Please consult the official ‘Grey Book’ (Exam Regulations) as well as the current Faculty Handbook and course pamphlet (links to be updated by September). There is also a selection of recent exam papers on OXAM.
The course begins with eight intensively taught weekly tutorials on the Gospels and Acts in the Michaelmas Term, each requiring a submitted essay (2,500-3,000 words) or oral presentation, and leading up to an examination in the Trinity Term (usually preceded by at least one revision tutorial).
The dissertation (max 30,000 words) and three formally assessed essays (max 5,000 words each) are then supervised by individual arrangement, ideally to be agreed with the course director in the Hilary Term of Year 1, before topics are proposed and approved by the Graduate Studies Committee in the Trinity Term.
The two examined papers for the degree are taught through tutorial classes as follows.
A1: The Gospels and Acts (usually Michaelmas Term, Year 1)
Weekly tutorials TBC but normally 12 noon on Fridays in Prof. Bockmuehl’s room (WL2) at Keble, beginning in First Week. Essays are due 36 hours in advance. This paper is taught jointly with the MSt in New Testament.
Prescribed Texts in Greek: Mark 1-16 and Luke 9-24. Students will cover the prescribed texts in the Greek reading classes provided, but should make sure to supplement this exegetically by working through the texts on their own with the help of critical commentaries.
Tutorial Essays: See below for essay titles and initial suggested reading for each essay topic. Many articles and books are available electronically via SOLO. You are encouraged to range beyond the bibliographies provided.
Week |
Topic |
| 1 | Introduction: Tutorials, Essays, Gobbets, Collections, Exams. To prepare, please read through the prescribed texts in Greek (or English). |
| 2 | Did Mark fail or succeed? |
| 3 | What Does Matthew’s Jesus want? |
| 4 | For Luke, in what sense is Jesus ‘the Lord’ and why does he die? |
| 5 | How closely linked is Luke’s Gospel with Acts? |
| 6 | “For John’s Gospel, God died that we might be made gods.” Discuss. |
| 7 | “Johannine Christianity cares more about the pre-existence of Jesus than about his humanity.” Discuss. |
| 8 | Gobbets/exegetical essay practice (based on a past paper) and Q&A; or optional essay |
A2: Epistles and Revelation (Hilary Term, Year 1)
Prescribed Texts in Greek: Galatians and Hebrews (Nestle-Aland 28th edn); Ignatius’ Letter to the Magnesians (in The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, ed. & trans. Michael W. Holmes (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 202-213).
7 tutorials with Prof. Downs and/or Dr Muir; essay titles and reading lists are here.
NT @ Oxford 