New Testament 1

First: the life of Jesus- Jesus' ministry, historical events; Second: the life of the early church in oral period- examination of the materials in the early church, how they were passed along, why it is that the early church would keep these particular stories?; Third: the life of evangelist- looking at the meaning of the passage, examining how the gospels took materials and shaped them into a particular argument

Describe the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sitz-im-leben.

Mark was written first and used by Matthew and Luke

Describe the general solution to the Synoptic Problem that was presented in class.

Think about the gospels as a string of pearls. Pearls were the stories. Learning all you can about that one pearl.

Describe the practice of Form Criticism.

Creational monotheism: God made the whole world, providential monotheism: God is active in the affairs of humanity, Covenantal monotheism- God has chosen the people and has entered into a relationship with those people. God will use his covenant people (Israel) to remove evil, establish peace, and restore his creation.

Describe the various elements of monotheism.

insecurity, great buildings

Herod was known for his ______ and for _____.

Focus of biography is not on someone that is dead and buried, gospel is focused on someone that was dead but has been raised to life by God, not just a record of Jesus' life, but what his life accomplishes for the church

How are the Gospels different from ancient biographies?

Did not record all the events in a persons life, touch on most important parts of life, summarizes most important parts, virtues and failures, don't include all of Jesus' life, only one story of Jesus life from age 2-30

How are the Gospels like ancient biographies?

During battle, he thrust his spear into a war elephant, who he believed was carrying an enemy king. The elephant died and collapsed on Eleazar, killing him.

How did Eleazar die?

Abraham

In Genesis 12, whom does God promise to make into a great nation and to bless so that he would be a blessing?

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, 1,2&3 John, Jude, and Revelation

List the 27 books of the NT.

Mark is the shortest; How could Mark omit so many important stories; mark has the longest stories; Mark has some inferior grammar; Mark has some apparent theological difficulties; argument from order; argument from a more primitive theology; none of these points on their own win the argument, but put them all together and it makes a very strong case

List the reasons presented in class that support the claim that Mark was the first Gospel written.

Book of the Maccabees- 4 books (ruling family of Israel), Josephus- important nonbiblical source, Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocrypha (in Catholic Bible) and Pseudepigrapha (heavenly visions)- before, during, after NT, Mishnah and Talmud- writings of Rabbis

List the sources from Second-Temple Judaism that we can employ in our investigation of 1st century Palestine.

Augustine argued that Matthew wrote first, Mark used Matthew, and Luke used Mark; Griesbach argued that Matthew used Mark and Mark used Luke; Mark was written first and used by Matthew and Luke

List the three solutions to the Synoptic Problem that were discussed in class.

Seams: what is important, how many times something said, what emphasis is shown? Insertions: "She is 12 years old" is an insertion. Summaries: "all who were sick, all who were demon-possessed."

List two positive contributions of Redaction Criticism.

exile

Once Israel is established in the land, they are punished for failing to follow God by being sent into _____ by the Babylonians.

4 books writing by the ruling family in Israel- it tells the story of the torture of seven sons and the murder of their mother, resulting from their refusal to break the law of Moses during the tyrannical reign of Antiochus Epiphanes

What are the books of the Maccabees?

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

What are the four gospels?

Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

What are the letters of Paul?

Old Testament and 2nd Temple Jewish sources

What are the main sources that can be used in our investigation of Palestine in the days of Jesus?

Isolate- remove all the things added by the author, categorize or classify, reconstruct the history of the early church- make up the story to fit a certain need

What are the steps in the process of form criticism?

1. Choose: what to include or what to omit from his sources; 2. Arrange: put the materials in a certain order; 3. Modify: in some way the stories and saying available in the tradition; 4. Create: new material not found in any other writer's written story

What are the steps in the process of the Evangelist, according to the redaction critics?

He hellenized all his territory making everyone worship Zeus. A series of outrages over two years, including murder, treachery, the ravaging of Jerusalem, and the establishment of pagan citadel in Jerusalem called the Acra.

What did Antiochus IV do that caused the Maccabees to begin a revolution?

Others have undertaken to compile a narrative, before being written dwon the Gospel materials "were delivered to us," Luke has investigated the materials carefully

What does Luke tell us about the process that he used in compiling his Gospel in Luke 1:1-4?

Books that were debated

What does the term antilegomena mean?

Books universally confessed

What does the term homologoumena mean?

Materials shared by Matthew and Luke

What is Q?

One true and living God

What is monotheism?

harbor at Caesarea

What is the greater structure that Herod built? (It was one of the wonders of the ancient world.)

If you believe everything you said, and it wasn't really the truth, you couldn't be trusted. Seeks to determine the unique theological purposes of the evangelists by examining how they use their sources. They are not just editors but authors who purposefully and creatively molded their tradition into a literary work with a theology of its own.

What is the purpose of Redaction Criticism?

The Greek god Zeus

What pagan god did Antiochus demand that the Jews worship in the Jerusalem Temple?

story

What receives the focus of the investigation: the story or the work of the Evangelist?

Non-Greek people were brought, sometimes by force, into conformity with Greek ideas and way of life, including the used of Greek language.

What was hellenization?

There is only one true and living God

What was the anchor of the Jewish worldview?

James, Jude, 2&3 John, 2 Peter

What were some examples of antilegomena?

Gospels, Acts, Paul's letters (Hebrews included), 1 Peter, 1 John, Revelation

What were some examples of homologoumena?

Preexistence and immorality of the soul, they were anti-temple, and strongly legalistic in matters of ritual purity

What were the Essenes basic beliefs?

They believed in God (in almost a deistic fashion), angels and spirits, providence, prayer, the necessity of faith and good works, the last judgment, a coming Messiah, and the immorality of the soul

What were the Pharisees basic beliefs?

Did not believe in angels or spirits, the resurrection, the last judgment, life after death, divine providence, or a coming Messiah

What were the Sadducees basic beliefs?

Apostolic authorship, continuous usage in the early church, unity and agreement with the rest of scripture, superintendence of the Holy Spirit, other gospels→not aligning with faith

What were the criteria employed by the early church in determining whether or not a book was authoritative?

The rise of heresy- Marion's canon, the change from scroll to codex (book) which could include more books, the choice of manuscripts for which one was willing to die

What were the factors that caused the Early Church to begin the process of clearly stating which books was a part of the canon?

Worship and Festivals, Study and Learning, Toran in Practice, Scriptures

What were the four main practices of Judaism?

Temple, Land, Toran, Racial Identity

What were the four main symbols of Judaism?

Monotheism, election, covenant and eschatology, covenant, redemption, and forgiveness

What were the main beliefs of Israel?

Period of Oral Tradition- there had to be one time when it passed along orally, Narratives circulated as single self contained units (wouldn't have worked because there was a particular order)- the content is how they are grouped, units can be classified according to form- pronouncement stories: controversy then lead to announcements

What were the presuppositions of Form Criticism?

Relatively few returned, the rebuilding was slow, and they were still under the control of Persia

What were the problems that the Jews returning from the Exile faced when they arrived in Palestine?

unity and agreement with the rest of Scripture

Which factor was most important in determining whether or not a book was authoritative?

Mattathias

Who began the revolt against Antiochus IV?

John the Baptist

Who did Herod Anitpas have killed?

Hyrcanus's son who was constantly embroiled in war, turmoil, and internal political dissension

Who was Alexander Janneus?

He was the ruler of the Seleucid Empire in Rome

Who was Antiochus IV?

One of Herod's descendants. He was a vain, arrogant ruler, who was also weak in time of moral crisis

Who was Herod Antipas?

Mariamne

Who was Herod's favorite wife?

A first-century Jewish writer who was also a Jewish military commander

Who was Josephus?

Mattathias' son, who assumed leadership of the revolt after his father's death

Who was Judas Maccabeus?

Alexander the Great

Who was the great leader who established the power of the Greeks and began the process of spreading Hellenism throughout his kingdom?

Smallest group

Who were the Essenes?

Best known religious group in Jesus' day

Who were the Pharisees?

Second major group of Jews in Jesus' day

Who were the Sadducees?

No need because of eyewitnesses, oral tradition was more sacred in the eyes of some, oral tradition was common in Judaism, belief that Jesus was returning quickly, existence of the church in Jerusalem, evangelistic reason, educational reason

Why did take so long for the Gospels to be written down?

Matthew and Luke: look at the way they arranged the material, what they added and quickly patterns can be seen, they each had unique theological purposes. Mark: We do not know his sources, there is no comparison

Why is it easier to do redaction criticism on Matthew and Luke than Mark?

story of the LORD fulfilling His promise to Abraham a long time ago; the Bible makes the ultimate difference: the revelation of God and the revelation of the blessings of God

Why is the New Testament important?

The agreements are too close to explain on the basis of oral tradition, the agreement of order is too similar for oral tradition

Why must there be a literary relationship between the Gospels?