Studying Jesus

A shameless plug
I try to keep ads here to a minimum, but since this one is for my brother, I couldn't resist.

Google ‘Jesus’ and you get 152 million results. He may have cultivated more discussion, interest and controversy than any other person in world history. Who was he? What were his ethics, his teachings, his motivations? In the MCSI subject, Jesus: Person, Politics & Ethics, you’ll look in-depth at Jesus’ life and words, what we know about him and what difference he made (and is still making) to the world.

Curious about Jesus? Want to find out how historians think about him, rather than ministers, sports stars and journalists? The Macquarie Christian Studies Institute is offering a second semester course called Jesus: Person, Politics and Ethics at both Macquarie University and UNSW that is open to everyone, though most Australian university students will be able to take it for credit.

The unit convenors are Ian Packer, Director of Public Theology at the Australian Evangelical Alliance, and Murray Smith, PhD candidate in Ancient History at Macquarie University working on early Christian second coming expectations (Murray is a hero and mentor of mine - and also my brother).

Enroll online before July 31. Here is the course outline:

Week 1: Faith, History and Worldview
Week 2: Gospels - Canonical and Apocryphal
Week 3: The Quests for the ‘Historical Jesus'
Week 4: The Social and Political World of First Century Palestine
Week 5: Jesus in First Century Judaism
Week 6: Jesus, Eschatology and the ‘Kingdom of God'
Week 7: Jesus, Ethics and the Law
Week 8: The ‘Sermon on the Mount'
Week 9: Messianic Ethics for Today?
Week 10: Resurrection?; Counter-cultural community
Week 11: Wealth and Poverty
Week 12: Violence, War and Peace
Week 13: Resistance, Assimilation and Protest

I think this will be a great course with excellent teachers (even if I am biased...).

PS Murray is also teaching an online course in second semester with John Dickson comparing five major world religions.