The Syllabus


Advice on writing New Testament Papers

Mark's Gospel: read by Max Maclean.

Gospel of Thomas
Gospel of Mary
Gospel of Philip

In previous semesters, I've commented on students' papers. Although in many cases the topics are different, some of these comments might still be useful to you:
Spring 2016
Comments on Paper 1 (Mark's Gospel)

Fall 2014

Comments on Paper 3
Comments on Paper 2
Comments on Paper 1



Highlights and Lowlights Spring 2014

Why Was Jesus Executed?

 Highlights and lowlights from previous semesters:


Paper 4

Paper 1

Highlights and lowlights from the third paper.

Highlights and lowlights from first paper.

Essential on-line resources:


The Five Gospels in Parallel: indispensable resource.

New Testament Gateway: great place to start searching for information.

Into His Own: excellent resources for the historical Jesus.


Philo of Alexandria on Pontius Pilate: Embassy to Gaius
Josephus on Pilate: Jewish War
Joseph on Pilate: Antiquities of the Jews
Josephus on the trial of Jesus - compare (translations of) the Greek and Arabic versions.

Resources available through FSU Library:

As a student at FSU, you have access to journals and other sources that are available to subscribers only. To access these sources, you will need to use the EZ-Proxy server.

The journals listed below are written by, and for, professional biblical scholars. Do not be surprised if some articles are hard to follow, and remember that in journal articles, scholars are trying to gain a reputation by advancing new ideas, not by merely repeating well established ideas. Still, reading these articles should give you an idea of what kind of skills are needed for New Testament studies.
Although these are electronic copies, please cite with reference to printed edition, ie. Author's name, 'Article Title', Journal Title, (Volume Number, Year), pp...

Journal of Theological Studies.  Contains a lot of material that is relevant to New Testament studies, e.g. David Instone-Brewer's article about the Eighteen Benedictions, April 2003. (You will soon understand the significance of this).

New Testament Studies.  The title of this journal is self-explanatory.

Journal for the Study of the New Testament. Again, the title says it all. Published by the University of Sheffield, probably the leading centre for New Testament Studies in the United Kingdom.

Also, there are three useful databases from Oxford. Oxford Reference provides basic information in short, introductory articles. Oxford Handbooks are more advanced - for example, Benedict Viviano's article on "Eschatology and the Quest for the Historical Jesus" in  Jerry L. Walls (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology provides a useful survey of attempts to understand Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God: very useful for your second paper. Oxford Scholarship provides access to scholarly monographs, if you really want to stretch yourself.


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