New Testament Survey

What you'll Accomplish

Who should take this course?

This course is aimed to be useful for a broad spectrum of students. This course is an introductory survey of the New Testament. Therefore, it is aimed for people with little or no previous knowledge of the New Testament. However, this course can also be beneficial to those with significant previous exposure.

This course is primarily designed to help Christians grow in their faith. But it will also be informative for any person who would like to be better informed about the Christian perspective on the New Testament. This course will give an overview understanding of what Christians believe about the second part of the Christian Bible.

This material was originally taught at the college level, but it is designed to be accessible to people at almost any stage, because it is a beginner level course.

And this course has been designed to be used by either an individual, or by a group. Therefore, it is appropriate for churches, colleges, schools, small groups, or any group or individual who wishes to understand the New Testament better.

Course Objectives (Cognitive):

Upon successful completion of this course, each student should be able to:

• Articulate the 'Big-Picture' history of the New Testament People of God and the overall message of the New Testament.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of the New Testament Scriptures and their relevance to life and ministry.
• Place the Major NT people, events and books in a general chronology.
• Explain the main message(s), organization, theme(s), and/or character(s) of every NT book.
• Articulate how the New Testament provides for and directs the Christian to live out the new life in Christ, based on the revelation of the character and finished work of Jesus Christ, and on the hope set before us.

Course Goals (Mindset):

Upon successful completion of this course, each student should have opportunity to:

• Use the NT as a means to grow in worship, devotion, and Christian character
• Use the foundation from this survey as the basis for continued fruitful study in the New Testament
• Demonstrate a growing esteem of Jesus and His Holy Word.

How This Course Works

Course Resources

The following resources are made available to the student as part of this course:

Required texts

• Primary Textbook - Holy Bible in a literal [formal equivalent] or dynamic equivalent [functional equivalent] translation (a paraphrase, such as The Message or The Voice is not appropriate for this course).
• Secondary/Supplemental Textbook - Elwell, Walter A. and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament - 3rd ed., Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2013. ISBN:978-0801039645, (The 2nd edition [2005] or 1st edition [1998] are acceptable for this course as well).

Video Lectures

Each module contains a number of lectures on video. The videos cover a portion of the course material. And they also include reviews at the end to summarize the teaching of each section. It is recommended that the student not just passively watch the videos, but actively interact with the course material. Blank lecture notes are included in each module for your benefit. These can all be watched from the course website or, if you prefer, there are links to the each video in the Rumble or YouTube interface, in addition to an audio only version for download.

Instruction Documents

Each module contains links to documents which contain detailed instructions for all the module's activities. There are two different instruction documents in each module. One is for a person who is working through this course on their own, with instructions for individual activities. The other instruction document is for people working through this course in a group setting. And it contains instructions for group activities.

Supplemental and Reference Documents

Some modules contain documents which supply supplemental information relevant to the module. And there is a two page summary document for each book of the New Testament to be used for reference and review. These are contained in the appropriate module for each book.

Reviews

As mentioned earlier, each video lecture contains summary reviews. The review material for each module is gathered into a slideshow, so that the student can view all the review material for each module in a convenient format.

Quizzes & Discussions

Each module has a review quiz to review and test the student's understanding and retention of the course material. Most of the questions come from the video Lectures, but the required textbook reading is also fair game for the review quizzes. The questions are objective type questions and are automatically graded. The quiz questions are randomly generated from a larger bank of questions, so that the quiz is different each time. Therefore, the student may profitably take the quiz more than once to see more questions.

And each module has a list of discussion type questions which concentrate on thematic issues and application of course material. If the student is working through this course as an individual, these questions can be used for personal reflection and meditation. If the course is taken in a group setting, these questions are appropriate for group discussion, or possibly for essay questions on an exam, if the course leader chooses.

Course Activities

There are three basic groups of student activities for each module: intake activities, interaction activities, and application activities. In each of the activities, the student should concentrate on gaining knowledge, but also focus on conforming their attitudes and lifestyle to the course material, as they use this course to know the God of the New Testament.

Intake of course information -

The intake activities are designed for the student to gain access to and receive relevant information about the course topics. Because of the nature of the New Testament as revelation from God, it is important that the student start with a listening posture, to receive from the faith delivered once and for all to the saints. There is certainly a time for the student to contribute their insights (in the next two types of activities), but it is important to start with receiving the information. This does not mean the student should be passive in these activities. Rather the student should actively engage with the course material, with a goal to listen and learn.

Interaction with course information -

The interaction activities are designed for the student to thoughtfully process and mull over the information until they thoroughly understand it and have it committed to memory. The student will rehearse the information in a variety of ways and assess how well they have understood and retained the course content.

Application of course information -

And finally, the application activities are designed for the student to solidify their understanding by working through the ways that the course information connects with their own life and ministry in current society. The process of learning is not complete until the information is put into practice.

Detailed activity instructions -

Detailed instructions for all course activities are included in each module in slightly different forms for either individual or group study. See the Student Guide or Group Guide in each module for a description of this module's activities.

Course Depth/Optional Supplemental Sections

This course is designed so that it can be used with various degrees of depth of detail. The main course materials cover the general background material and all of the New Testament books in a survey fashion. This is intended to be accessible even to people with no previous knowledge or exposure to this material. Part of this material is just an exposure to some key passages and ideas in each book. And so, this material does not cover the message of the New Testament in significant depth, but rather gives an overview understanding.

However, for a few key passages throughout the New Testament, there is supplemental material that covers these passages in significantly more detail (though not as thoroughly as it could be covered). Therefore, each individual and/or group may choose whether they only want to cover the basic material or if they want to explore at least some passages or issues in more depth.

The course interaction and application activities, and the reviews and assessments only cover the basic material, and do not assume that the student is familiar with any of the supplementary material. And then there are special supplemental activities in each module designed to be applied to whatever supplemental material the individual or group chooses to explore. And then each supplemental section has its own review, application and assessment materials included with it.

Schedule:

This course is divided into five modules based on the content. Therefore, each module has a different amount of material, and will take a different amount of time. The course is designed so that an individual student can go at their own pace or a group can mutually determine a flexible schedule. This schedule will obviously be different depending on how much of the supplemental material the student or group decides to work through.

In the past, this course has been taught in 12 week and 5 week intensive formats. Below I have included the 12 week schedule, as well as a few example alternatives as possible guidelines for groups.

Whether you are working through this course as an individual or as a group, I recommend finding whatever schedule works best for you. And I encourage you to remain faithful to completing this course and growing in your Biblical knowledge and practice.

Example Module Content

Getting Started

At any time, you can click the menu at the top to jump to any module in this course. Or you can click the button below to begin Module 1. I hope you enjoy, and I pray that you grow in understanding of the New Testament and devotion to its author.

Module 1