Ben Witherington III Video Summary

Reference: http://www.brentwoodbaptist.com/ministries/onlinefocusstudies/ Please follow the prior Immersion conferences as a template for download. Immersion Fall 2012

Header Text: What Child Is This? Do you REALLY know the baby in the manger? He's a common household name in 50 states. Nativity sets flood our homes during the holidays. Age-old Christmas songs sing of His birth. But does what you know match up with the real ?

Led by Dr. Ben Witherington III, noted Jesus scholar, we'll explore the mystery of the Incarnation and find out who Jesus really is, who we are, and whose we are.

Course Sessions Session 1 – Backstory “In the beginning”…this session backs up the Christmas story to before the Gospel or John explain the coming of Christ. Explore these questions: Did Jesus always exist? How did Jesus become human and what did it mean? Was God’s son becoming human deliberate? This session concludes with the poem, “Incognito”. Session 2 – Forgotten Story In this session, Dr. Witherington digs into the story of Zachariah & Elizabeth and the foretelling of the incarnation. Discover the parallels with Jesus’ birth. This session concludes with the poem, “The Bonding”. Session 3 – Christmas Story What are some questions about the Christmas story you always wanted to ask, but were afraid? Several misconceptions of the Christmas story are brought to light using scripture instead of popular culture. Session 4 – Final Story Dr. Witherington concludes with the reasons for the virginal birth and the purpose of Christ’s coming to earth. This session concludes with the poem, “The Mother Load”. About Dr. Witherington

Dr. Ben Witherington III Jean R. Amos Professor of for Doctoral Studies

Expertise: • Women in the New Testament • The • of the New Testament • Pauline Exegesis and Theology • Johannine Exegesis and Theology • Women in Ministry • The Jesus Seminar •

Education: • B.A., University of North Carolina, 1974 • M.Div., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 1977 • Ph.D., University of Durham, , 1981

Dr. Witherington joined the Asbury Seminary faculty in 1995 after teaching at Ashland Theological Seminary for more than a decade. He has also taught at High Point College, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

A prolific author, Dr. Witherington has written more than 40 books and six commentaries, including The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Da Vinci (2004), The Problem With Evangelical Theory: Testing the Exegetical Foundations of , Dispensationalism, and Wesleyanism (2005), and The New Testament Story (2004). One of his works, The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth (InterVarsity Press, 1995), was selected as the top biblical studies book of 1995 by Christianity Today and the Academy of Parish Clergy. In The Jesus Quest, Dr. Witherington surveys the contemporary Christological landscape in New Testament scholarship, offering a helpful perspective on one of the most significant and controversial religious debates of the past decade. In 1999 he again won the Christianity Today book award, this time for The Paul Quest: The Renewed Search for the Jew of Tarsus. He was recently featured in the BBC and PBS special entitled 'The Story of Jesus'.

Dr. Witherington, who has led numerous study tours through the lands of the Bible, is known for bringing the text to life through incisive historical and cultural analysis. He is a Fellow for Life, a research fellow at Cambridge University and a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Society of Biblical Literature, Society for the Study of the New Testament and the Institute for Biblical Research. Dr. Witherington has also spoken to many groups about his topics of expertise, and even had the opportunity to preach at the National Chapel in May of 2006. In his leisure time, Dr. Witherington appreciates both music and sports. It is hard to say which sound he prefers: the sophisticated sonance of jazz sensation Pat Metheny or the incessant tomahawk chant of the Atlanta Braves faithful. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, he is a dedicated Tar Heels basketball and football fan.

He and his wife, Ann, have two children. Ann teaches biology at Asbury College.

Course Reviews “A different perspective of the Christmas story.” – D. Stewart “Drilling down to the facts vs. myth of Jesus birth.” – T. Orem “The depth of the material and the passion with which Ben presented it, encourages me to dig deeper.” – R. Pineda