The first course in the writings of the New Testament surveys the historical, religious, and social world of the New Testament, and introduces various critical and literary-theological methods for the study of the New Testament in general. The Gospels are then surveyed in terms of content, literary structure, critical issues, and theological emphasis. The underlying aim is to gain an understanding of the four unique portraits of Jesus provided in the canonical Gospels. The course also examines the development of the Christology of the New Testament and the modern debates about and constructs of a Historical Jesus as opposed to the Real Jesus of the four canonical portraits.