1 John: The Perfect Christian?

Here are the last two lecture sketches: ejohn-lecture-7.ppt  and e-john-lecture-8.ppt . Please email your assignment outlines as soon as possible, and also any problems that you are perhaps encountering. Of particular significance to your assignment is the lecture subtitled: “How holy can a Christian be?”

One assignment outline that impressed me went as follows:

Title: The Perfect Christian? (A study in 1 John)

Introduction: Key terms in 1 John light, seed, love, life, anointing

1. The life of Jesus

 ”Walking  as Jesus walked… as He is in the light…and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” The ongoing efficacy of the cross, the ongoing experience of walking as Jesus walked.

2. The family of the Father

“Born of God… little children, young men etc… seed/sperm… fellowship/family” Those that are born of God cannot sin!

3. The anointing of the Holy Spirit

“We have an anointing and we know” etc.

Conlclusion/ summary/ bibliography

I like the way that every claim towards teleios is nuanced by the corporate experience of the “we”, John’s community or church. It’s rather like the way that Paul never uses the word “saint” in the singular, but invariably the plural. That is to say, our holiness depends on the way we live in fellowship both with the Father (and Son) and with each other.

Epistles of John: Overview of 1 Jn 4,5

This week we are looking-at-1-jn-45.ppt in an overview sketch of the two chapters. Thank you for the assignment outlines coming in via email. A book that you might consider in the wider reading for your assignment is Orthodox and Heretical Perfectionism in the Johannine Community (Dissertation series) (Paperback)
by John L. Bogart. It’s a short (190 pages) book that came out thirty years ago that has not received due credit for its insights, I think. See if you can dig it out in http://abebooks.com .

Epistles of John: How holy can a Christian hope to be?

Here attached are the lecture notes for Tuesday night’s session on 1Jn 2  looking-at-1-john-2.doc  and the powerpoint on “Perfection in 1Jn 3?” ejohn-lecture-4.ppt (“How holy can a Christian hope to be?”). Note: I really hope that you disagree with me and can put me straight! This is to enable your forthcoming discussion on the right and wrong views on Perfectionism expressed throughout the epistle.

ASSIGNMENTS/ SCHEDULES AUTUMN 07

A number of queries about the assignments which should be completed by Christmas, so just a quick post to check that we’re all singing from the same hymnsheet(!).

Epistles of John 2

Evening class in the Epistles of John

I enclose here a detailed summary of 1 John chapter 1 looking-at-1-john-1.doc and a powerpoint summary of our second lecture (ejohn-lecture-2.ppt).

Here’s a post to get you thinking about your assignment on right and wrong ideas about Perfection in 1 John:

Epistles of John

Hi guys, Just posting the first lecture in the-epistles-of-john.ppt series.

Please make sure you read right through all the assigned material (1 John, 2 John, 3 John) for next Tuesday’s discussion. Remember that we are assembling evidence for the historical context of the letters. An excellent (though densely argued) book on the subject is Martin Hengel’s The Johannine Question. His solution to the problem that I have set you is to begin at 3 John and work back through 2 John to 1 John. Hope that’s not too much of a hint!

The text of the Powerpoint is from Wikpedia (easy to spot!) which takes a very conservative line, so Hengel provides a helpful alternative viewpoint.