Religion Course: Jesus Scepticism

Religion and spirituality. Learn about systems of faith and worship.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) update: arrangement of our courses

Some of our courses have moved to online delivery. We aim to continue to deliver a high-quality educational experience through interactive, online classes in real-time. If you are currently enrolled in a course with us, we will be in touch soon with options for your enrolment.

Please note that for online classes, all course materials will be shared electronically. No printed resources will be available.

Join us for a day-long workshop on Jesus. What are the Christian views? What are the secular views? We even address the resurgent debate on whether he existed at all. Learn about the many ways people in the past and today have thought about Jesus, and learn about how the debate over Jesus' very existence is becoming more mainstream and academic, as the methods of New Testament specialists are scrutinised by historians and philosophers (and themselves). We shall also expose the false dichotomy that people must be sure that Jesus either did or did not exist, introducing the increasingly fashionable ‘agnostic position’.

Aims

Learn to confidently describe and discuss the various confessional and secular views about Jesus. This course aims to introduce diverse ideas about Christian origins and theology.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• describe the various views about Jesus, and the methods for determining which should be preferred
• debate on the existence of Jesus
• apply epistemological concepts to other historical questions.

Content

Session 1: Christian Jesuses

• The Jesuses of the Bible
• The Jesuses of Christians

Session 2: Secular Jesuses

• The quest for the historical Jesus
• The Jesuses of contemporary secular scholars

Session 3: Questioning Jesus' historicity

• The sources and methods of the various stakeholders
• The best alternative hypothesis

Intended audience

Anyone with an interest in the various views about Jesus and in the current academic debate over his historicity.

Prerequisites

None.

Delivery style

All-day workshop.