Birmingham Theological Seminary
2200Briarwood Way
Birmingham, AL. 35243
(205) 776-5650
Spring 2016
ST3528 Systematic Theology III Christology
Professor: Robert M. Alexander Jr. 862-0573
Class Hours: 2
COURSE PURPOSE
This course is a study of the person and work of Jesus Christ. We will look at the distinction of the person and work of Jesus Christ in relation to who He was and what He did. We will examine His divinity and humanity from a biblical perspective. Attempt will be made to understand the implications of His person and work.
Another purpose for this theological course, is to teach the students skills for developing a Christian mind, by helping them construct a solid foundation for thinking through life’s most important issues. You will learn about various sources for theology and the way that different people use and misuse these sources. This course endeavors to enable people to think theologically and construct a biblical worldview that makes the Christian’s witness relevant to all people in need.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
1. The student will understand that theology is more than just an academic
discipline reserved only for professional theologians, but that it is a
fountain from which all people may daily drink.
2. The student will gain knowledge of the different theories concerning Jesus
Christ and His mission.
3. The student will have a greater understanding of what Christ surrenders in
the incarnation
4. The student will gain an appreciation for the Doctrine of Christology by
learning all the details of the person and work of Christ.
5. The students will critically evaluate their own theological method and
Worldview by learning how to test and critique the validity of their core
beliefs.
COURSE TEXTS
Required Texts:
The two required systematic theologies complement one another. Berkhof’s, originally printed in 1941, is the older classic, but contains some dated material.
1. Berkhof, Louis, Introduction to Systematic Theology; ISBN 978-0-8028-3820-9.
2. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, pp. 529-630
3. MacArthur, John., The Jesus You Can’t Ignore
4. Evans, Craig A., Fabricating Jesus
5. Study Bible
6. Logos Bible Software - Libronix Digital Library System
(Masters Students only)
Certificate student read Berkhof and MacArthur, John “The Jesus You Can’t Ignore” only.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Class attendance
2. Completion of all reading assignments
3. Participation in class room discussions
4. Exam
5. Write a two to four pages, critique paper
" The Jesus You Can’t Ignore ", and " Fabricating Jesus "
Certificate students Write a two to four pages critique paper on " The Jesus You Can’t Ignore " only
1. Do not merely summarize the contents; rather evaluate the book’s strengths and weaknesses. As you read, ask yourself and answer these questions, read critically:
Begin your critique with the bibliographic information (Title, author, publisher, place and date of publication) of the book you have chosen to critique.
Write a brief summary of the main theme and any major secondary themes of the author. I do not want a book review. I already know the content. Just give me enough to show you have read and digested the material.
Include your analysis of the arguments the author sets forth. Your analysis should be focused primarily upon how faithfully you think the author has interpreted and applied the Scripture.
Evaluate how they have either succeeded or failed in taking into account all of Scripture (in other words, is it a systematic argument or simply a use of some isolated proof texts?) citing instances from the book to support your evaluation.
Tell me why you agree or disagree with their conclusion(s), using the Scriptures to support any differing views you may hold.
Conclude with a paragraph that states what you have gained personally AND professionally from reading this book.
7. Write a 10-12 page theological paper on The Atonement
(Masters Students only)
Logos must be used for your research paper at least half of the references must come from Logos.
This paper should include the following:
1. A title page
2. A table of contents
3. An introduction
4. A thesis statement
5. The text (should include)
a) A definition of the doctrine
b) A historical overview
c) A biblical defense of the doctrine
d) An application of the doctrine to your discipline of study
6. A conclusion – Giving a summary of the paper’s contents
7. Footnotes (according to Turabian standards)
8. Bibliography with at least 15 theological references (8 from Logos, 5 from the Internet (Must be scholarly, academic, theological and viable), and 2 Journal)
9. No less than 12 pages and no more than 15 pages typed (double spaced);
12 font. Times New Roman. (Turabian format)
COURSE GRADING
1. Assigned reading 10%
2. Participation in class 10%
3. Books Critique Papers 20%
4. Theological paper 30%
5. Final exam 30%
BTS FORMAT AND STYLES STANDARDS
Note: BTS uses the Turabian style of formatting as a standard for papers. However, students should regard individual professor preferences if they communicate any variance in outlining their requirements for papers. Professors retain discretion in determining how “formal” a paper must be. In this technological age, information is readily available; make sure that you understand about giving reference sources the proper recognition.
Read on Christology in Berkhof and Grudem, books .
LECTURE # DATE/LECTURE BERKHOF & GRUDEM, READING
THE PERSON OF CHRIST
1 1/21 The Doctrine of Christ pp. 305-311 pp. 529-563
2 1/28 The Names of Christ pp. 312-314
3 2/04 The Natures of Christ pp. 315-320
4 2/11 The Unipersonality of Christ pp. 321-329
THE STATES OF CHRIST
5 2/18 The State of Humiliation pp. 331-340 pp.608-620
6 2/25 The State of Exaltation pp. 344-345
Book Critique " The Jesus You Can’t Ignore "
7 3/04 The Resurrection pp. 346-349
8 3/11 Spring Break
9 3/18 The Prophetic Office pp. 356-357 pp. 624-630
THE OFFICE OF CHRIST
10 3/25 Class out for Good Friday
11 4/03 The Priestly Office pp. 361-362
Book Critique "Fabricating Jesus"
12 4/10 The Cause and Necessity of the Atonement pp. 367-372 pp. 568-603
13 4/17 The Nature of the Atonement pp. 373-383
14 4/24 Final and Paper Due
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
·
Abernathy, G. L. & T. A. Langford, Philosophy of Religion: A Book of Readings, New York: Macmillan, 1962.
ACUTE, The Nature of Hell, London: Evangelical Alliance Commission, 2000.
Adam, Karl, The Christ of Faith, New York: Mentor Omega Books, 1962.
Adam, Karl, The Spirit of Catholicism, New York: Doubleday Image Books, 1954 onward.
Adams, Jay E., The Time Is At Hand, Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian & Reformed Publ., 1970.
Adams, J. L., Paul Tillich’s Philosophy of Culture, Science and Religion, New York: Harper & Row, 1965.
Adeney, Walter F., The Greek and Eastern Churches, Clifton, NJ: Reference Book Publishers, 1965.
Aland, Kurt, Did the Early Church Baptize Infants?, trans. G. R. Beasley-Murray, London: SCM Press, 1963.
Albright, W. F. & C. S. Mann, The Anchor Bible, Matthew, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981.
Alford, Henry, The Greek Testament, rev. text by E. F. Harrison, 4 vols., Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1958.
Alford, Henry, The New Testament for English Readers, Chicago: Moody Press, n.d., repr. of the 18th ed.
Allison, C. Fitzsimons, The Cruelty of Heresy: An Affirmation of Christian Orthodoxy, Harrisburgh, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1994.
Althaus, Paul, The Theology of Martin Luther, trans. Robert Schultz, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966.
Anderson, Sir Robert, The Silence of God, Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, n.d.
Andrews, Samuel J., The Life of Our Lord Upon the Earth, rev. ed., New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891.
Anselm of Canterbury, 4 vols., ed. and trans. Jasper Hopkins & Herbert Richardson, Toronto & New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1974–1976.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, 10 vols., American ed., 1885, repr., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publ., 1994.
Aquinas, St Thomas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Book One: God, trans. C. Pegis; Book Two: Creation, trans. J. F. Anderson; Book Three: Providence, trans. Vernon J. Burke; Book Four: Salvation, C. J. O’Neil, London: Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 1975.
Aquinas, St Thomas, Summa Theologic, complete English ed. in 5 vols., trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Westminster, Maryland: Christian Classics, 1911, 1981.
Aquinas, St Thomas, Commentary on Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, trans. M. L. Lamb, Albany, NY: Magi Books, 1966.
Armbruster, C. J., The Vision of Paul Tillich, New York: Sheed & Ward, 1967.
Arminius, James, The Works of Arminius vol. II, trans. James Nichols, Buffalo, NY: Derby, Miller and Orton, 1853.
Attwater, Donald, The Catholic Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 3rd ed., New York: Macmillan, 1961.
Augustine, Aurelius, Confessions, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1970.
Augustine, Aurelius, The City of God, trans. Henry Bettenson, Introduction by David Knowles, Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1972.
Augustine, Aurelius, The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope and Love, ed. Henry Paolucci and Analysis by Adolph Von Harack, Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1966.
Augustine, Aurelius, Exposition of Certain Propositions from the Epistle to the Romans. Publication data lost.
Augustine, Aurelius, The Freedom of the Will, trans. C. M. Sparrow, Charlottsville: Univ. of Virginia Press, 1947.
Aune, D. E., Prophecy in Early Christianity & the Ancient Mediterranean World, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1983.
Baillie, Donald M., God Was in Christ: An Essay on Incarnation and Atonement, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948.
Baillie, John, The Idea of Revelation in Recent Thought, New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1956, 1958.
Baker’s Dictionary of Theology, ed., Everett F. Harrison, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1960.
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, 2 vols., ed. Walter A. Elwell, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996.
Barnhouse, Donald G., The Invisible War, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1965.
Boettner, Lorraine, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, Philaelphia, PA: Presbyterian & Reformed Publ., 1968. First publised in 1932.
Boettner, Lorraine, The Millennium, Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian & Reformed Publ., 1957, 1972.
Boice, James M., Foundations of the Christian Faith, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, Creation and Fall, trans. John C. Fletcher, New York: Macmillan, 1937, 1959.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, Life Together, trans. J. W. Doberstein, London: SCM Press, 1954.
Bornkamm, Guenther, Jesus of Nazareth, trans. Irene and Fraser McLuskey with James M. Robinson, New York: Harper and Row, 1960.
Boston, Thomas, Human Nature in its Fourfold State, earliest printing, 1720, repr., London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1964.
Bourke, Vernon J., Augustine’s Quest of Wisdom, Milwaukee, WI: Bruce Publ., 1945, 1947.
Bowker, John, The Targums and Rabbinic Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1969.
Bowne, Borden P., Theism, Comprising the Deems Lectures for 1902, NewYork: American Book Co., 1902.
Boyce, James Pedigru, Abstract of Theology, Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyteran & Reformed Publ., n.d. (Repr. of Philadelphia ed. by American Baptist Publication Society, 1878.)
Bray, Gerald, The Doctrine of God, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Brown, David, Christ’s Second Coming: Will It Be Premillennial?, New York: Carter, 1879.
Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Boston, New York and Chicago: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1906.
Brown, Harold O. J., Heresies, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984, 1988, repr., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2000.
Brown, Raymond E., The Anchor Bible: The Epistles of John, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1982.
Brown, Raymond E., The Anchor Bible: The Gospel According to John, 2 vols., Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966, 1970.
Brown, Robert McAfee, The Spirit of Protestantism, London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1961.
Bruce, Alexander Balmain, The Humiliation of Christ, 2nd ed., New York: George H. Doran, n.d. First published in 1876 as Cunningham Lecture.
Bruce, F. F., Biblical Exegesis in the Qumran Texts, London: Tyndale Press, 1960.
Bruce, F. F., Commentary on the Book of Acts, rev., Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publ., 1988.
Bruce, F. F., The Epistle to the Hebrews, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964.
Bruce, F. F., Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1974.
Brunner, Emil, The Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation, Dogmatics, Vol.III, trans. David Cairns, Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1962.
Brunner, Emil, The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption, Dogmatics, Vol.II, trans. Olive Wyon, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1952.
Brunner, Emil, The Christian Doctrine of God, Dogmatics I, trans. Olive Wyon, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1950, 1974.
Brunner, Emil, Eternal Hope, trans. Harold Knight, Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1954.
Brunner, Emil, God and Man, trans. David Cairns, London: SCM Press, 1936.
Brunner, Emil, The Mediator: A Study of the Central Doctrine of the Christian Faith, trans. Olive Wyon, Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1947.
Brunner, Emil, The Misunderstanding of the Church, Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1953.
Bultmann, Rudolf, Faith and Understanding, London: SCM Press, 1969.
Bultmann, Rudolf, Jesus Christ and Mythology, London: SCM Press, 1958.
Bultmann, Rudolf, The Presence of Eternity: History and Eschatology, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957.
Bultmann, Rudolf, Theology of the New Testament, 2 vols., London: SCM Press, 1956.
Calvin, John, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Daniel, 2 vols., trans. Thomas Myers, repr. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1948.
Calvin, John, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, trans. & ed. John Owen, Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1855.
Calvin, John, Commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, vol. i, trans. John Pringle, Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1848.
Calvin, John, Commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, trans. John Owen, Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1849.
Calvin, John, Commentary on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus & Philemon, Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1856.
Calvin, John, Commentary on The Gospel According to John, trans. Wm Pringle, Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1847.
Calvin, John, Commentary on the Psalms I, Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845.
Calvin, John, Commentary on the Psalms IV, trans. James Anderson, Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1847.