Reading Qs Summer 2024
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BBST 330 READING QUESTIONS
JLM Reading Questions
Summer, 2024
Hutchinson: Author’s Note/Introduction
xv-
xvii, xix-xxviii
1)
In what way was Hutchinson’s “path to the academic study of the New
Testament” the opposite of several popular writers today, such as Bart
Ehrman?
2)
What did Hutchinson begin to notice about how the media treated some of the new discoveries that challenged the skeptical scholarly theories?
3)
After identifying the two groups for whom he is writing, what does Hutchinson say most of his book is about?
Hutchinson: Prologue
xxix-
xxxii
1)
What does Hutchinson say about the effect of Jesus’ life if his mission was “to change the world”?
Hutchinson: Ch. 1
1-38
1)
Though the Gospel of John has for some time been considered of little historical value, what have the archaeological discoveries led Rami Arav and John Rousseau to conclude? 2)
As a result of their “bias” in presenting Jesus to their readers, how do the gospel writers arrange their accounts of Jesus, according to Hutchinson?
3)
What is the “Christ myth theory”?
4)
What is Ehrman’s response to the question, “Why no mention of a miracle-working Jesus in secular sources?”
5)
What does Mark Roberts conclude most people would acknowledge about the NT gospels if there were no miracles reported in them?
6)
What do the differences in the accounts in the Gospels lead “one British barrister” to conclude about the reliability of the NT accounts?
7)
What date does James Crossley put on the composition of Mark’s Gospel? What does this imply about the dates of “some of the earliest
source material for the Gospels”?
8)
Richard Bauckham contends that much of the NT Gospels’ narratives are based on eyewitness testimony. To what is this testimony “tied” in
the Gospels, and why do we know the traditions were passed on accurately?
Stein: Chapter 3
51-
60
1)
Were the gospel writers concerned with the “when” of Jesus ministry?
Briefly describe how the various authors outline the framework of their works.
2)
Briefly describe three solutions to the problem of the census at the time of Jesus’ birth.
3)
What are the two years during which Jesus died? For which have most scholars opted?
Stein: Chapter 4
63-
80
1)
Why is it illegitimate to say that the concept of the virgin birth was created by Greek Christians borrowing from similar accounts in ancient literature?
2)
What can be said to counter the argument that the early church created the virgin birth to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy in Isaiah 7:14?
3)
Give at least two possible explanations for the two varying genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38.
4)
To what may the references to the shepherds and the wise men be alluding with regard to the nature of Jesus' purpose?
5)
Why did the authors of The Fundamentals
place importance on the virgin birth of Christ?
Stein: Chapter 5
81-
89
1)
What evidence does Stein give to propose that Jesus’ childhood was “normal”
2)
What doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church (and Eastern Orthodox) affects one’s understanding of who Jesus’ “brothers” and “sisters” were? What is more likely to be the case here?
3)
What do we know about Jesus’ socio-economic status?
Stein: Chapter 6
90-
101
1)
What are the differences
between John’s baptism and those of the Qumran community and proselyte
baptism?
2)
What does Stein mean when he says that John’s baptism was “
ecclesiastical
” in nature?
3)
What were the beliefs and expectations regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit prior to John’s ministry?
4)
What did John teach would be the negative and positive elements of the Messiah’s coming? 5)
What were the similarities
between John and the Qumran Community?
Do we know for certain if John was one of them?
6)
What two reasons are given by Stein to demonstrate the historical certainty of the baptism of Jesus?
7)
John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. Since Jesus was sinless,
why would he be baptized by John?
8)
What three unusual events occurred at the time of Jesus' baptism? What is the significance of each?
9)
What Old Testament passage does Jesus quote in relationship to his anointing by the Spirit? Why does he omit part of it?
10)
Briefly explain why the statement, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased," does not refer to Jesus' being "adopted" by the Father (i.e., a change in status before God)?
Hutchinson: Ch. 2
39-
68
1)
When discussing the supposed “discrepancies” in the Gospels, what does Hutchinson conclude regarding “abbreviation”?
2)
According to Hutchinson, what is “the problem with debunkers of Christianity” using discrepancies to undermine the Gospels’ credibility?
3)
Hutchinson explains what he means by the distinction between “the real Jesus” and “the Christ of faith” in the next paragraph. What is his explanation?
4)
What does Hutchinson mean when he concludes that the First Questers could “have their cake and eat it too”?
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5)
What does Hutchinson mean by the term, “Liberal Protestantism”?
6)
What did Weiss think Jesus intended by the term, “the kingdom of God”?
7)
In what way is modern critical scholarship like the portrayal of John Nash in the movie, A Beautiful Mind
?
8)
What does the “criterion of dissimilarity” assert?
9)
According to many scholars who believe Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet, what did Jesus conceive the “kingdom” would involve?
10)
According to John Dominic Crossan, Jesus was a “wisdom _______.”
11)
According to Marcus, Borg, Jesus was a “man of the ________.”
12)
According to the “Global Movement” advocates, Jesus came to inaugurate what?
Hutchinson: Ch. 3
69-
90
1)
The papyrus fragment of the Gospel of Mark that was recently discovered has been dated as coming from which century, according to Dan Wallace?
2)
On what does the edition of the Greek New Testament compiled by Desidarius Erasmus depend? How does this relate to the King James Version?
3)
How many manuscripts (whole and partial) of the Greek NT do we presently have?
4)
What did Bart Ehrman argue in his book, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture
?
5)
What are the two large chunks of our Gospels that likely did not appear in the original manuscripts?
6)
What have various scholars complained with regard to Ehrman’s writings?
7)
What do “many top textual critics think” with regard to the trustworthiness of our New Testaments? At the end of the day, is the issue of inaccurate texts of the NT a reason to be skeptical about Christianity’s claims?
Hutchinson: Ch. 4
91-
115
1)
In his discussion of the possible background of Mary, what does Hutchinson suggest was the name a messianic sect, which settled in the region of Sepphoris, may have called itself? What does this word
mean? To what OT text might this be related?
2)
What kind of tomb has been found on the site of the house some scholars believe could be Jesus’ childhood home, and what does this affirm about the dating of the house?
3)
In what building in Magdala is found one of the few places where scholars can confidently say, “Jesus almost certainly stood here”?
4)
What was discovered in the skeleton of a man named Yehochanan, and how does this affect the reliability of the Gospels?
5)
What did archaeologists discover beneath an octagonal church in the ruins of Capernaum?
6)
To what was Jesus’ words, “den of thieves” likely referring?
Stein: Chapter 7
102-
11
1)
Why does Stein think that the temptations were necessary immediately after Jesus’ baptism?
2)
Matthew and Luke place the 2nd and 3rd temptations in different order. Why? What do most scholars prefer as the original order?
3)
What did the first temptation involve concerning Jesus’ calling and ministry?
4)
There are two interpretations of the second temptation. What are they and which does Stein prefer?
5)
In the last temptation Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. According to Stein, did he really have them to give? What did this temptation “boil down to” for Jesus?
6)
According to Stein, was Jesus really capable of sinning? Give evidence from his argument to support your answer.
Stein: Chapter 9
123-
40
1)
Why were the parables particularly useful for Jesus as a teaching device?
2)
What did Jesus view as evidence that the kingdom of God had been inaugurated
?
3) How does Stein propose understanding the contradiction between the
“realized” view and the “consistent” view of the kingdom? What kind of entity is the kingdom in his view?
4)
Is there any record of “Abba” being used to address God in the OT? From where does Stein think the NT church received the “Abba”
tradition?
5) 19th century liberalism taught that Jesus understood the universal Fatherhood of God, and by extension, the universal brotherhood of man. What two points does Stein make to refute this?
6) What is the “Catholic” interpretation of Jesus’ ethic? How does this lead to distinctions for Catholics? for Protestants?
7) Define the Lutheran interpretation of Jesus’ ethic and tell their purpose.
8) Define the “Liberal” ethic. 9)
Who invented the “interim” ethic? Why is the word ‘interim’ used to describe it?
10)
Are there any rules in the “existentialist” ethic? Why or why not? Hutchinson: Chapter 5
117-
35
1)
What does the Gabriel Revelation confirm about messianic belief in the first century? What critical claim does this debunk regarding the NT gospels?
2)
What does the Jewish scholar, Israel Knohl, think Jesus thought of himself?
3)
What does the term “
sensus plenior
” mean?
4)
Why does Hutchinson believe that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem likely happened as it is described in the gospels? What would the Jews in Jerusalem have deduced from Jesus’ actions here?
5)
What does Israel Knohl believe the “Self-Glorification Hymn” in the Dead Sea Scrolls affirm about the death of a leader of the community at Qumran, an earlier messiah? What OT passage underlies this belief?
6)
What does the now-lost Oracle of Hystaspes affirm about the coming of a prophet? To whom does Knohl believe this referred? What does this prove in relation to Jesus?
7)
What is “catastrophic messianism”? What does this imply about Jesus’
self-consciousness?
8)
What is “binitarianism” and what does Daniel Boyarin contend about it?
9)
What does Boyarin claim regarding Jewish commentators’ interpretations of Isaiah 53?
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Hutchinson: Chapter 6
137-
61
1)
According to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who was Jesus? What did the early Christians (“led by Paul”) do to the gospel traditions, especially resulting in what major misrepresentation?
2)
What do the ancient Jewish sources say about Jesus, that contradicts this view?
3)
List the three examples which demonstrate that Jesus was a highly trained rabbi.
4)
Who was Jesus, according to Daniel Boyarin?
5)
What is the example which, according to Furstenburg and Boyarin, indicates that both Jesus and Mark understood Jewish traditions very clearly?
6)
What does Hutchinson point to as evidence that the Roman authorities did not believe Jesus was guilty of the crime for which he was condemned—that of leading a rebellion against the Roman government?
7)
What does Hutchinson suggest is the “chief objection” to Jesus among
the Jewish people, past and present? Why do they have this objection?
8)
What is the Christian response to this objection?
9)
What is the “more liberal” Christian response to Jesus’ apparent reluctance to employ the title, “messiah”?
10)
What is Levine’s prescription for improving the relationship between Jews and Christians today?
Hutchinson: Chapter 7 163-
80
1)
When Jesus tells his hearers that he had come to “fulfill” the Law and the Prophets, what does Hutchinson suggest he meant by this?
2)
What does Hutchinson suggest was Jesus’ message of the kingdom?
3)
What is the “consensus” regarding the nature of the sayings of Jesus found in the Gnostic texts? What do the Gnostic texts teach us?
4)
What does Hutchinson say Jesus meant by his explanation regarding why he taught in parables?
5)
How does Hutchinson sum up Jesus’ message, conveyed “his cryptic riddles and strange stories”?
Stein: Chapter 10
141-
55
1)
In what ways did Jesus’ actions declare his own understanding of who he was?
2)
In what ways did Jesus’ teachings declare his own understanding of his authority?
3)
What does "Christology in a nutshell" refer to? What is the significance of it with respect to Jesus' authority?
4)
Why is the title of Jesus as "Prophet" both adequate and inadequate at
the same time?
5)
What does the saying preserved in Mark 13:32 declare about Jesus’ self-perception?
6)
Why did Jesus refrain from speaking openly about his title "Messiah"?
7)
What is at the center of the debate over the term/title "Son of Man" (
bar
enasha
)? What evidence does Stein point to that implies the early church understood it as a title?
8)
Why did Jesus use the title Son of Man to refer to himself, in Stein’s opinion?
9)
According to Stein, why would Jesus have concluded that the establishment of the new covenant would involve a sacrifice?
Stein: Chapter 12
167-
76
1)
What events are tied to the transfiguration accounts in Mark’s and Luke’s gospels? What words are used by them to connect the two events?
2)
Was the transfiguration a resurrection account read back into the life of Jesus? Why or why not?
3)
What do 2 Peter and the gospels have in common in truly interpreting this event? What other interpretation is possible based on John 1:14?
4)
Why did Moses and Elijah show up at this time according to Stein?
5)
What did God’s statement “This is my Son, the beloved” imply? 6)
What did “Listen to him” mean in relation to the events of Caesarea Philippi?
7)
What do all the gospel writers emphasize after the transfiguration? What was happening to Jesus’ ministry?
Stein: Chapter 8
112-
22
1)
Why did Jesus choose twelve
disciples, according to Stein?
2)
What does the makeup of the 12 disciple band suggest about Jesus?
3)
In addition to the answer to question # 1, what two other reasons did Jesus have for choosing disciples?
4)
What arguments can be mustered in defense of the historicity of the 12 disciples?
Stein: Chapter 11
156-
66
1)
What are the two reasons given by Stein as to why the events surrounding Caesarea Philippi were a watershed in Jesus’ ministry?
2)
What does Stein conclude as to the proper referent of Jesus’ term, ‘this rock’?
Hutchinson: Chapter 8
181-
89
1)
According to Albert Schweitzer, who was Jesus, what did he expect would soon happen, and what did he try to accomplish by “baiting” the Roman and Jewish authorities to condemn him?
2)
According to Bart Ehrman, what was the “good news” taught by Jesus and what was the purpose of Jesus’ ethical teachings?
3)
What were the economic conditions in ancient Palestine at the time of Jesus?
4)
What did S. G. F. Brandon believe about Jesus?
5)
According to Reza Aslan, why did the gentile version of Christianity (advocated by Paul) eventually emerge as the form of Christianity that
would endure?
6)
What is the “key problem” with this revisionist portrait of Jesus?
7)
In Hutchinson’s view, why did Jesus’ fame spread “like wildfire”?
8)
What were Jesus’ ministry intentions, according to N. T. Wright?
9)
What is the significance of the fact that Jesus’ followers were not rounded up and executed by the Romans?
Hutchinson: Chapter 11
253-
69
1)
What was the “astonishing” and “unsettling” discovery made by scholars when they discerned the earliest strata of the New Testament tradition?
2)
What have scholars concluded from studying the creeds and hymns that are embedded in the literature of the NT?
3)
According to Daniel Boyarin, what would Jesus’ hearers have understood by Jesus’ frequent use of “Son of Man” to refer to himself?
4)
How early does Larry Hurtado believe that the belief in Jesus’ divinity came about? What evidence does Hurtado believe supports this claim?
5)
What do scholars believe gave rise to the shocking belief in Jesus’ deity?
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6)
What “old hypothesis” that “dominated New Testament scholarship for a century” is “simply false
”?
7)
In general
, what does Hutchinson believe about the “historical Jesus”?
8)
What was the “gospel” that Jesus proclaimed, according to Hutchinson?
Hutchinson: Chapter 9
201-
17
1)
The descriptions of God, the luminaries, and the aeons in the Gospel of Judas indicate to scholars that the work was produced in what kind of community?
2)
How is Judas’s role in the arrest of Jesus presented in the Gospel of Judas?
3)
What does Elaine Pagels conclude about the significance of the Gospel
of Judas?
4)
What is the problem with the penal substitution theory in relation to Jesus’ teachings?
5)
What “misinterpretation” happened when the symbol of Jesus as the Passover Lamb became “absolutized into a doctrine,” according to some scholars?
6)
What is the point of the narrative about the anointing of Jesus at the Pharisee’s house, and why did this get Jesus killed?
7)
What therefore was the nature of the “new age” announced by Jesus?
Stein: Chapter 13
177-
84
1)
What did the symbolic act of entering into Jerusalem this way reveal about who Jesus thought he was?
2)
What does the expression “Hosanna” mean and how was it used on this day?
3)
What prophecy did Jesus fulfill by entering on this donkey?
4)
According to Stein, how did the crowds understand what was happening on this day? Did his disciples understand what Jesus was intending by it?
5)
Was this act an act of Zealotry or revolution against Rome? What is Stein’s position and why?
Stein: Chapter 14
185-
96
1)
What problem is created by the varied placing of the Temple-
cleansing account in the four gospels, and particularly in John and
Mark?
2)
What solution best serves as a possibility for harmonizing these accounts?
3)
Why would people need a money-changing service?
4)
What was so terrible about offering these services in the Temple?
5)
Based on Mark's account, how does Stein interpret the cleansing of the Temple?
6)
Stein compares Jesus' ministry to that of Old Testament prophets. How are they similar and how do they differ?
Stein: Chapter 15
197-
213
1)
Why did the Gospel writer record that Jesus foretold his betrayal?
2)
Did the Passover actually start on the 14 of Nisan or the 15? Is Mark making a mistake?
3)
List three elements from the meal itself that Stein uses as evidence to support that it was in fact a Passover meal.
4)
What did the blood of the Passover lamb correspond to in the Last Supper?
5)
Does Stein take a literal
understanding of “This is my body”? Why or why not?
6)
The Passover was intended to celebrate-recount-recapitulate the Exodus event. What is the Lord’s Supper intended to do?
7)
What OT prophecy does Jesus bring to mind with the cup?
8)
Would the disciples have really understood that they were drinking Christ’s blood?
Stein: Chapter 16
214-
23
1)
What did Jesus fear the most?
2)
What does the cup symbolize in the OT?
3)
What is significant about Jesus’ response to Judas’ action of kissing him at the point of betrayal?
Stein: Chapter 17
224-
40
1)
Jesus’ response to whether or not he was the Messiah is different in all three Synoptics. What do the synoptics agree on?
2)
Is the story of Peter’s denial contradictory between Mark and Luke? How does Stein explain it?
3)
Does Stein feel that we should view Pontius Pilate with sympathy? Why or why not?
4)
According to some, the early church created the Jewish conviction of Jesus when it was only the Romans who really put him to death. Why would the church have done so?
5)
According to Stein, did the Jewish people put Jesus to death? If not, who?
6)
Why doesn’t the trial and death of Jesus give us an excuse for Anti-
Semitism?
Stein: Chapter 18
241-
58
1)
Was the offering of wine and myrrh a cruel act or an act of compassion? Why?
2)
Describe the cruelty of crucifixion.
3)
What is a possible theological reason for John’s record of the sixth hour for Jesus’ crucifixion.? 4)
What did the darkness that fell on Jerusalem signify?
Stein: Chapter 19
259-
77
1)
What is the earliest historical fact associated with the resurrection?
2)
What does multiple attestation to the empty tomb mean for its reliability?
3)
What did early Jewish belief in the resurrection of the body necessitate?
4)
What are the four possible explanations some have proposed to rule out the supernatural resurrection of Jesus?
Hutchinson: Chapter 10
219-
51
1)
What is “clear” for many New Testament “scholars, archaeologists, and researchers,” when it comes to the resurrection?
2)
On what basis does Jodi Magness reject Tabor’s claims regarding the Talpiot tomb?
3)
On what basis does John Dominic Crossan assume that Jesus’ body was likely buried by the Roman officials and not by his family
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members?
4)
What does Josephus tell us about the Jewish sensibilities about burial and the possibility of a Roman official granting the family the corpse of a crucified person?
5)
According to William Lane Craig, what did the Jews typically believe about the Messiah and the resurrection that contributes to the likelihood that Jesus actually rose?
6)
What does James Tabor argue the first Christians believed about Jesus’ “resurrection”?
7)
What do the later additions to the stories about the resurrection “stress”?
8)
What is the big problem for “modern skeptics” in relation to Jesus’ resurrection?
9)
In the end, what does Hutchinson conclude Christians should affirm regarding the resurrection of Jesus?
Hutchinson: Epilogue
271-
74
1)
In what way has Simeon’s prophecy come true, according to Hutchinson?