UNISA New Testament Course Module 2025-2026
New Testament is not offered as a major at undergraduate level. For information on the undergraduate modules on offer, consult the subjects Biblical Studies and Scripture Studies.
New Testament can only be taken at postgraduate level.
| Christian Origins: the Formation of Early Christian Discourse – ECH4802 |
| Honours |
|
NQF level: 8 |
Credits: 24 |
| Module presented in English |
Module presented online |
| Purpose: The purpose of this module is to: (1) introduce students to the variety and diversity of Early Christian discourses; (2) equip students with the tools to read these discourses and construct meaning from them; (3) expose students – via selected Early Christian writings – to the socio-cultural contextual parameters and forces in which Early Christian discourses were formed and encountered. |
| Making Christianities: Competing Identities in a Religiously Diverse World – ECH4803 |
| Honours |
|
NQF level: 8 |
Credits: 24 |
| Module presented in English |
Module presented online |
| Purpose: To introduce students to the reception history of early Christian traditions in the process of canon formation; to inculcate familiarity with the rich variety of Christian religious literature in their respective socio-rhetorical and cultural contexts; to enable students to understand and explain the embeddedness of Late Antique Christian traditions in their Graeco-Roman religious contexts in the formation of Christian identities; and to enable students to explain the origins of Christianity as a religio-cultural phenomenon. |
| The Jesus Movement in Its Context: Jesus Research and Christian Origins in Archaeological Perspective – ECH4804 |
| Honours |
|
NQF level: 8 |
Credits: 24 |
| Module presented in English |
Module presented online |
| Purpose: To introduce students to the context (material, textual and artifactual culture) of Jesus of Nazareth and the setting from which the Jesus movement emerged; to equip students with the interdisciplinary tools to analyse the textual and archaeological data pertaining to Jesus of Nazareth and Christian origins; and to enable students to grasp the cultural meaning of the emergence of Christianity. Students credited with this module will understand Christian origins as a complex cultural and religious process that is reflected in textual, archaeological and artifactual remains and Jesus of Nazareth as historical figure at the foundation of Early Christianity. |
| Digging up the Church History: Early Christianity in the Roman Empire – ECH4805 |
| Honours |
|
NQF level: 8 |
Credits: 24 |
| Module presented in English |
Module presented online |
| Purpose: To equip students with conceptual skills to understand the Graeco-Roman world of Early Christianity; to familiarise students with the artifactual remains of Early Christianity in North Africa, Asia Minor and Italy; to introduce students to the interdisciplinary tools necessary to discuss the cultural meanings of relevant material and architectural remains of Christianity in the provinces of the Roman Empire; and to facilitate meaningful interaction with existing research in the historical aspects of Early Christian groups. |
| Orientation in Early Christian Archaeology – ECH4807 |
| Honours |
|
NQF level: 8 |
Credits: 24 |
| Module presented in English |
Module presented online |
| Purpose: To familiarise students with relevant archaeological discoveries relating to Early Christianity; to introduce students to the research methodologies and interpretive traditions in Early Christian archaeology; and to introduce students to Early Christian archaeological scholarship. |
| Research in New Testament and Early Christian Studies – HPECH81 |
| Honours |
Year module |
NQF level: 8 |
Credits: 12 |
| Module presented in English |
Module presented online |
| Purpose: To equip students with conceptual skills to do research in New Testament and Early Christian Studies. Students will be familiarised with the major tools for research in New Testament and Early Christian Studies, which include significant theoretical frameworks and methodologies. Recent research done in New Testament and Early Christian Studies will be scrutinised, discussed and criticised. The module will facilitate meaningful interaction with existing research in New Testament and Early Christian Studies and enable students to understand the research being done by leading scholars in the field, and to adjudicate scholarly articles and assess whether the author used sound scholarly practices. |
| New Testament and Early Christian Studies Research Report – HRECH86 |
| Honours |
|
NQF level: 8 |
Credits: 36 |
| Module presented in English |
Module presented online |
| Purpose: Firstly to assist and guide students in formulating a viable research proposal for a small research report related to the three honours modules which they have completed; secondly, to design a structure for a research essay or report; and thirdly, to document, under the guidance of a supervisor, the outcomes of the research using standard practices in the field of New Testament and Early Christian Studies research. |
