In our final four weeks, we will focus on the way God is "texted" in Christianity. In these first few classes, we start with the stories about the man at the origin of Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth. He lived between roughly 6 BCE and 30 CE, when the land of Israel was more or less under Roman occupation. The stories about him are found in the central text of Christianity, the New Testament (to which Christians add Tanakh, referring to the Jewish scriptures as the "Old" Testament or covenant). Later, we will turn to the stories Jesus himself reportedly told, continuing our probe of Christianity's central beliefs.
Today's class introduces the concept of the "messiah" (a Hebrew term which translates to "Christ" in the Greek New Testament). We will go on to study the stories about Jesus in a general way. They are called "gospels," which means "good news," and they are like biographies of Jesus. There are four of them in the New Testament.
As you read the chapter in Warren Carter's book, Telling Tales about Jesus, be able to answer the following questions:
The four gospels in the New Testament are attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Who are these people, and when were their names added to the gospels? Are the gospels eyewitness recollections?
Carter thinks that the genre of the gospels is most like ancient biographies. What is a genre? What features do the gospels and ancient biographies share in common?
The gospels are also unlike ancient biographies. What makes them different?
What evidence in the gospels leads Carter to argue that they were composed at least 40 years after Jesus' death, around or after 70 C.E.?
Assigned Readings
Secondary: Carter, Telling Tales about Jesus 1-31; online class prep
Warren Carter is Professor of New Testament at Brite Divinity School, part of Texas Christian University. He specializes in the Roman imperial context of early Christianity, and has written over twenty books and dozens of articles on the gospels and their political context.
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From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians - The web site for a Frontline series about the historical Jesus and the "reconstruction" of the man by early Christian communities; first aired in April 1998.
Video Links:
The Criterion of Embarrassment - This two and a half minute video has The New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik offering his reflections on a couple of the criteria of historicity in gospel scholarship.
Jesus' Bible and Languages - one of our main authors this quarter, Vanderbilt University scholar Amy-Jill Levine, discusses the "Bible" that Jesus would have known and the layers of translation between even our ancient Greek gospels and the Aramaic-speaking preacher.
From Jesus to Christ (PBS Frontline)
Part 1, Chapters 1–5 - This first part of the series focuses on the quest for the historical Jesus, the place and times in which he grew up, the diversity of Judaisms at the time, Jesus' preaching and healing activity in the Galilee, and his last days in Jerusalem.
52.32
Part 1, Chapters 6–11 - This section covers the apostle Paul and his message, the beginnings of the "Jesus Movement" as it spread through the Jewish diaspora, the clash between Peter, James and Paul over how to deal with non-Jewish converts to Christianity, the arrest and execution of the early leaders, and the catastrophic Jewish Revolt in 66-70 CE .
52.32
Part 2, Chapters 1–6 - This section picks up after the failed Jewish Revolt, when Christians begin to write their gospels, and the Jewish rabbis begin to consolidate their role as leaders of Judaism now that the Temple has been destroyed. There are sections on each of the four canonical gospels, and the final chapter focuses on rising tensions between Jews and Christians as the Jews rise up a second time against Rome under the messiah Simon bar Kochba.
51.09
Part 2, Chapters 7–12 - The final part of the series focuses on the spread and the persecution of Christianity in the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries. It concludes with the official recognition of Christianity under the Emperor Constantine.
51.36
Acknowledgements
Image adapted from a photograph of Michelangelo's Last Judgment fresco on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, by Nancy Wiechec for Catholic News Service. Reproduced in Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, "The Hope and Joy of Advent," Today's Catholic (2 December 2012) 2. Online, https://todayscatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf-archives/2012/40December2%2C2012.pdf, accessed 30 October 2017.
In our final four weeks, we will focus on the way God is "texted" in Christianity. In these first few classes, we start with the stories about the man at the origin of Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth. He lived between roughly 6 BCE and 30 CE, when the land of Israel was more or less under Roman occupation. The stories about him are found in the central text of Christianity, the New Testament (to which Christians add Tanakh, referring to the Jewish scriptures as the "Old" Testament or covenant). Later, we will turn to the stories Jesus himself reportedly told, continuing our probe of Christianity's central beliefs.