Discussion Notes for Founders of Christianity

Contents

Orientation

Paul and Pauline Christianity (from ca. 40 CE)

Early Christian portraits of Jesus (c. 66-100 CE)

Developments and themes in the late first century

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GENERAL RESOURCES

Online maps

Interactive Ancient Mediterranean Project (IAM) maps

Ancient World Mapping Centre maps

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Early Christianity and the Academic Study of Religion

 

1. Why study early Christianity and early Christian writings?

  • Life in the ancient world
  • From insignificant Judean sect to Roman imperial religion to world religion
  • Significance for Western history and civilization

2. What is the academic study of religion, or Religious Studies?

  • Background of the discipline
  • Characteristics of the academic study of religion
  • How do we approach the study of early Christianity within this discipline?

  3. Ongoing themes and arguments

  • Literature in context: Genres or types of writings (e.g. Letters, Biographies, Apocalypses)
  • History of early Christianity
  • What was it like to be a Christian in the first century or so?
  • Contribution of certain authors, leaders or founders
  • Developments and changes over time (e.g. leadership and women)
  • Diversity in Christian belief and practice
  • Judean-Christian relations
  • Christians and Greco-Roman culture

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Christian sources: Origins, transmission and collection

    Websites:

1. Writing in the ancient world

  • Contrasting the modern and ancient situations (oral culture)
  • Materials: papyrus (pl. papyri); parchment
  • Books: Scroll, codex, parchment versions of Christian writings
  • Scribes and scribal techniques
    • Copying documents: Private (pre-312 CE); scriptoria (post-313 CE); monasteries (Middle Ages)
    • Physical conditions of scribal work

 

2. Transmission and corruption of early Christian texts

  • Manuscripts of New Testament writings
    • Variations or small changes in the manuscripts
      • Accidental errors: Confusion of letters; Transposing letters (e.g. John 5:39); Misunderstanding abbreviations (1 Tim 3:16); Skipping lines (“I do not pray that you keep them from the evil one”, John 17:15); Sound-alikes (Rev 4:3); Marginal notes and the sleepy scribe (2 Cor 8:4)
      • Deliberate changes: Stylistic improvements; Harmonization; Correction of biblical citations (e.g. Matt 27:9); Correction of theological “problems” (Matt 24:36)

3. From manuscripts to the “original” Greek to our English translations

  • What does the text critic do?
    • Sorting out all the variant readings of manuscripts and deciding which is the original
    • Key principals of text critics:
      • The reading is most likely to be the original one which can explain all of the other readings, but cannot itself be explained by the others (using knowledge of common scribal errors)
      • Prefer the more problematic reading
      • Early manuscripts usually (though not always) better than later ones
    • The Greek New Testament as reconstructed
  • Translations in English and other languages: Issues of interpretation
  • The overall process

  3. The formation of the New Testament canon

  • Judean scriptures (LXX) as the written authority for early Christians
  • Oral transmission to writing
  • Gradual collection and use by churches
  • Development of canon as response to diversity: Gnostics, Montanists and Marcion
    • The 27 books of the New Testament and other early Christian literature: Genres

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Early Christianity in its context: Judean and Greco-Roman Worlds

Handouts:

Websites:

 1. The Greco-Roman world

  • Historical developments
    • Alexander the Great and the impact of Hellenization (from 331 BCE)
    • Roman Rule and the impact of the pax Romana from Augustus on
  • Greco-Roman societies and cultures
    • Social life and the structures of society
    • Honouring the gods ("religious" life)
      • Embedded within everyday life in antiquity
      • Honouring the gods - Intolerance of failure to do so
      • Various forms of cult: Official and unofficial
    • Philosophical life: Stoics, Platonists, Epicureans, Cynics

 2. Second-Temple Judean culture

  • Judean culture and Hellenistic culture: Influence and opposition
  • Characteristics of Second-Temple Judean culture ("Judaism")
    • Misrepresentations within scholarship
    • Common characteristics - Four common denominators:  1) Monotheism, 2) Election/land, 3) Covenant/Law, 4) Temple-cult
  • Diversity of Judean culture(s) (see handout):
  • The Jesus-movement’s origins within Judean culture
  • Diaspora Judean groups throughout the empire: Cohabitation and conflict

 3.  Early Christianity in its context

  • Christianity within the context of Judean culture
  • Where did Christianity fit (or not fit) within the Greco-Roman world?
    • Models from the ancient context: Philosophical school, synagogue, association

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Introduction to Paul and his letters

Handouts:

Websites:

1.  Who is Paul?: 

  • A Hellenistic Judean in the diaspora (remember the slides on Paul's world)
  • Sources and their problems: Priority of Paul's own information (over the Acts of the Apostles)
  • The "autobiographical" passages
    • Discussion of Philippians 3:1-16; 2 Corinthians 11:7-12:13; Galatians 1-2

2.  Paul's relations with the Jesus movement at Jerusalem: Tensions in early Christianity

  • Paul's "announcement" (gospel) / Paul's Christianity: Focus on the notion of the resurrection and vindication of Christ (very little focus on the earthly life of Jesus and his sayings); Notion of being "one in Christ"; Inclusion of Gentiles (without requiring circumcision and food laws)
  • Paul's apostleship / "announcement" and Jerusalem
  • Jerusalem meeting according to Paul and the author of Acts (Galatians 1-2; Acts 15; full discussion in tutorials)

3.  Approaches to the study of Paul, his letters, and his communities

  • Epistolary approaches: Paul's letters as Hellenistic letters
    • Some ancient Greek letters: Family Letters of Paniskos
    • Structural elements in Paul’s letters:  Opening (greetings and thanksgiving); Closing (greetings and benediction); Body: Recurring types of material (autobiographical statements, travel plans, paraenesis); Traditional material (Christian hymns, sayings, vice/virtue lists)
  • Rhetorical approaches: Paul, the rhetorician
    • The three types of rhetoric corresponding to context and purpose:
      • 1) Judicial:  type of speech used in the law courts to convince judges concerning past events: accusation or defence
      • 2) Deliberative:  type of speech used in the civic context (politics) to persuade people to take a certain future course of action: persuasion or dissuasion
      • 3) Demonstrative (epideictic):  type of speech used in ceremonial contexts (e.g. festival gatherings) to provide pleasure for audiences in the present: praise or blame
  • Historical and social-historical approaches: Paul and his communities in their contexts
    • The situations in the assemblies and Paul's responses to those situations


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    Paul and the Christians at Thessalonica

    Handouts:

    Websites:


    1. Thessalonica, the capital of the province of Macedonia

    2. The history of Paul's relations with the Thessalonian Christians

    • Before Paul wrote: Acts and the evidence in Paul’s letter

    3. The situation of the Christians at Thessalonica

    • Difficulties in reconstructing the historical situation behind Paul's letters
    • The composition of the Christian groups:
      • Ethnic background and social-economic status
      • Paul’s identification: Paul’s occupation as a handworker and its significance
    • Issues of concern among the Christians:
      • Afflictions: Social harassment
      • Death of fellow members: Apocalyptic outlook 

    4. Paul's response to the situation

    • The Rhetoric of the letters
    • Comforting converts faced with affliction or social dislocation:
      • The tone of 1 Thess: “...like a nurse...”; familial language
      • Paul as example
    • Relations with outsiders
    • The paraenetic section (4:1-12): Paul's instructions and exhortations
    • Paul's apocalyptic world-view and Christ’s “coming” (parousia):
      • “...concerning those who are asleep...”
      • Apocalypticism: Discussion of Paul and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Community Rule = 1QS III.15-IV.26)

    5. Implications

    • The Hellenistic and Judean sides of Paul
    • Paul, the Thessalonian Christians and their situation: Typical?

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    Paul and the Christians at Corinth: 1 Corinthians

     

    1. Corinth, a Roman colony with a Greek past

    2. The history of Paul's relations with the Corinthians
    • Initial visit (cf. Acts 18:1-17) and Paul’s message (1 Cor 15:1-8), Paul’s previous letter (see 1 Cor 5:9 = 2 Cor 6:14-7:1?), Chloe's report and the letter from some of the Corinthian Christians, Paul’s second letter (1 Corinthians)
    • After 1 Corinthians: Paul’s third letter (2 Cor 10-13: “super-apostles” and tensions over Paul and financial support/handwork) and fourth letter (2 Cor 1-9: easing of tensions)
    3. Situation of the Christians at Corinth
    • The ethnic and social-economic composition of the community
    • Internal divisions and inequalities:  Social, economic, ideological (“theological”) and other “problems” (in Paul’s eyes)
      • “I belong to Paul” - “I belong to Apollos” (chs. 1-4)
      • Ethical problems (ch. 5): Thou shalt not sleep with thy step-mother

      • The socially “superior” Christians
        • Litigious Christians (ch. 6)
        • The drunk and the hungry (rich and poor) (11:17-34)
      • The religiously “superior” Christians (spiritual enthusiasts) and their slogans (chs. 7-15)
        • Asceticism: “...it is good not to touch a woman...”
        • Knowledge and wisdom: “...all of us possess knowledge...an idol has no real existence” (the weak and the strong) (chs. 8, 10)
          • Background:  “Idolatry”, sacrificial food and communal meals in Corinthian society (the social context of the religious position); Paul, the Jew, and idolatry
        • Christian worship and spiritual gifts
        • “...some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead...”
    4. Paul’s response: Concord and equality
    • Paul's deliberative rhetoric and the language of civic discourse
    • The body metaphor and proper order in worship
    • Paul's defence of his mission: the Corinthians vs. Paul? (chap. 9)

     5. Implications

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    Paul and the Christians at Corinth: 2 Corinthians

    1. What happened after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians?

    • The “painful visit” (2:1) and “tearful” letter (2:4; 7:8-9)
    • 2 Corinthians as a composite of several letters

    2. The Super-apostles at Corinth and Paul’s harsh letter (2 Cor 10-13)

    a) Situation:

    • What has Paul done?
      • Handwork and refusal of patronage ("Did I commit a sin..." [11:7]?)
      • Compare Paul’s defence in 1 Cor 9
    • What is the Corinthians’ position?  Two main issues:

                1)  Paul’s lack of rhetorical eloquence in person (2 Cor 10:1, 9-10; 11:6)  

                2)  Paul's practice regarding support (11:7-15; 12:13-16)

      • Patronage in antiquity: friendship and enmity
    • The Super-apostles:
      • Identity of the Corinthians who side with the super-apostles
      • Identity and practice of the super-apostles: Preaching “another gospel” (cf. Galatians)
      • Putting the Super-apostles' and Paul's means of financial support in context
        • Greco-Roman debates about support (cf. Musonius, Cicero): 
          • 1) fees; 2) patronage / benefaction; 3) begging; 4) working
          • Traveling teachers and prophets in the early Jesus movement
            • Jesus' sayings: Luke 10:7-16 (first century CE)
            • Prophets and teachers in the Didache 11-13 (early second century CE)
            • Paul's mention of the "Lord's command" (1 Cor 9:13-14)
            • Super-apostles' practice in relation to the sayings of Jesus

         b) Response:

    • Paul’s defense of his gospel and apostleship: Not inferior to the super-apostles
      • The support issue: “not being a burden”
      • Sarcasm: “I am talking like a madman” (11:16-12:12)
      • Paul’s mystical experience (12:1-5)

    3. The Collection for Jerusalem (2 Cor 8-9): Discussion in tutorial

    4.  Renewed relationship (2 Cor 1-9)

    5. Implications

    • Paul and the Corinthian Christians
    • Comparing the Thessalonian and Corinthian Christians

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    Paul and the Christians in Galatia

     

    1. The province of Galatia in Asia Minor: Celts, Greeks and Romans

    2. A history of Paul's activity pertaining to his letter to the Galatians
    • Northern (ethnic) Galatia or Southern (Phrygian) Galatia?
    • Paul's journeys in Southern Galatia according to Acts (13:13-14:20; 16:1-6; Iconium, Pisidian Antioch, Lystra, Derbe)
    • The Jerusalem meeting (Gal. 2:1-10; Acts 15:1-35), Judean Christianity and Paul’s collection (see Gal. 2:10; 1 Cor 16:1-4; 2 Cor 8-9; Rom 15:23-32)

    3. The situation in the churches

    • Ethnic identity of the Christians (cf. 4:8)
    • The “circumcision party” (opponents/Judaizers) with a “different gospel”
    • The primary issue is circumcision as an entrance requirement into the community of God and sign of favoured status (not salvation after death through works)
      • Avoiding a 16th century interpretation of the situation: A reminder concerning the nature of ancient Judean culture
      • Rationale of the opponents: Circumcision, proselytes and God-fearers in Judean culture
    4. Paul's response
    • Paul's tone: “O foolish Galatians!”
    • Paul’s methods: Hellenistic rhetoric; Judean biblical interpretation
    • Paul, the Law and the Gentiles: Circumcision is not an entrance requirement
      • Paul's defence of his circumcision-free gospel
      • The issue of the inclusion of Gentiles in the people of God (the mission to the Gentiles) as the guiding principle in Paul's view
      • God's primary covenant-promise to Abraham (Gen 15):  The blessing of Abraham - faith (not circumcision = “works of law”) as the true sign of being sons of Abraham and members of God's community
      • The secondary covenant, circumcision (Gen 17) and the Law at Mount Sinai: “the law was our custodian until Christ came”
        • Allegorical interpretation of scripture: Sarah and Hagar
    5. Implications
    • Paul and Judean culture/Torah: antithetical?
    • Paul, the Gentiles and Israel (comparison with Romans 9-11)
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    Paul and the Christians at Philippi: Early Christianity and Benefaction

     

    1. Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia

    2. History of the Philippian Christians
    • Paul's initial visit, gifts/benefactions, letter of friendship (from “prison”)
    3. The situation
    • Composition of the Philippian groups
    • The “dogs” and “evil-workers”
    • Leadership in the Pauline groups
    • The Philippians' gift
      • Paul, patronage and related conventions of society
    4. The response
    • Paul's tone: a letter of friendship
    • Rhetoric: deliberative or epideictic?
    • A series of examples (living a life “worthy of the gospel” with “one mind”): Christ (the hymn), Timothy, Epaphroditos, the dogs and evil-workers, Paul, Euodia and Syntyche
    5. Implications
    • Paul's varying relations with his communities:  Enmity at Corinth, friendship at Philippi
    • Centrality of the “gospel of Christ” for Paul:  “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (1:21)
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    Paul, Philemon, and Onesimus: Early Christianity and Ancient Slavery

     Handouts:

    Websites

    1. The situation
    • Addressees: Christian group in Colossae?
    • Onesimus the runaway slave
    2. The response
    • Paul's letter of recommendation
    • The rhetoric of the letter
      • Request or social pressure: “Paul...to Philemon...and the church in your house”
    • Discussion:  Paul and slavery (Philemon and 1 Cor 7)

    3. Implications

    • Paul and the institutions of Greco-Roman society: a person of his time?
     

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    Paul and the Christians at Rome

    Handouts: Websites:

    1. The city of Rome, capital of the empire

    2. The situation at Rome that led Paul to write his letter

    • Traditional views: Romans as a summary of Paul's theology

    • New view: Romans as a response to a concrete situation

    1) Situation among Judeans (Jews) at Rome

    • Synagogues (about 10-15 attested, some based on district, others on geographical links)
    • Origins of earliest groups of Jesus-followers within Judean gatherings (e.g. Prisca and Aquila)
    • Scholarly theories, including the issue of Roman authorities' actions or expulsions (see Suetonius and Acts 18:2; Dio Cassius on restriction of meetings; collegia):
      • Wolfgang Wiefel's thesis: Return of expelled Judeans to predominantly Greek groups of Jesus-followers after expulsion relating to conflicts over "Christ" (of 49 CE, or 47-50 CE)
      • Philip Esler's proposal: Whether expulsion or not, still ethnic conflict; Judean synagogues and Jesus-follower house-churches

    2) Situation within groups of Jesus-followers

    • Identity of Paul's addressees  and the house churches at Rome (Romans 16)
      • 26 identified individuals: 7 probably Judeans, Latin names, Greek names
      • Primary addressees as Greeks

       

    • Divisions and tensions along ethnic lines (Greeks vs. Judeans) as the primary issue
      • Greeks feeling superior to Judeans: Case of the food laws in chapters 14-15 (contrast situation at Galatia)

    3. Paul's response

    • Paul's purposes in writing (Going west, collection for Jerusalem, address ethnic conflict)
    • Rhetoric and the diatribe (imaginary opponents and hypothetical objections)
    • Paul, the Law and second-Temple Judean culture (again!?)
    • Paul's response to the divisions and claims of superiority: To the Judean first and also to the Greek” - “God shows no partiality”

      •  

      1) Gentiles (Greeks) and Judeans equally under the power of sin and in need of reconciliation by faith (ch. 1-8)

      • Gentiles (Greeks) wicked and guilty: Idolatry and sexual immorality (1-2:16)
      • Judeans also under the power of sin (2:17-3:20)
        •  "What is the value of circumcision?  Much in every way." (3:1)
        •  "Are we Jews any better off?  No, not at all." (3:9)
        • "For there is no distinction": Made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ, not by law (3:21-31)
        • Abraham as the "father of us all", both Judeans and Gentiles (4)
        • Christ as the second Adam in Paul's typological thinking (5)
        • Dead to sin (6): Baptism in Paul's view and the context of this ritual
          • (also see 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:27-28)
        • Sin as a power (7)
        • Flesh and spirit: Children of God (8)

         

      2) If Judeans and Gentiles are on equal footing, what is the place of Israel within God's salvation history (ch. 9-11)

      •   The remnant and Israel's stumble (9)
      •   “Has God rejected his people? By no means!” (11)
      •   Israel stumbles but does not fall: “all Israel will be saved”
        •   Israel's stumble is the Gentiles' gain
          •   The olive tree analogy: "do not become proud" (11:20)
          •   Mercy: "all Israel will be saved" (11:26)

           

       3) Parenesis and moral exhortation (12-13)

      • "I bid everyone . . . not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." (12:3)
      • "Be subject to the governing authorities" (13:1): Paul's civic advice in context
      • Fulfill the law (13:8-10)

       

      4) The “strong” and the “weak”: Gentiles and Judeans respecting one another (ch. 14-15)

    4. Implications: Paul and his communities in retrospect

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    Legacies of Paul, part 1: Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastoral Epistles

    Handouts:

    Websites:

    1. The legacy of Paul and the Pauline tradition

    • Collection and use of Paul's letters
    • Importance and use of the figure of Paul in subsequent debates: The "battle" for Paul
    • So many Pauls, so little time
      • The Pauline "school" and the deutero-Pauline writings
      • Pseudonymity in ancient literature
        • Factors in assessing pseudonymity:
          • 1. Language and style; 2. Ideology / theology; 3) Situations, developments, anachronisms (e.g. church order, household codes, etc.)
          • Possible or likely New Testament examples: 2 Thessalonians; Colossians; Ephesians; Pastoral epistles (1-2 Timothy, Titus)
    • Key developments after Paul:
      • 1. Development of ideas (e.g. Christology) and focus on "sound doctrine"
      • 2. Importance of household structures
      • 3. Institutionalization and leadership structures (church order)

    2. Cities of western Asia Minor: Christianity and its context

    • The civic context
    • Judean groups in the cities
    • Varieties of Christianity in Asia Minor (e.g. Revelation, John's epistles, 1 Peter, Ignatius' epistles, Martyrdom of Polycarp)

    3. Colossians and Ephesians

    • Colossians
      • Situation: the "philosophy" and practices of the opponents (2:8-23)
        • Early form of gnosticism?
        • Syncretistic rituals and beliefs regarding benevolent and malevolent beings
      • Response: Christ has disarmed the principalities and powers
        • The Christ-hymn of 1:15-20
    • Ephesians
      • Discussion: Post-Pauline Christian groups and the structures of the household (Household codes: Col. 3:18-4:1; Eph. 5:22-6:9; cf. 1 Peter)

      4. Pastoral epistles

    • Discussion:  Leadership structures - The Pastoral epistles as a window into developments in the late first century
    • Situation: Opponents / false teachers -  Myths, knowledge, asceticism and women
    • Response: Sound doctrine, household management and proper church order

    5. Implications
     

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    Legacies of Paul, part 2: The Acts of Paul and Thecla

        Handouts:

        Websites:

                     
    1. Legacies of Paul: The "battle" for Paul - "The Acts of Paul and Thecla" vs. the Pastoral epistles

    2. The Acts of Paul: Introductory matters

    • Genre: Apocryphal Acts and the ancient novel
    • Date: (c. 160-200 CE), authorship, and use
    • Content of the Acts of Paul:  Paul and Thecla; Lion at Ephesus; Paul's martyrdom
    • The Thecla episodes:
      • Earlier oral traditions underlying the Acts of Paul and Thecla: The story tellers behind the stories

    3.  Women, leadership, and group-society relations: Thecla and the Pastorals

    • Alternate portraits of Paul and realities of women's lives in the Christian communities
    • Women's leadership and the relationship between Christian groups and society
    • Greco-Roman perceptions and varying Christian responses (Aelius Aristides and Celsus on women and early Christianity)
    •  Discussion of key themes in the Thecla episodes:

            (1) Sexuality, marriage, and asceticism

      • "Blessed are those who have kept the flesh chaste. . . "
      • Turning the novel's love theme on its head: Kissing Paul's bonds
      • Chastity and society: "Overturning the city"
      • Pastoral epistles: Domestic women (1 Tim 2:15; 4:1-5; Titus 2:3-5)

            (2) Women's roles and leadership

      • Thecla, the leader and teacher: "Go and preach!"
      • Questions of gender: The "manly" Thecla?
      • Historical context: The Phrygian (Montanist) movement and women prophets in Asia Minor
      • Pastorals:
        • Subverting the "old wives' tales" (1 Tim 4:7-8; 5:13-16; 2 Tim 3:4-9)
        • Silent and domestic women: "I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men" (1 Tim 2:11-15)

            (3) Church-society relations and conflicts

      • Thecla: Overturning Greco-Roman society
      • Pastorals: Greco-Roman values and alleviation of group-society tensions (cf. 1 Timothy 2:1-2; 3:7; Titus 3:1)

    4. Conclusions:  Would the real Paul please stand up?

    • Comparing Pauls:   Paul's letters; Pastoral epistles; Canonical Acts; Apocryphal Acts
    • Discussion: Women in early Christianity

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    Introduction to the Gospels

        Websites

    1.  What are the gospels?

    • What kind of writing (genre) are the gospels (Richard Burridge's synthesis):  Ancient historical-biographies: "Lives" (bioi) of Jesus - focus on stereotyped character and identity - Who is Jesus? as a central question
    • Writings with axes to grind: The historical Jesus vs. the Christ of faith
    • Surviving gospels: Canonical (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and non-canonical (e.g. Gospel of Thomas)
    • Dates, authorship and other introductory issues

    2.  How did the gospels come about in the form we have them?

    • The process: Stages in the transmission of traditions used in the gospels
    • The methods of form criticism (esp. since 1919 - R. Bultmann): Identifying types of material originally passed on in oral form and relating this to settings in the life of the early churches

    3.  What relationships are there among the gospels?

    • Similarities and differences in content and arrangement of the material in the gospels
    • The methods of source criticism (since late 1700s)
    • The “Synoptic problem”: Hypotheses of literary relationship
      • 1) Griesbach (Two-gospel) hypothesis (Mt first; Lk used Mt; Mk used both Lk and Mt)
      • 2) Markan priority without Q (Mk first; Mt second; Lk used both Mk and Mt)
      • 3) Two-source hypothesis, also known as four-source hypothesis (Mk first; Mt and Lk used Mk and another [hypothetical] sayings-source, called Q)

    4.  Gospels as stories and portraits of Jesus

    • Gospels as more or less coherent stories with specific intentions and purposes
    • Redaction criticism (esp. since 1950s): Identifying the purposes and tendencies of specific gospel writers (how did an author revise and re-shape available material)
    • Literary and narrative approaches to the gospels (plots, characters and narrative development -- esp. since the 1980s)

    5.  Other historical approaches

    • Doing social history: Gospels as windows into community life?
    • Historical Jesus research: Problems in finding the Judean peasant

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    The Gospel of Mark: Jesus as Suffering Son

    Handouts:

    Websites:

    1.  Introductory matters: Authorship, date, audience

    • Traditional explanation of the origin of Mark’s gospel: Papias
    • Date (c. 65-80 CE): Internal evidence: Nature of the material; references to the Temple.  External evidence: Literary relation with Mt and Lk
    • Gentile identity of author and audience from internal evidence:  Lack of familiarity with Judean/Judean geography and culture

    2.  Mark’s Story of Jesus: The suffering son of Man

    • Distinctive features or central themes of Mark’s gospel:
      • Jesus’ identity (as the son of God and Christ/Messiah)
      • Jesus’ authority; Secrecy (the “messianic secret”)
      • Jesus’ message about the impending rule (“kingdom”) of God
      • Jesus at odds with others – ongoing conflicts between Jesus and other characters in the narrative
    • Settings, characters, and plot:
      • Identity of Jesus; centrality of his death (tragedy and triumph)
      • Unfolding of the plot -  Ongoing conflicts between Jesus and other characters:  1) Non-human forces; 2) Authorities; 3) Disciples/students

        -   Outline of the story (see handout)

    3.  Locating Mark’s gospel within early Christianity

    • Jesus, the suffering Son of man: Mark’s Christology and the humanity of Jesus
    • Discipleship: Pick up your cross and follow
    • Gentile Christianity: Where does Mark fit

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    The Gospel of Matthew:  Jesus as Davidic Messiah and New Moses

    Handouts:

    Websites:

    1.  Introductory matters: Authorship, date, audience

    • Traditional attribution: Matthew the tax-collector
    • Internal and external evidence:  Judean Christian author and audience, probably in Syria (Antioch), c. 80-90 CE
    • Matthew’s sources: Mk, Q, other oral and written material (M)
    • Distinctive features of Matthew’s gospel:
      • Five great discourses (chs. 5-7, 10, 13, 18, 24-25)
      • Organizational patterns and doubling motifs
      • Prominence of Peter
      • Jesus explicitly talks about “the assembly/church” as an institution
      • Strong Judean orientation

    2.  Matthew’s Story of Jesus: Davidic Messiah and new Moses

    • Central themes and flow of the narrative
    • Key themes in the plot: Presence of God (Jesus is “God with us”); Jesus’ Identity; Jesus’ conflict with the Judean authorities; Rejection of Jesus

            Outline (see handout for more detail)

    • Part I: Presentation of Jesus (1-4:16)
    • Part II
      • a): Ministry of Jesus (4:17-11:1)
      • b): Repudiation of Jesus (11:2-16:20)
    • Part III: Journey of Jesus to Jerusalem and his passion and resurrection (16:21-28:20)

    3.  Locating Matthew’s gospel and community within early Christianity

    • Judean-Christian author and community
      • Judean forms of early Christianity: Peter and the Judean leaders at Jerusalem
    • The Matthean community in conflict with other Judean groups
      • Emergence of  Rabbinic Judaism in the late first century
      • Interpretation of the law and the prophets (claiming Jesus’ identity as the Judean Messiah; differing interpretations of the Judean law)
    • Portrait of Jesus: Jesus as the Son of God, deserving of “worship” / bowing the knee (higher Christology than Mark, but lower than John’s gospel)

     _____________________________

    Luke-Acts volume 1: The Gospel of Luke

    1. Introductory matters: Author, audience, date, genre (historiography)

    • Luke as a 2-volume work: Story of Jesus and the church
    • Traditional authorship: Luke the physician and companion of Paul (Col 4:14)
      • “We” passages (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16)
    • Internal evidence: Well-educated Gentile or Hellenistic Jew
      • Richest vocabulary in the New Testament
      • Communicating across cultural lines to the diverse world of the Roman empire
    • Date (80-90 CE)
    • Luke-Acts as history: Generic and other similarities with Josephus (discussion in tutorial): 1) Preface; 2) Speeches; 3) Exciting material; 4) Apologetic history
    • Sources: Material unique to Lk (L) accounts for half of the gospel
    • Distinctive features and main themes of Luke’s gospel:
      • 1) Historical context: Jesus and the church within world history
      • 2) Concern with the outcasts and oppressed of society
      • 3) Centrality of the Holy Spirit
      • 4) Centrality of Jerusalem
      • 5) Christianity’s continuity with Judean culture (fulfilment)
      • 6) Success of Jesus’ mission through his disciples and the church

    2. Luke’s story of Jesus: Jesus the prophet and "saviour" in cross-cultural terms (Judean and Greco-Roman)

    • Judean: Prophet; Messiah; Son of Man; suffering servant of Isaiah (Acts 8:30-35); Elijah (Malachi 4:5); Moses (Deut 18:15; see Acts 3:22; 7:37)
    • Greco-Roman: Saviour and benefactor; travelling philosopher; god-man

    Outline of the narrative ( with a focus on the identity of Jesus as prophet and saviour)

    1. Jesus’ birth and his relation to John the Baptist (1:1-4:13)

    • Saviour to the poor and "lowly" (1:51-52; 2:8-14)
    • Son of God - the god-man

    2. Ministry in Galilee (4:14-9:50; includes the “little interpolation”, 6:20-8:3)

    • Anointed prophet to the socially marginalized - the poor, captives, blind, and oppressed (4:16-21; cf. 7:22; Isaiah 61:1-2)
    • Prophet like Elijah and Elisha (4:25-27; see Malachi 4:5)
    • Healings that illustrate this identity as prophet like Elijah
    • Friend of tax-collectors and sinners (socially marginalized)
    • Inaugural sermon: Blessed are the poor and hungry, woe to the rich and full (6:17-26)
    • Following in Elijah's footsteps: Healing of the widow's son (// 1 Kings 17:17-24)
    • "Who are you?": Prophet of Isaiah 61 and the marginalized again (blind, lame, lepers, deaf, dead are raised, poor)
    • "If this man were a prophet" he would not have anything to do with a sinner-woman (7:39)
    • Elijah or an "ancient prophet" (9:7-8, 16-20) - Prophet and Messiah (anointed)
    • Jesus' Exodus ("departure") (prophet like Moses) (9:31)

    3. Journey (departure / Exodus) towards Jerusalem (9:51-19:44; “big interpolation”)

    • "he set his face to go to Jerusalem" (9:51)
    • Organization of the big interpolation not clear: disciples mission, teachings, parables, healings
    • Women: Mary and Martha (10:38-42)
    • Parable of a rich man (12:13-21)
    • Lament over Jerusalem: "it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem" (13:33)
    • Parable of great dinner redaction: poor, crippled, blind, lame (cf. Isaiah 61)
    • Parable of rich man and poor man (16:19-31)
    • Parable of the tax-collector (18:9-14)
    • Parable of the rich ruler (18:18-25)

    4. Ministry in Jerusalem (19:45-21:38)

    • Rich people and a poor widow (21:1-4)

    5. Passion and resurrection (22:1-24:53)

    • Unique trial before Herod Antipas (23:6-12)
    • Jesus of Nazareth, "who was a prophet" (24:19, 27)
    • Everything must be fulfilled (24:44)
    • Ascension like Elijah (24:50-53)

     3. Locating Luke-Acts within early Christianity

    • Luke-Acts and the other canonical gospels: Judean and Greco-Roman cultural terms
    • Luke-Acts within diverse Pauline Christianity:
      • Pauline connections and themes...yet does not seem to know Paul’s letters!

    _____________________

    Luke-Acts volume 2: Acts and the Story of the Church


    1. Introductory matters

    • Acts as history

    2. Acts’ story of the church:

    • Success of a legitimate movement from Jerusalem to “the end of the earth”
    • Acts’ connections with volume 1
    • Main themes and purposes of Acts (in addition to the themes of volume 1):
      • 1)        The Holy Spirit and the success of the church
      • 2)        Legitimization/apologetic purposes:
        • a) “Not in a corner” -- Christianity as politically innocuous
        • b) Christianity's Judean roots and, therefore, antiquity/legitimacy
      • 3)        The unity of the early church: The Jew-Gentile issue
    Outline:
    • Part 1: The origins and success of the church in Jerusalem under Peter (chs. 1-8)
    • Part 2: The dissemination and success from Jerusalem to the world under Paul (chs. 9-20)
    • Part 3: Paul’s arrest and trials: “proclaiming the kingdom of God” in Rome (chs. 21-28)

    _________________________________

    The Gospel of John: Jesus as Son and Revelation (Self-Expression) of the Father

     

    1.  Introductory matters

    • Authorship, audience, date: “Beloved disciple” tradition; Johannine school/community

    • Date (c. 90-100 CE): Expelled from the synagogue (9:22; 12:42; 16:2)

    • Sources and composition:  Signs source; stages of editing

    • Distinctive features:

      • Widespread use of symbolism and dualism

      • Content and style of Jesus’ teaching: Philosophical discourses about himself (no parables about the kingdom!)


      • Emphasis on the role of the Spirit/Paraclete

      • Jesus’ miracles as “signs” (no exorcisms!)

      • Emphasis on love of one another as the key commandment of Jesus

      • Salvation and life in the present (lack of references to future return of Christ)

    2.     John’s story of Jesus: Jesus the Son and self-expression (Word, Truth) of the Father

    • Portrayal of Jesus: Pre-existent Word; One with the Father (Father-Son motif)
    • Jesus as fulfilment of the Judean festivals; Crucifixion = exaltation

    Outline (see handout)

    3.  Locating John’s gospel within early Christianity

    • Portrayal of Jesus: High Christology
    • Judean and Hellenistic features
    • Johannine Christianity (community behind 1-3 John)
    • Gnostic Christianity’s use of John                                                               

    _____________________________

    Modern Portraits: The Historical Jesus

    1.  Methods and Problems in the study of the peasant Jesus

    • Nature of our sources: Partial; Christ of faith; Disinterest in history in the modern sense; Few external sources
    • Theological interests of modern scholars: A Jesus in one's own image?
      • E.g. A counter-cultural Jesus with egalitarian principals and a social revolution (a liberation theology Jesus?, a hippy Jesus?)
    • Methods:
      • Multiple attestation; Dissimilarity; Contextual reliability; Embarrassment
      • Sayings or deeds approach?
      • Problems: Scholars' differences in methods; Identifying layers
      • Key contextual factor: How Judean or Hellenistic was Galilee and Jesus?

    2.  Jesus in Context: Comparing Jesus with contemporary leaders, prophets, holy men, and "kings"

    • Discussion of Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs, especially passages from Josephus (in tutorials)

    3.  Some Modern Portraits of Jesus

    • Cynic teacher (Burton Mack)
      • Hellenistic and non-apocalyptic Jesus with short pithy sayings
    • Judean Cynic-like healer and peasant with egalitarian values (John Dominic Crossan)
      • Non-apocalyptic Jesus who turns the world's values upside-down
    • Social prophet and social revolutionary (Richard Horsley)
      • Jesus and the first century class-conflict - renewing the peasant villages
    • Judean apocalyptic prophet (E.P. Sanders; cf. Ehrman)
      • Jesus and the temple incident: Symbolic destruction (Mk 11:15-19 and //s)
        • Sayings on, and charges regarding, the temple (Mk 13; Mt 26:60ff; Jn 2:18-22)
      • Jesus' teachings on the Kingdom of God
      • Jesus and the renewal or restoration of kingdom of Israel under the twelve tribes (cf. Psalms of Solomon 17 -- Mk 14:25; Mt 19:27-29) :
        • 1. Reassembling the twelve tribes; 2. Gentiles converted or subjugated; 3. Jerusalem's temple restored; 4. Perfect worship by a righteous people
      •  Why was Jesus executed?

    _____________________________

    Hebrews: Jesus as High-priest and Sacrificial Victim

    Websites:

    1.  Introductory matters: Date, author, background

    • Date: c. 65-95 CE  (cf. 1 Clem 36)
    • Author: Hellenistic Jew
      • Judean and Hellenistic influences: Saturated in Judean scripture; Platonic ideas
    • Audience: Jews or Hellenistic Jews that follow Jesus as Messiah
    • Background: Destruction of the temple in 70 CE

    2.  Situation and Response (key in 13:7-18; cf. 10:19-25; cf. B. Lindars)

    • Situation: Segment of Judean Christians maintaining close connections with local Judean synagogue -  Danger of “falling away” (apostasy) and continuing in the practices of an “old” covenant (cf. 2:1-2; 3:12; 4:1; 6:4-6; 10:23)

      • Issue of atonement for sins and corresponding practices central

    • Response: “Hold fast” -- Followers of Christ are to go to him “outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured.”  “We have an altar from which those who serve the tent [priests of the “old” order] have no right to eat.”

    3.  Response elaborated: Jesus as "superior" high-priest and “once for all” sacrifice

    • Deliberative rhetoric: Dissuasion from a particular action (“falling away”)
    • Series of analogies and comparisons which show that Jesus Christ is the mediator of a “new” and “better” covenant as the ultimate high-priest and sacrificial victim:
      • "Superior" to angels (ch. 1); Pioneer of salvation (2)
      • "Superior" to Moses (3-4:13)
      • "Superior" to Levi as Melchizedek, self-sacrificing high-priest of the “new covenant” (4:14-5:10; 7-10:18)
        • Warning against apostasy and reminder of God’s promise (5:11-6)
        • Background:
          • Melchizedek and the priestly messiah in Judean literature (Gen. 14:18-20; Ps. 110:4; Philo; Dead Sea Scrolls)
          • "New covenant" idea: Midrash of Jeremiah 31:31-37 (cf. DSS)
          • The high priest and sacrifice on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16)
        • Melchizedek as "superior" to Levi (and Abraham) (7:1-20)
        • A "better covenant" with a "once for all sacrifice" (7:20-8:13)
        • Earthly tent (shadow / copy / outer) and true tent (original / ideal) (9:1-10:18)
          • Platonic ideas: Original form and copy / shadow; Dead Sea Scrolls notion of a forthcoming perfect temple and cult
          • Earthly cult and "better" heavenly cult
            • The great high priest “has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (9:26)
            • Followers of Jesus as a new order of priests

             

      • Dangers of falling away (apostasy) and need for faith (10:19-12)
        • Warning against apostasy (10:19-39)
        • Exhortation to faith and discipline (rather than apostasy) (11-12)
      • Closing (and key hints as to the situation): "outside the camp" (13)

    4.  Locating Hebrews within early Christianity

    • Another Judean or Hellenistic-Judean form of Christianity
    • Complicated nature of early Christian relations with Judean roots
      • Discussion in tutorial: Early Christianity and the development of notions of supercession (Epistle of Barnabas)


     

    _____________________________

    1 Peter: The Nature of Persecution and Relations with Outsiders

     

    1.  Introductory matters

    • Context:
      • 1) Asia Minor as a hub of early Christianity (cf. Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, Pastoral Epistles, John's Apocalypse, Johannine epistles, 1 Peter)
      • 2) Group-society relations: Christians and outsiders ("pagans") and the issue of "persecution"

       

    • Authorship (pseudonymous) and date (late first century) of 1 Peter
    • Recipients:  Ethnic and social identity ("aliens and exiles" - literal or figurative?; see 1:14-16; 4:3)
    • Genre: Diaspora letter (cf. Jeremiah 29:4-23; 2 Baruch 78-87; James)
    • Traditional approaches: 1 Peter as instruction manual for initiates (catechesis)?
      • Baptismal material (e.g. 3:18-22)
      • Baptism as initiation ritual within the Jesus movements: Paul on dying and rising with Christ (cf. Romans 6:3-11); taking off and putting on clothing metaphor (Colossians 3:-9-12)
    • Outline of structure:
      • 1:1-2:10:  Hope through suffering: Spiritual household and holy priesthood (identity)
      • 2:11-3:7:  Household code: Getting along with outsiders (“Gentiles”)
      • 3:8-4:19:  Suffering for righteousness, like Christ
      • 5:1-14:    Church leadership and closing

    2.  Situation and Response

    • Situation:
      • “Aliens” facing “suffering” and social harassment
        • Nature of the suffering: "Reviled" and "abused" (3:9, 13-17); "Abused", "reproached", and a "fiery ordeal" (4:4, 12-19; 5:9)
        • Roots of the “suffering” (1:14-18; 2:11; 4:3-4)

         

         

    • Response:
      • Comforting Christians and strengthening group identity: “holy priesthood” and “spiritual household” (1:1-2:10)

       

      • Alleviating tensions: Group-society relations (2:11-3:7)
        • Attitudes towards authorities and empire (2:11-17): “Honour the emperor” (contrast Revelation’s call to assail the “beast” = emperor and "whore" = Rome)
        • The household code (2:11-3:7) (discussion continued in tutorial)
          • Background: "Family values" in the Greco-Roman world (Aristotle and others)
          • Household codes in other Christian writings: Colossians, Ephesians; Pastorals

           

      • Diversity in early Christian attitudes and practices in relation to outsiders/society
        • Some cases we have seen: Thessalonica vs. Corinth; Pastorals vs. Thecla)
        • Cases to come: John's Apocalypse and the issue of "idolatry" and "worshipping the beast"

       

    3.  Locating 1 Peter within early Christianity

      

    _____________________________
     

    John’s Apocalypse (Revelation): Futuristic Visions and the Call to Worship God (not the Beast)

     

    1.  Introductory matters

    • Authorship and audience
    • Date and context: Destruction of the Temple in 70 CE (compare other Judean apocalypses)
    • What is an Apocalypse?
    • Apocalypticism (world-view), Millenial movements (social groups), and the genre of Apocalypse (writing)

    2.  Situation and Response

    • Situation:
      • Traditional explanations: Domitian’s persecution
      • Revised view: Futuristic visions that build upon some current or past incidents in order to convince followers of Jesus to maintain distance from “pagan” society and imperialism
      • Opponents in the letters: Followers of “Balaam” and “Jezebel” (Nicolaitans) (see Numbers 22-25; 1 Kings 18:4, 13; 19:1-2; 21:25-26)
        • Idol-food and “fornication” (metaphor for participation in “foreign” cultural practices)
    • Response:
      • Sectarian perspective of John’s Apocalypse
      • Call to endurance and worship of God and the Lamb (not the beast)
      • Distance from surrounding society: “Come out of her, my people...”(18:4-8)

       

    • Overview of the visions (see outline handout)

     

    3.  Visions of Beasts and Babylon: Attitudes toward the Roman empire

    • The military and religious critique of empire: Worship of the beast (ch. 13)
    • The economic critique of empire: Babylon the whore and the “fornicators” (chs. 17-18)
      • Links with the opponents in the letters (“fornication”)?

       

    • Comparison with other Christian attitudes towards Roman imperial society (see 1 Peter 2:11-17)
    • Group-society issues among early Christians: Defining community boundaries

    4.  Locating John’s Apocalypse within early Christianity

    • Sectarian, Judean Christianity in Asia Minor


    _____________________________

    John’s Epistles and the Opponents: A "Gnostic" Trajectory?

     

    1.  Introductory matters

    • Authorship, date, location, recipients of each letter (“elect lady” and Gaius)
    • Johannine community (probably in western Asia Minor)
    • Relationship between John’s gospel and the epistles
    • Common themes and view of Jesus: Son-Father-Spirit, word, life, truth, knowledge, light/darkness, “new commandment” of love

    2.  Situation and response: Internal struggles in the Johannine churches

    • Schism (“they went out from us”) and identity of the schismatics
      • Docetism and the development of "Gnosticism":  “Anti-christs” or “false prophets” denying the complete humanity of Jesus and emphasizing his divinity (high Christology; cf. John’s gospel); denying his death’s significance for human sin: “we have no sin” (cf. 1 Jn 1:8-10; 2:18-25; 4:1-6; 5:6-8; 2 Jn 1:7-11)

       

    • Hospitality (3 Jn 1:5-10): Opponents (Diotrephes) and refusal of hospitality for follows of John the elder; John’s letter of recommendation (cf. 3 Jn 1:12)

    3.  John’s letters within early Christianity

    • Varying interpretations within the Johannine tradition

    _____________________________

    Ignatius’ Epistles: Leadership Structures and Concepts of Martyrdom in the Second Century

     

    1. Introductory matters

    • Ignatius' identity (bishop of Antioch; hope of martyrdom; Romans 4; Philadelphians 10)
      • Concepts of martyrdom in early Christianity
    • Genre, date and audience: Letters to churches in western Asia Minor

    2. Situation and response

    • Situation: Opponents in the Asian churches (one or two groups?)
      • Docetism (see Ephesians chs. 7-8; Magnesians 11; Trallians 9-10; Smyrnians 1-2, 5, 7-8 [eucharist])
        • Comparing those who deny the flesh in John’s epistles
      • (Gentile?) Judaizing (see Magn. 8-10; Phil. 6 [Gentiles])
        • Comparing the Judean "myths" in the Pastoral epistles
      • Divided house-churches: Lack of communion

       

    • Response: Church leadership as monarchy
      • Unity under the bishop (cf. Eph. 4; Trall. 2; Smyrn. 8)
      • Defining "proper" belief: The move toward creeds
      • Common meetings/communion (Eph. 5.3; 20.2; Magn. 4; Phil. 4; Smyrn. 7-8)

    3. Group-society relations: Christians and outsiders (society) in Ignatius

    • Maintaining peaceable relations (cf. Eph. 10 [“brothers’]; 12; Trall. 3; 8)

    4. Ignatius’ letters within early Christianity