Transcript The Gospels

The Gospels
Byzantine Online
Fall 2013
Sandra Collins, Ph.D.
Week 1
Introduction
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Sandra (Sandee) Collins
[email protected]
412-321-8383, ext. 23
"For what could God
have more generously
and abundantly
provided in the divine
writings than that the
same words might be
understood in various
ways," (De doctrina
Christiana, 3.27,28).
Texts
BIBLE:
introduction and terms
• Old Testament
(Christian)
• Tanakh (Jewish)
• Hebrew Bible
(academic)
o Torah (lit. “teaching”)= can be
only first five books or a
reference to the totality of the
Old Testament
o Jews read the Bible
descriptively
o Christians order the text to fit a
predictive reading
Geography and dates
• BCE = Before Common
Era
• CE = Common Era
• Judea (4th century BCE1st century CE)
• Palestine (Latinized
Philistia; 135 CE to 20th
century CE)
• Israel (1948-)
HISTORY
• Alexander the Great
and Roman
Occupation (333 BCE63 BCE)
o Imposition of Hellenistic
(Greek) cultural norms
o Septuagint (LXX): Greek
translation of Hebrew
Scriptures,Alexandria, ~250
BCE
o Establishment of Herodian
kings (roughly 37-4 BCE
Herod Agrippa, or Agrippa the Great, ruler of Judea
(10 BC – 44 AD)
Jesus the Christ
• Jesus (roughly 4 BCE –
33 CE)
• Life corresponds with
Roman occupation of
Judea
o Pax Romana, or Roman peace
o Killed by Roman authorities for
sedition, or attempt to set up
rival kingdom to that of the
emperor of Rome, which is
treason.
o
Image (Augustus Caesar [63 BCE-14
CE]; Chiaramonti Museum, Braccio
Nuovo).
Paul and earliest
Christianity
• Period of 54-70 CE
• Paul
o Apostle to the Gentiles
o Earliest NT writings we have
• Gospels
o Roughly 65-90 CE
o Mark is earliest; John the latest
• 70 CE
o Pivotal historical moment
o Temple is destroyed by Rome
o Great diaspora, or expulsion, of
Jews from Judea
o
Image: Existing southern steps of the
Temple Mount, Jerusalem.
Johannine Christianity
• Roughly 90 CE and
following
• Gospel of John;
Johannine Letters;
Revelation
o Strong pneumatology
o Trinitarian doctrine has its roots
here
“The Gospels are
narratives.”
• Image:
o The ending of the
Gospel of Luke from
Codex Alexandrinus, a
5th century copy of the
Septuagint (Greek OT)
and New Testament
found in Alexandria,
currently in the British
Library.