Tyndale House Residential Centre for Biblical Research
Summer School, June 14 - July 31, 2008

Tyndale House, Cambridge, UK

Essential Sources for the Study of the New Testament

For New Testament graduate scholars or those contemplating graduate research for Masters or Doctoral degrees.

The Dilemma | The Solution | The Course | The Itinerary

 

The Dilemma

The New Testament is a first century corpus, and as such its scholarly study must be  undertaken in the context of the social, cultural, and religious settings of its day.

The gap between the disciplines of archaeology, papyrology and epigraphy and mainstream ancient history continues to grow because of an increased degree of specialisation in these fields. As a result the fruits of these areas of research are not being taught together for the study of the ancient world. If ancient historians are facing this problem, then it becomes all the more acute for those who wish to study the New Testament in its varied cultural, religious and social settings.

  • How can New Testament scholars learn to harvest these largely untapped but important resources in a scholarly way and not resort simply to parallelomania?
  • How can the vast array of primary material available in electronic format be mastered for philological and other New Testament studies?
  • How can students gain access to secondary discussion of primary sources by specialists?

There are widespread skill shortages within New Testament scholarship. We believe that Christian scholars are called to love God with all their heart, soul and mind, and that it is therefore all the more important that Christians in Biblical scholarship are equipped in the best possible way.
The second dilemma concerns the secular ethos that is so dominant in the Academy. ʹReal scholarshipʹ is often held to be ʹneutral scholarshipʹ done from an agnostic viewpoint and with a hermeneutic of suspicion.

  • How can committed Christians contribute to scholarship?
  • How do we keep critical enquiry and our trust in the New Testament together?
  • How can Biblical scholarship help us to grow as Christians?


Temple of Apollos at Corinth


3rd century papyrus of Mark’s Gospel

The Solution

This coming summer a course on the scholarly use of ancient sources for New Testament research will be offered by Tyndale House, Cambridge. The programme is centred around academic study whilst creating ample space and opportunity for reflection.

Tyndale House was established in 1944 and is a residential library for graduate Biblical research. Many of its readers are pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge, but Tyndale House also reckons a variety of students from other universities and visiting scholars among its guests.

Those enrolling in the Summer School will become members of Tyndale House and on the recommendation of the course director secure reading rights in the University Library and the libraries of the Departments of Classics and Asian and Middle East Studies which are situated close by. Tyndale House itself has the largest collection of Biblical studies material in the United Kingdom.


Study in Cambridge, UK

The Course

  • Archaeological evidence

  • Papyrological sources

  • Pre-70 AD Rabbinic sources

  • Epigraphical sources

  • Hellenistic Jewish literary sources/ Greek Old Testament

  • is suitable for committed Christians pursuing graduate studies and for those contemplating a further research degree. A good working knowledge of Greek is expected. • addresses the participants as academic students and as believers.

  • is unique in that no other institution offers this combination of subjects aimed at tackling the vast amount and variety of ancient sources for New Testament studies, and in the case of pre-70 A.D. Rabbinic sources this has not been offered before.

  • will be preceded by a two week exploration of certain archaeological sites in Greece and Turkey, as well as an excursion to Pompeii and Herculaneum, to help students to ‘read’ archaeological sites. This is an important prelude to the five week course and will help students understand more clearly the background context of many of the sources.

  • is taught by Research Fellows of Tyndale House, all of whom are members of the academic community in the University of Cambridge.

  • is conducted at Tyndale House which is one of the leading dedicated Biblical studies research libraries in the world.

  • is full time: a two-week field trip then five weeks study from Monday to Friday.

  • is restricted to 12 participants.

  • is recommended, with additional written work, as worth seven semester hours for those seeking credits.

 


Traditional Rabbi reading a Torah scroll


Inscription referring to Quirinius


Philo of Alexandria

Course tutors

  • Dr Dirk Jongkind, Summer School Director, Research Fellow in
    New Testament Greek, Tyndale House

  • Dr Peter Head, Affiliated Senior Lecturer in New Testament,
    Cambridge University

  • Dr David Instone-Brewer, Senior Research Fellow in Rabbinics
    and the New Testament, Tyndale House

  • Dr Peter Williams, Warden, Tyndale House


The Dead Sea Isaiah Scroll

The Itinerary

The itinerary in Greece and Turkey will include visits to:

  • The Stoa, Agora, Mars Hill, Acropolis, and Roman Agora in Athens.
  • Archaeological and Epigraphic Museum in Athens
  • Ancient Corinth
  • Cenchrea & Isthmian Games Site
  • Heracleion and Delphi
  • Ephesus
  • Archaeological museum in Selçuk
  • Temple of Artemis
  • The Serapeion in Epidauros and in Ephesus
  • The cities of Priene and Miletus
  • An additional two day visit to Pompeii and Herculaneum.

 

For further information please .
Details and Application Form for 2008
(Word document)

Commendations from former students:

"The summer course gave me a wonderful introduction to the world out of which the New Testament documents were produced.  Through study of the Graeco-Roman and Jewish backgrounds I have been equipped not only to read the text, but to hear the arguments and influences that affected the writers and readers of those documents.  In doing so, the course will breathed new life into my study, teaching, and preaching of these 'living and active' scriptures." "This course for the first time brought me 'face-to-face' with the background sources to the New Testament.  As students we worked in a non-competitive environment where the objective was to inform us how much we could learn, not to point out how much knowledge we lacked. As a result of this intensive course, I have been able to
1) read the Bible in its context more clearly
2) evaluate scholarly discussions which utilize these sources, and
3) implement these sources myself with a growing degree of confidence and ability for my further decree course."
"The Tyndale NT Backgrounds summer course was an outstanding educational experience.  I benefitted greatly from the teaching of experts in the fields of Rabbinic Studies, Hebrew/Aramaic Backgrounds, Papyrology, and the Greco-Roman context.  The field trip to Greece and Turkey enabled me to look at the NT in entirely new light.  I truly am grateful for the experience. It is one that will profoundly shape my future work.  I recommend the Tyndale summer course without reservation."
"As a doctoral student in biblical studies, the summer course introduced me to subjects that many doctoral programs simply don't have the time or resources to cover adequately.  Had I been forced to gain basic competency on papyrology, epigraphy, Greco-Roman authors, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and rabbinic literature, solely through reading and personal study, I would still be searching for how to start.  The summer course jump started this work and has enabled me to read the primary sources with confidence.  I highly recommend it to doctoral students in Old and New Testament studies."
 
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