Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
Prerequisites
THBS100 Introduction to the Bible THCT100 What Christians Believe
Incompatible
THCT200, THCT212
Teaching organisation
The unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, or the equivalent of 10 hours per week for 15 weeks. The total includes formally structured learning activities such as lectures, tutorials, online learning or supervision. The remaining hours typically involve reading, research, and the preparation of tasks for assessment.
Unit rationale, description and aim
This unit examines the person and work of Jesus Christ in the light of Christian faith. With attention given to hermeneutical and methodological issues, the unit investigates research into the historical context of Jesus’ ministry, as well as the biblical interpretations of his life, ministry, death, resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit. Patristic and historical developments are studied, focusing on the Christological debates regarding his full humanity and full divinity. Finally, present Christian experience of the mystery of Jesus Christ is explored, along with an examination of contemporary christologies formulated in the light of political, economic, gender, ecological, global and interreligious concerns. The unit aims to enable students to explain theological perspectives, methods, and issues in Christology in the light of their contemporary and historical contexts, and evaluate and develop specific theological insights, principles and knowledge, with reference to the Catholic tradition and their contemporary relevance.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description | Relevant Graduate Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| LO1 | Describe key aspects of the person and ministry of Jesus, his mission for the reign of God, his death and resurrection, and the sending of the Holy Spirit | GC1, GC7 |
| LO2 | Analyse the various New Testament Christologies, and the major theological issues in the Christological debates up to 681 CE | GC1, GC8, GC11 |
| LO3 | Evaluate contemporary approaches to Jesus Christ in the light of political, economic, ecological, feminist, global and interreligious concerns | GC1, GC7, GC8 |
Content
Topics will include:
- Questions to do with hermeneutics and theological method in reflecting on Jesus Christ and the sources of Scripture, tradition, and contemporary experience, including the value of Jesus research in relation to the Jewish culture and context of his time;
- The mission of Jesus for God’s reign in his teaching, miracles, behaviour and way of life;
- Christ’s death, resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit;
- Christologies of the Pauline Epistles, the Synoptic Gospels, and the Johannine writings
- 'For us and for our salvation’— Jesus Christ Saviour: New Testament and later models of salvation, redemption and liberation;
- Christological debates in the early Church; Nicea and Chalcedon; Incarnation and Trinity;
- Contemporary theologies of Christ, with diverse attention to political, economic, feminist, cosmological, ecological, global and interreligious concerns.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, or the equivalent of 10 hours per week for 15 weeks. The total includes formally structured learning activities such as lectures, tutorials, online learning or supervision. The remaining hours typically involve reading, research, and the preparation of tasks for assessment.
The unit is normally offered in attendance mode or multi-mode. Students learn through formally structured and sequenced learning activities that support the achievement of the learning outcomes. Students are asked to critically reflect, analyse, and integrate new information with existing knowledge, draw meaningful new connections, and then apply what they have learned. Collaborative and peer learning is also emphasised.
THCT212 emphasises students as active, adult learners. Students are recognised as adult learners who engage best when what they are learning is relevant to them and gives them the opportunity to be responsible for their own learning. In many ways, the student is the one who drives the learning forward, and their active participation in this unit is essential. Learning is designed to be an engaging and supportive experience, which helps students to develop critical thinking and reflection skills.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome.
Given the alignment of learning outcomes to the assessment tasks, in order to pass this unit, students are required to attempt all assessment tasks and achieve a mark of 50% or higher.
Task 1 asks students to describe key aspects of Jesus life, ministry, death and resurrection, in order to demonstrate achievement of learning outcome 1.
Task 2 asks students to analyse different Christologies emerging from the New Testament and their later doctrinal development and debate, so as to address learning outcome 2.
Task 3 invites students to evaluate some contemporary Christologies in the light of contemporary concerns. This task is particularly aimed to address learning outcome 3.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Descriptive Task: Requires students to demonstrate knowledge of and reflect on key aspects of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. | 20% | LO1 |
Research Essay: Requires students to analyse Christological doctrinal development and debate up to 681 CE. | 40% | LO1, LO2 |
Critical Reflection: Requires students to evaluate some contemporary Christologies that focus on key concerns in the contemporary context. | 40% | LO1, LO2, LO3 |
Representative texts and references
Daley, Brian E. God Visible: Patristic Christology Reconsidered. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Jensen, David H. Christian Understandings of Christ: The Historical Trajectory. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 2019.
Johnson, Elizabeth A. Consider Jesus: Waves of Renewal in Christology. New York: Herder & Herder, 2017.
Kärkkäinen, Veli-Matti. Christology: A Global Introduction. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016.
Kelly, A. J. The Resurrection Effect: Transforming Christian Life and Thought. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2008.
Longenecker, Richard N., ed. Contours of Christology in the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2005.
O’Collins, Gerald. Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Pagola, José Antonio. Jesus: An Historical Approximation. Translated by Margaret Wilde. Miami: Convivium Press, 2009.
Rausch, T. P. Who is Jesus? An Introduction to Christology. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2003.
Schweitzer, D. Contemporary Christologies: A Fortress Introduction. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010.