T601 – God and Messiah

Instructor: Dr. Jennifer M. Rosner (jenmrosner@gmail.com)

Location: Populi: https://mjti.populiweb.com

Dates: March 30 – June 8, 2025; Spring 2025

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course examines Christology—the doctrine of the person of Yeshua. It will explore (a) how Christology came to be seen as antithetical to Judaism and (b) how key theological doctrines are being rethought in important ways in our day. The course demonstrates how the high view of Yeshua of the early Yeshua-movement emerged in the context of Second Temple Judaism and was reinterpreted in a Hellenistic milieu by the church fathers and councils and offers

RELATIONSHIP TO THE CURRICULUM
This is a Core Course that is required for the Jewish Studies and Rabbinic Studies programs.

RELEVANCE
Messianic Jewish leaders need to understand historic Jewish and Christian concerns regarding the nature of God, and to articulate a view of God which is faithful to revelation, respectful of both traditions, and framed in an idiom that is both Jewish and contemporary.

PREREQUISITES
T501 Shape of Messianic Jewish Theology or special permission from the Academic Dean.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
This is an online course. The student must have a computer, headset, and high-speed internet access.

COURSE FORMAT
Weekly lectures and readings; asynchronous online discussion on Populi.

REQUIREMENTS
Listening to all lectures, reading all assigned texts, active participation in all discussion threads, and completion of final examination.

REQUIRED TEXTS

• Torrance, Thomas. The Mediation of Christ. Helmers & Howard, 1992.
• Additional readings to be provided.

RECOMMENDED READING

• Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the God of Israel. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
• Berger, David. The Rebbe, The Messiah and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference. Portland: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2001.
• Boyarin, Daniel. Border Lines. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
• Fredriksen, Paula. From Jesus to Christ. Yale, 2000.
• Hurtado, Larry W. Lord Jesus Christ. Eerdmans, 2003.
• Hurtado, Larry W. One God, One Lord. T&T Clark, 2015.
• Kellner, Menachem. Must a Jew Believe Anything? Littman, 2006.
• Novenson, Matthew (ed.). Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity. Brill, 2020.
• Reed, Annette Yoshiko. Jewish-Christianity and the History of Judaism. Fortress, 2022.
• Shapiro, Marc B. The Limits of Orthodox Theology. Littman, 2004.
• Zetterholm, Karin and Anders Runesson. Within Judaism: Interpretive Trajectories in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the First to the Twenty-First Century. Lexington, 2024.