Jesus and the Gospels: Part I

The British university system often differs from the US system. In the humanities, students must attend lectures, tutorials, write two essays and take a two-hour final exam. There is a much bigger emphasis here on independent reading and being able to synthesize ideas via written argumentation.

A tutorial is a small group within the larger class that meets once a week for one hour to discuss assigned readings and to clarify concepts from the lectures. These tutorials are usually led by posgraduate students. Tomorrow is my first shot at leading a group in the course Jesus and the Gospels (the picture to the side is the front cover of one of the books we use for the course: The Cambridge Companion to Jesus, edited by St Andrews' own Markus Bockmuehl).

I am very curious to compare my experience in Latin America with this new opportunity at St Andrews. In the next few weeks I will be sure to post my observations. In the meantime, here are a few differences I already note:

1. There is a huge socio-economic difference. Most of the students at ESEPA where from the lower classes; some had never graduated from high school; most had never been to college. St Andrews students on the other tend to come from the upper crust of British society (Prince William went to school here!).

2. When I taught at ESEPA I was the youngest professor. Now I am one of the oldest postgraduates. I think I may even be older than the professor of the class!

3. Here we have a seemingly unlimited number of written resources to choose from that can cover the kinds of topics we want to develop in the course. In ESEPA we basically chose whatever we could get our hands on, and often had to organize the class around our scantly available resources. The plethora of written materials here is a huge advantage.

4. The age range in ESEPA was 18-60, with the median age being about 35. In St Andrews the range is 18-23, with median age being about 19.

5. In ESEPA it was advantageous to be American. Costa Ricans think American theologians are really smart, that when we speak, even angels listen. My sense is that Brits don't feel the same about us!

One final note. This week's tutorial topic is rather dense. We will be discussing the assumptions we all bring with us as we study Jesus and the Gospels. Remember, this is a university, and many of our students come from different faiths or from a secular position. The main point of the readings this week is to highlight that there is no such thing as a neutral or objective perspective when we come to the Gospels. Everyone reads them with assumptions. The object of this first course is to try and help us see what those assumptions are. In the end, I would argue that the best way to read the Gospels is to identify ourselves with the implied reader, who reads from a position of trust rather than skepticism. This approach is best expressed with the phrase "faith seeking understanding" or "I believe so that I may understand".