New Testament

Title: «The inscription, with the reason for the condemnation, said: "The King of the Jews"» (Mark 15:26). The Typological Construction of Synoptic Christology.

The history of Christianity begins with the proclamation of a message, following the Resurrection of Jesus: "Jesus is the Christ." The core of this kerygma encompasses both a Christology and an exegetical key. In it, two principles are simultaneously asserted: the rabbi Jesus of Nazareth, who died on the cross and whose tomb was found empty by his disciples, is "the consecrated one," "the anointed one" ("Messiah," "Christ"), in view of exercising kingship in the Kingdom of God; every time the Scriptures announce, prophesy, or describe the "Christ," they are announcing, prophesying, and speaking of Jesus, the Nazarene. These two theological assertions, although correlated, are not identical, as one returns the first Christological core of apostolic preaching, while the other establishes an interpretation of the Scriptures.
The connection between these different meanings of the early Christian kerygma was made through the use of typology: this term refers to a particular exegetical model that recognizes in the pages of the Hebrew Scriptures (the First Testament) prefigurations and prophecies ("types") of what has been realized in Jesus (and in the first Christian communities) ("antitypes"). Through this exegetical framework, the fundamental Christological statement could thus be seen as supported by the vast scriptural heritage - normative, historical, and prophetic - preserved for centuries by Israel: "Jesus is the Christ," the first Christians believed, "according to the Scriptures."
The course of Philology and Exegesis of the New Testament for the academic year 2025-2026 aims to draw students' attention to the impact of this unique exegetical tool in the genesis of the "gospel literary genre," and in the composition of the three Synoptic Gospels (in chronological order, according to Mark, Matthew, and Luke).
The development of the course will follow three argumentative sections:
I Argumentative Section: From the preaching of Jesus to the first textual collections (the sources of the "Pauline tradition," the "Synoptic tradition," and the "archive tradition"): context and distinctive characteristics of the beginnings of the first Christian writing (from Paul to the crisis of the 60s).
II Argumentative Section: From the Synoptics to the emergence of Christian "literature." From the para-literary culture of the origins to the first evidences of "Christian literature": reform, discipline, and survival of the original characteristics of Christian writing (from the 70s of the 1st century to the 30s of the 2nd century).
III Argumentative Section: The role of typology in the genesis of the "gospel literary genre" and in the composition of the Synoptics.
In the first section of the course, the role of textuality, and later writing, in the story of the rabbi Jesus of Nazareth and the early preaching of his Resurrection will be presented. Specific analysis will focus on the context in which the first Christian writings emerged, their religious purposes, and the characteristics of documentary typicality (what makes them peculiar from an objective, not content-based, standpoint) that set them apart from the historical-literary panorama of the ancient world. The description of these markers will be accompanied by the presentation of the methodologies and critical tools specifically developed by biblical philology and exegesis to carry out a scientific analysis of these complex documents.
In the second section, particular attention will be given to the so-called "Synoptic problem," perhaps the most prominent outcome of the early Christian practice of writing, reading, producing, and circulating manuscripts. The gradual emergence of typically literary characteristics in Christian production will also be discussed, aiming to explain this process of revision and containment of the early Christian written culture.
Special attention will be given to the critical-literary and historical-critical approach of Formgeschichte (form criticism).
Finally, the last argumentative section will be dedicated to the presentation of the theme of typology, from two perspectives: the genetic one - showing how the birth of the "gospel literary genre" is largely attributable to the exercise of this practice of reading biblical texts - and the exemplifying one, considering a dossier of Synoptic typologies to be discussed in class.