Unit rationale, description and aim
Throughout the liturgical year, hearers and readers regularly encounter the faith and testimony of the first followers of Christ. At the same time, the on-going engagement with the gospel in a liturgical context is an invitation to contemporary believers to experience Christ in the present and to make sense of the complexity of human experience today.
In this unit, you will have the opportunity to critically and reflexively interpret the gospel of Matthew, which predominates in Year A of the liturgical calendar in the Common Revised Lectionary of the Roman Catholic Church. You will apply various methods and approaches to the critical analysis of Matthew’s gospel. You will also examine processes for biblical interpretation and appropriation in your own contemporary context. This unit aims to support those in education and ministry to enter into a critical dialogue with the Gospel of Matthew.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Examine the historical, literary and theological d...
Learning Outcome 01
Apply the skills, tools and resources of exegesis ...
Learning Outcome 02
Construct an interpretation of a text in Matthew’s...
Learning Outcome 03
Content
Topics will include:
- An exploration of the connection between the Bible and the liturgy
- A critical study of selected passages from the gospel of Matthew within its narrative, social and religious settings.
- A study of the literary traits, special interests and core theological themes in the gospel of Matthew.
- An examination of how the gospel of Matthew addresses contemporary experience today.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment strategies for this unit are designed to align with the learning outcomes. The cumulative aim of all tasks is to build your capacity for critical examination and reflexive interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew. Each assessment task provides opportunities for you to expand the knowledge and skills you are developing through your own reading and research as well as during face-to-face learning sessions. They require you to extrapolate on the understandings you have developed in the course to consider specific biblical texts for your own current context. Each task will also enable you to monitor how well you are engaging with the content of the unit and how you relate it to your context.
Overview of assessments
1. Written Task -This formative task requires stu...
1. Written Task -This formative task requires students to articulate their knowledge of the key concepts of the unit.
20%
2. Critical analysis -This formative task allows ...
2. Critical analysis -This formative task allows students to assess their capacity to interpret a biblical text critically.
40%
3. Critical Essay - This task is designed to allo...
3. Critical Essay - This task is designed to allow students to enter into a critical dialogue with the gospel, considering how it may address the experiences of their local and/or global contexts.
40%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
You are asked to engage critically with current approaches to the interpretation of Matthew’s gospel, and to examine the implications of these for encountering the gospel in a liturgical context. THBS608 positions the participants as active partners in the learning and interpretive process. In this unit, participants are recognized as adult learners who develop deep understanding when their learning is relevant to them and connected to the context in which they work or minister. You are thus expected to accept responsibility for your own learning in this unit. Active engagement with, and contribution to, the learning of others is essential throughout the unit.
The learning and teaching strategy for this unit follows a constructivist model of (a) Examine (b) Apply and (c) Construct. You will find these three components aligned, both with each other in a developmentally constructive sequence, and with all other components of the unit curriculum, particularly the learning outcomes and the assessment items.
This unit is normally offered in attendance mode.
This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, or the equivalent of 10 hours per week for 15 weeks. The total includes formally structured learning activities such as lectures, tutorials, workshops, online learning, videoconferencing, or supervision. The remaining hours typically involve reading, research, and the preparation of tasks for assessment.