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THEO 621
Luke's Gospel and Acts




Richard S. Ascough

Queen's
Theological
College



This course will be taught online as a distance education course in Winter 2001, using WebCT.

If you are interested please contact the instructor

Theological Hall
Queen's University
Kingston, ON
Canada, K7L 3N6

(613) 533-6000
x78066

rsa@post.queensu.ca

http://
post.queensu.ca/~rsa


Course Description | Course Textbooks | Course Outline
Student Assessment | Online Learning
Recommended Commentaries | Course Resources
Course Description


Major literary, theological, and socio-cultural themes in Luke’s double work will be explored, including such topics as the sharing of possessions, the roles of women in Jesus’ ministry and the early church, characterization and plot development, Luke’s view of salvation history, and attitudes towards the marginalized.

The specific objectives of the course are:

  • to become familiar with the contours of Luke-Acts and Luke's theology and to gain a knowledge of the social world within which Luke-Acts was written

  • to gain skill and confidence in understanding and interpreting the text of Luke-Acts

  • to facilitate the application of the texts to various theological and pastoral situations in our own day.

This course will be taught online as a distance education course in Winter 2001, using WebCT.

Prerequisite/Co-requisite(s): THEO 516 or permission of instructor

Frequently Asked Questions About This Course

Please Note: As the instructor I reserve the right to change any aspect of the course at any point during the duration of the course.

Course Textbooks


There are no required textbooks for the course as most of our reading will take place online. I do suggest that you have access to a synopsis of the Gospels such as Kurt Aland, Synopsis of the Four Gospels (London and New York: United Bible Societies, 1983) or Burton H. Throckmorton, Gospel Parallels: A Synopsis of the First Three Gospels (any edition; New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1992). The Aland synopsis is available at the campus bookstore.

You will, of course, also want to have on hand a Bible. Almost any version will do, although the New Revised Standard Version or the Revised Standard Version are recommended for study purposes. Do not use the King James Version or the Living Bible (or any other paraphrase). See my guide to English Versions of the Bible for help in choosing a translation.

I would also recommend that you have access to a good, critical commentary on each of Luke and Acts. I have some suggestions listed here.

Course Outline


  • Unit 1: Jan. 8 - 13 Beginning the Journey
    Lukan Preface, Luke 1:1-4

  • Unit 2: Jan. 15-20 Point of Origin
    Infancy Narrative, Luke 1:5 - 2:52

  • Unit 3: Jan 22 - Feb. 3 (two weeks) Announcing the Itinerary
    Jesus' Inaugural Sermon, Luke 3:1 - 4:30

  • Unit 4: Feb. 5-10 Stops Along the Way
    Miracles and Controversies, Luke 4:31 - 9:50

  • Unit 5: Feb. 12-16 Sifting the Excess Baggage
    Parables and Discipleship, Luke 9:51 - 18:34

  • Reading Week: Feb. 17-25
    Rest Stop

  • Unit 6: Feb. 26 - Mar. 3 Companions Along the Way
    Luke-Acts, passim

  • Unit 7: Mar. 5-10 Changing Direction
    Passion and Resurrection, Luke 18:35 - 24:53

  • Unit 8: Mar. 12-17 Preparing for a Foreign Journey
    Early Christian Communalism, Acts 1:1 - 6:7

  • Unit 9: Mar. 19-24 Moving Beyond Local Borders
    Persecution and Expansion, Acts 6:8 - 15:35

  • Unit 10: Mar. 26 - Apr. 1 Arriving at the 'Center'
    Paul in the Aegean World, Acts 15:36 - 28:31

  • Unit 11: Apr. 2-6
    Debriefing the Journey

Student Assessment


In this course we will be using computer interface to create an online collaborative learning environment. Regular weekly participation will be required and learners will be expected to be more self-directed than is often the case in classroom environments. We will be using an "asynchronous" format - that is, you can login and do your work anytime, anywhere (with computer access, of course!). You will not have to plan for live, real-time "chats" ("synchronous"). WebCT will allow us to set up "threaded discussions" of various topics each week.

Much of the work will be as part of a collaborative learning group - that is, working together with others in the course to understand specific texts or Luke's overarching theology and purposes. I will also include some discussion of the "so what" for various ministry settings (preaching, teaching, counseling). However, this is not the primary aim of the course.

I expect that there will be about 10-12 hours of online and off-line work per week (we get a one-week break from Feb 19-23). In order to recognize the work done in this environment, most of you grade will be based on participation in individual and group projects online. For this reason, you need to insure that you participate regularly and substantively in the online discussions. If for some reason you cannot participate substantively in a given week (e.g., because of work or illness or family commitments) I may ask you to do extra work to make up for the missed time. The participation grade will be worth 70% of your final grade.

At various points in the course I will also ask you to submit material directly to me. These pieces will also be included in the grade assigned for participation. I will also require a final, summative paper to be submitted to me before April 20. This paper will be more like a research paper and will be worth 30% of your final grade.

Finally, I want to assure you that I do not expect that the online course will be more work than one of my face-to-face classroom courses. At the same time, it is not less work! It is, however, a somewhat different way of learning (check out some of the links below under "Resources for Online Learning" for some ideas about what you might expect).

Online Learning


The online course format will involve the use of computers and the internet to create an online collaborative learning environment. Regular weekly participation will be required. In order to insure that you can access the course on the first day it is imperative that you have registered for the course and obtained the necessary username to access the Queen's WebCT site. Instructions for doing so are linked below under "Accessing an Online Course". This should be done at least two weeks prior to the beginning of the course.

Resources Introducing Online Learning:

Updated December 6, 2000