English 116B: The New Testament in English

Spring quarter, 2011

Professor Michael O'Connell

Section Leader: Caleb McCarthy, Ryan Stodtmeister, Irina Wender

Lecture: Tuesday, Thursday: 5 to 6:15, Theater-Dance-W 1701

Discussion sections:Mr. McCarthy, Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 8:50, Girv 2119, 9 a.m. to 9:50, HSSB 1231. Ms. Wender, Wednesday, 6 p.m. to 6:50, SH 2635, 7 p.m. to 7:50, SH 2635. Mr. Stodtmeister, Thursday, 8 a.m. to 8:50, Girv 2123. 9 a.m. to 9:50, HSSB 1224.

Office hours: Prof. O’Connell, Tuesday and Thursday, 3 to 4 p.m., SH 2721. Mr. McCarthy, Thursday 12 noon to 1 p.m. in SH 3432C. Mr. Stodtmeister, Monday 1 p.m. to 3, SH 2432T. Ms. Wender, Wednesday 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 in SH 2432M.

Class list-serve: english116b@english.ucsb.edu. If you are pre-enrolled, you are already on this list under your umail address. If you wish to use another address, please arrange for the umail address to forward it to your other address. If you enroll as a crasher, please send your address to Professor O’Connell this week. This is the address for messages to the entire class about issues raised in lecture or general questions and responses to New Testament issues. The instructor and teaching assistants will also use the list-serve for announcements and to pose questions for lecture and discussion sections. Please check your e-mail regularly to keep abreast of class issues.

E-mail addresses and phone numbers: Prof. O’Connell: oconnell@english.ucsb.edu; cell phone: 451-1733; Caleb McCarthy: calebdm@gmail.com; Ryan Stodtmeister: rrs@umail.ucsb.edu; Irine Wender: irinavladi@umail.ucsb.edu

Class web page: english.ucsb.edu/faculty/oconnell/newtestament. The “course materials” section of the web page will contain class handouts and other materials relevant to the class. “Research links” has a list of interesting sites pertinent to study of the New Testament and extra-canonical early Christian literature. Check out the page early in the quarter, browse the links, and make use of it for consulting course materials.

Required texts: The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings, ed. Bart D. Ehrman (Oxford University Press, second edition, 2004), Ehrman, The New Testament: a Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (Oxford University Press, fourth edition, 2008), and a reader available from the Alternative in Isla Vista. In the syllabus and reading assignments page The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings is referred to as “tan Ehrman,” and The New Testament: a Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings is called “blue Ehrman” from the colors of their covers.

Goals for the Course: a sophisticated understanding of the narrative books of the New Testament, a sense of their historical setting and literary techniques, and an awareness of how narrative functions in constructing meaning in these texts. A more detailed sense of how we'll read the New Testament is contained on a separate handout sheet.

Requirements for the Course: regular (and punctual) attendance at lecture and discussion section, preparation of the reading before lecture and active participation in discussion sections; 2) two papers, one due early in the quarter and another due near the end of the quarter; 3) midterm and final.

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