of the academy.
Much of this assessment is done through written assignments and via paper
writing (as well as during class discussion). In written assignments, students are
often asked to explore theological, ethical, and existential concerns related to the
various texts (especially Jesus’ parables and Sermon on the Mount) that we read. In
these assignments, and during in-class discussions, we often raise questions about
how believers interpret passages under our examination, considering import,
significance, and potential implications. These ‘believer’s point of reference’
questions are not exclusive to believers, of course, but they are usually not rooted in
a conscious scholarly hermeneutic or methodology as such. The exegetical papers
students write also ask them to be able to explore such “believer’s” concerns.
Students get significant opportunities to demonstrate an ability to explore
biblical texts “from the critical perspective of the academy.” These issues come up
via secondary readings and class discussions—and in written papers, primarily.
Students are expected to show on exams and in papers that they know not only
what scholarly theories and methods are, but also that they can make use of them.
They are required to interact with scholarly interpretations (via standard, scholarly
biblical commentaries) on their papers.
In short, students have the opportunity—through written assignments, tests,
and papers (as well as through in-class discussions)—to demonstrate that they have
learned to think about biblical texts and interpretation from a range of perspectives,
both scholarly and more lay-oriented.