Review

33 multiple choice questions

4 sections
1. Passage Identification ◦ Quote a story or setting; we will say
◦ Given excerpt which type of story it is
◦ Matt., Luke, John, Thomas, Peter 3. Matching
2. Form Identification 1. Statement given about a gospel
◦ Different types of stories and sayings 2. We say which it represents
4. Regular Multiple Choice

Chapter 9: Introduction to the Gospels Pg. 138

• Review Questions
◦ 6 - Define the following forms:
▪ Miracle Story - relates to a miracle performed by Jesus
▪ Pronouncement Story - A brief anecdote in which Jesus makes a statement about some issue,
combining a narrative and a saying.
▪ Controversy Story - Type of pronouncement story; Jesus’ opponents raise an issue, then Jesus
makes a pronouncement that justifies the Christian community’s belief or action.
▪ Maxim - A short statement of the way things work in life.
▪ Parable - Greek means “comparison”; an analogy for two objects or ideas, which can leave some
room for interpretation.
▪ Example Story - Gives an example of how one should or should not act.
◦ 7 - In what settings were the Gospel traditions used?
▪ Moral Exertation (parenesis) - command or prohibition; passage that encourages the church to do
something; imperatives “Love one another”
▪ Instruction - instruct the community
▪ Apologetic - justified beliefs and practices of the community again criticisms
▪ Faith-building - among community members or outsiders
▪ Worship - for individual or communal
◦ 8 - Describe 3 major ways in which the gospel traditions changed or developed.
1. Modification of Existing Traditions
▪ In order to bring them into closer agreement
2. Incorrect Attribution of Sayings to Jesus
▪ Easily mistaken when evangelist came across unidentified sayings
3. Creation of New Traditions
▪ Discrepancy between what the founder said of himself and what his disciples claimed for
him

Chapter 10: the Synoptic Problem pg. 154

• Review Questions
◦ 1 - Define or identify:
▪ Synoptic Problem - The similarities among the first 3 gospels. Why are they so alike? What is the
relationship between them?
▪ Source Criticism - The idea that gospels and other writings are based off of other documents and
collections of writings
 ▪ Synoptic Core - Pericopes that occur in all three gospels in the same order with much the same
wording.
▪ Q - Source for material that occurs in Matthew and Luke, but not Mark
◦ 3 - Major problem with 2 doc hypothesis: SEE BELOW
• Three important theories
◦ Griesbach Hypothesis - Matthew > Luke > Mark
▪ Problem: Mark is shortest; why leave out so much?
◦ Classic Two-Document Hypothesis - Mark and Q > Matthew from Mark and Q + M > Luke from Mark and
Q+L
▪ Problems: Minor Agreements of Matthew and Luke against Mark in the triple tradition (passages
that all three gospels have in common).
◦ Proto-Mark Hypothesis - Earlier source was used by all three

Chapter 11: The Gospel of Mark, pg. 173

• Discussion Questions
◦ 1 - Why the secrecy within Mark?
▪ Jesus never claimed to be the messiah bc he did not think of himself as such; the church first came
to identify him Jesus as the messiah after their experience of his resurrection.
• Review Questions
◦ How to read a gospel historically (pg. 157-158) - reading the gospels separately, not harmonistically
◦ Mark: spirit-filled individual, not preexistent, purpose “How can a crucified man be the Messiah?” —> new
conception of the messiah (raised form the dead and second coming; this was the plan all along)

Chapter 12: The Gospel of Matthew, pg. 193

• Discussion Question
◦ 1 - Sermon on the Mount - most likely put together from different sources (inferred from Luke’s shorter
sermon); reflects a high standard of righteousness
◦ 2 - Community Concerns
▪ Concern: Status of the Law (5:17-20)
▪ Judaic Christians: The Law remained valid.
▪ Law was interpreted strictly
▪ Concern: Attitude toward the Temple (5:23-24)
▪ Community continues to worship at the temple (sacrifices, etc.)
▪ Relationship with others necessary for a good relationship with God
▪ Concern: Attitude Towards Gentiles (10:5-6, 23; 5:43-47; 18:15-20)
▪ Preached only to Jews
▪ Experienced persecution
▪ Expected Jesus to return soon
• Review Questions
◦ 1 - Sermon on the Mount - Requires greater righteousness than that of Pharisees —> Ethical Perfectionism
◦ 6 - What is distinctive about Matthew’s organization?
▪ 5 Major Discourses
1. Sermon on the Mount (5-7)
 2. Missionary Discourse (10)
3. Parable Discourse (13:1-53)
4. Community Relations Discourse (18)
5. Denuncuation of Scribes and Pharisees/ Eschatological Discourse (23-25)
▪ Originally short material with other material to make larger discourses based on themes; Quotations
of scriptures as fulfillment quotations
◦ 7 - How does Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount differ from the parallel sermon in Luke?
▪ Expanded by adding other material and reorganizing

Chapter 13: The Gospel of Luke, pg. 212

• Discussion Question
◦ 1 - Compare and contrast Luke and Matthew’s birth narrative
Matthew Luke
Before 4 BCE 6/7 CE
Date
(Herod is alive) (person)
J+M live in Nazareth
Location J+M live in Bethlehem
(Go to B for census)
Born House in Bethlehem Manger
Visitors Magi - Wise Men Shepherds
Go to Jerusalem to
Flight to Egypt from
Travel temple for normal
Herod
post-birth rituals
Move to Nazareth bc
Return home to
Travel 2 Herod’s son
Nazareth
Archilaeus

◦ 2 - Community Concerns
▪ Concern: “How did a Jewish messiah end up with a gentile church?”
▪ Luke answers that he was rejected by the Jewish people, then accepted by gentiles.
▪ Concern: The poor; the oppressed; women.
• Review Questions
◦ 4 - What are some of the characteristic themes? SEE ABOVE
◦ 5 - Purpose: Answering the question, “How did a Jewish Messiah end up with a Gentile Church?” Luke
shows that the Jewish people rejected the Messiah, and that’s how it transitioned
◦ 9 - Major purposes of the Travel Narrative:
1. Gives Luke a place to put material that doesn’t fit elsewhere
2. To symbolize Jesus’ life —> resolved to follow a path that he knows will lead to his death.
3. To symbolize the path that each disciple must follow

Chapter 14: The Gospel of John, pg. 234

• Discussion Questions
◦ 1 - How is the portrait of Jesus similar or different than the Synoptics?

How the chronology of Jesus

Unique Christology
death differs.
 No Exorcisms No Messianic Secret

Focus on “Eternal Life” in the

“I Am” Sayings
Present

Miracles as Signs Non-Judaic Christianity

◦ 2 - What are the central themes of the farewell discourses? What do these tell us about the Johannine
community?
▪ Unique Christology
▪ Chapter 14:8-11 —> Unity between the father and the son; mutual indwelling
▪ Footwashing
▪ Chapter 13 —> Symbolism for baptism and an ongoing cleansing
▪ Persecution
▪ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you
▪ For Jews (you will be kicked out of the synagogue) bc they believe Jesus is the Son of
God (preexistent divine being that is equal to God) which is contradictory to Jewish
monotheism
▪ New Commandment (14:30-35)
▪ Love one another.
• Review Questions
◦ 1 - What claims do internal and external evidence make about the authorship of the the Fourth Gospel?
▪ No evidence that John lived in Ephesus
▪ Evidence that the apostle John suffered martyrdom around 70 AD
▪ Gospel has undergone a greater degree of theological development, suggesting it wasn’t from an
eyewitness
◦ 5 - What three primary respects does John’s portait of Jesus differ from the Synoptics?
1. Jesus as preexistent being
2. Vertical dimension of christology; originates in heaven, comes to Earth, ascends back up to Heaven
3. Divine Jesus; incarnation of God
◦ 6 - What were the major concerns of the Johannine community?
▪ Relations to other groups
▪ Expulsion from synagogue —> mission to samaritans and gentiles; turning inward
▪ Competition with followers of John the Baptist and Peter
▪ Community beliefs and practices
▪ Jewish Christians that did not feel bound to Jewish Law
▪ Eternal life through Jesus —> Paraclete
▪ Only John portrays Jesus himself baptizing others; lord’s supper; foot washing
◦ 8 - Define the terms:
▪ Beloved Disciple - The individual to whom the community is tracing back its ideas and picture of
Jesus; competition over communities that think Peter is Jesus’ favorite.
▪ Aporia - Inconsistencies in the sequence of the narrative
▪ Signs Source - A document which emphasized Jesus’ miracles as “signs” that were meant to
produce or enhance faith in him
 ▪ Paraclete - referring to the Holy Spirit; “comforter”, “helper”, “intercessor"

Chapter 15: The Apochryphal Jesus, pg. 241

• Infancy Gospel of Thomas
◦ Magnificent child deeds (ages 5-8); miracle stories and curse stories
• Gospel of Peter
◦ Docetists: denied that Christ had a real, physical body, or who distinguished between the purely spiritual
Christ and the human Jesus.
◦ Focused on crucifixion: Jews crucified Jesus, not the Romans; everyone sees him raised from the dead;
talking cross and epiphany of giant angels

Chapter 16: The Quest for the Historical Jesus, pg. 259
• Review Questions
◦ 1 - What are the primary sources for our knowledge about the historical Jesus? What difficulties are
involved?
▪ The Synoptic Gospels; how do we distinguish what Jesus said/did from what the church attributed
to him?
◦ 5 - Describe some of the different portraits of Jesus that scholars have proposed.
▪ The Revolutionary - Herman Samuel Reimarus
▪ Jesus seeks to overthrow the government and make himself ruler; counted on people to
support his claim, but they didn’t.
▪ The Eschatological Prophet - Albert Schweitzer; Rudolf Bultmann; E.P. Sanders
▪ Albert: a deluded apocalyptic visionary that died in disillusionment
▪ Rudolf: proclaimed imminent coming of the kingdom; pointed ahead to an eschatological
figure other than himself
▪ E.P.: like John the Baptist, but instead of preaching repentance and judgement, preached
love for even the most sinful; killed as being a religious fanatic who posed a threat to law
and order
▪ The Rabbi - Rudolf Bultmann
▪ Interpreter and teacher; demanded obedience to the will of God, not bc it’s commanded,
but bc a person understands and affirms within oneself; God is near, not remote
▪ The Social Reformer - Marcus Borg; John Dominic Crossan
▪ Marcus: goal was to transform the existing social order —> compassion over holiness
▪ John: Jewish peasant Cynic who criticized the hierarchical and oppressive structure of his
society, and advocated for equality for all.
▪ The Feminist - Elisabeth Schüssel Fiorenza
▪ Egalitarianism, but focus on patriarchy; kingdom in his own ministry; prophet and child
of Sophia (Wisdom)
▪ The Sage - Burton Mack
▪ Wise man and Cynic who criticized the social world, did not suggest an alternative
program, like the Social Reformer; the kingdom was a way of looking at things, “a stance
of confidence in the midst of confused and contrary social circumstances."