Theology Final

What methods of study does H cover in chapter 2?

What types of questions do these “criticisms” help us answer?

What questions do they leave unanswered?

What does H mean by “oral traditions?”

How do they relate to the criticisms we have just studied?

How do you think they will relate to our study of Paul and the gospels?

What “raw material” does this chapter introduce which subsequent authors (like Paul and the evangelists) will draw on?

Who is Paul?

What is his history?

Is it fair to say that he converts to Christianity?

Is it fair to say he invents Christianity?

We know he feels compelled to preach “Christ crucified.” So why does he bother to stop and write letters at all?

Where is he when he writes each of his letters?

What major themes does Paul touch on esp. in 1 Thessalonians?

1 Corinthians. What issues does Paul address in this letter?

What are the questions the Corinthians seem to be asking him? How does Paul answer?

What does Paul say here about enduring concepts like baptism, eucharist and resurrection?

Again, why does Paul write Galatians and Romans?

What themes and imagery receive fuller treatment in Romans than in Galatians?

Philippians and Philemon. Why are these writings called “prison letters?” How does it affect the dating of these letters?

Who is Philemon? Who is Onesimus?

What does Paul’s “Christ hymn” in Phil 2:5-11 say about Christ and Christian living?

When does Mark produce his gospel? Where is it written?

What concerns does Mark seem to focus on? How do our criticisms help us answer these questions?

Again, where is Matthew when he writes his gospel? Why does he write? When does he write?

Some scholars have argued that Matthew’s community is made up of Jewish Christians. Do you agree? Why/why not?

Where is Luke when he writes? When and why does he do so?

How is Luke’s gospel similar to Matthew’s and Mark’s? How does it differ?

What do these similarities and differences say about sources for the synoptic gospels and the oral histories behind them?

As usual, where, when and why is the gospel of John written?

Matthew, Mark and Luke are called “synoptic” gospels. Why isn’t John included under that heading?

How does John’s portrait of Jesus differ from our synoptic authors?

Now that you have read both the gospel and the letters that emerge from John’s community, can you trace a plausible history behind them? How does H do so?

Do you think John's community had any theological debates? If so, what were they about?

What is the quest for the historical Jesus? Where does it come from? What academic tools does it use? What problems and issues does it raise?

Can we even use the Bible for our “modern” historical purposes?

What are some things we can say about the Jesus of history?

How, when and why does John of Patmos write?

Does John of Patmos intend to predict the end of our world or a change in his? How does his repeating cycles of visions help us answer this question?

Colossians, Ephesians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus. Why did we save these letters for last?

Colossians, Ephesians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus.
Do you think Paul wrote these letters? What does H suggest?

Colossians, Ephesians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus.
What situations do these letters focus on?

Colossians, Ephesians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus.
What type of language do these letters use? How does this help us date them?

Colossians, Ephesians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus.
If Paul did not write them, are they somehow less important than the letters he did write?

What is the “presupposition” of the New Testament?

What hermeneutical methods might we use to apply Jesus’ life and all the documents of the New Testament to our lives today?