JESUS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

Spring 2008

Prof. Frederick J. Murphy

Smith 422

Tel.: Office, 793-3467 or 793-3404; Home, 854-1004; email: fmurphy@holycross.edu

Skype ID: cessna152rick.

Web Site: http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/fmurphy/fjmhome.html

Office Hours: Mon., 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM; Wed. 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM.

Other times by appointment

NOTE: Please read this syllabus thoroughly. You are responsible for all information here, all information conveyed in class, and all information conveyed via email.

GOALS OF THE COURSE

This course is about Palestinian Jews and their society, religion, literature, and history during the Second Temple period (520 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.). We also look at some events and topics from before and after this period to set it in perspective.

We have two primary aims. The first is to understand the different forms of Judaism current in the Second Temple period, including how they relate to each other and to the non-Jewish world, and the second is to see how those Judaisms constitute the world of Jesus and of the early Christian movement. We accomplish the first goal by looking at Second Temple Judaisms in their own settings, attending to their richness, complexity, and diversity. We examine their writings, institutions, experiences, theologies, symbols, practices, and so on in the context of the main events, circumstances, groups, and persons of the period. In this process, it will become clear how Christian perceptions of Judaism, and specifically the Judaism of Jesus’ time, have often been inaccurate and determined by stereotypes. We will challenge such perceptions through a more adequate treatment of Jewish society than is possible in a course focused more narrowly on either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. It will also become clear how necessary it is to recognize differences between our own culture and ancient culture. Ancient systems of thought, institutions, behaviors, images, and so on must be understood within their own context. Interpreting them without sufficient knowledge of the ancient world can lead to distortions and misunderstandings.

Throughout the course we point out how our study sheds light on Jesus and Christianity. Toward the end of the course we concentrate on specifically Christian concerns. We look at Jesus as a Jew of the Second Temple period and then see how Jewish ideas and symbols were fundamental to early Christian interpretations of Jesus.

The kinds of questions asked in the course will vary. They will be historical, cultural, political, sociological, economic, theological, literary, and so on. As we proceed, our study will raise questions of all sorts in your own minds. All of those questions are welcome and will aid in our investigation.

COURSE FORMAT

Lectures. The basic format will be lecture, but I aim to make those lectures fairly interactive. There will be an emphasis on student participation. Sessions will often begin with a discussion of some question or topic assigned during the previous class, and there will times when that discussion occupies the entire class period. You are expected to come to class prepared. Do the reading for each session before we meet. Bring the Bible to every class, as well as copies of any other primary documents (xeroxed, if necessary) to be discussed at that session. (Primary documents are the ancient texts that serve as our sources and date from the time we are studying; secondary sources are modern studies of the ancient period.) Lectures will further explain topics discussed in the textbook, and will spend a good deal of time on primary texts. To do well in the course, it will be necessary both to do the reading and to attend lectures.

Discussion. Questions and comments are welcome and encouraged during class. There will also be discussion sections throughout the term. We will break down into smaller groups for these sections. Specific topics will be set and often readings will be assigned. You are expected to prepare these in advance and come prepared to discuss them.

In addition to deepening your appreciation of particular issues, discussion groups are a chance for you to turn our attention to topics of interest to you or which you think need further development. Challenges to my viewpoints and to those of the readings are welcome, and alternative interpretations of the texts can be explored during discussion.

Attendance at and participation in discussion groups is REQUIRED. Failure to attend and to be prepared will result in lower grades for the course. Frequent absences from regular classes or inadequate preparation for them will also result in lower grades.

Office Visits. I strongly encourage you to come to see me in my office about papers, exams, class material, or any topics that the material raises for you. Our study involves looking at religious subjects in an historical and a rigorously intellectual way. I hope that the conversation will continue beyond class, both between students and between student and teacher. Some of you may wish to pursue the conversation on an academic level, while others may feel the need to talk in more detail about the personal implications of this study. Please feel free to visit my office. If you cannot make my office hours, do not hesitate to arrange to see me at other times. I also supply my home phone number, my email address, and my Skype ID above to make it easier for you to reach me.

Special Arrangements. During the term I will probably need to undergo some medical treatment, which will mean at times that I cannot be available at all for class time, and at other times that I cannot be in the classroom physically. I will supplement the class on those days through a variety of means – guest professors, video podcasts downloadable from my web site and also accessible through Blackboard, and interactive “video conferencing” through Skype. I will explain all of this fully in class. January and February should not be affected.

EVALUATION

There will be two midterms, each worth 20% of the course grade, and a final, worth 26% of the course grade. You may bring primary sources to the exams, especially the Bible. You may have underlinings and brief notes on those sources, but you may not have extensive information written into them. Do not, for example, write the outline for an essay into the blank pages at the beginning or end of your Bible. Such material may cause your primary sources to be confiscated during exams. If you have any doubts about this, please consult me. You may not use the textbooks (Murphy and Cohen) in exams, but you may use Vermes, since it contains the Dead Sea scrolls.

All material, both what is discussed in lectures and discussion groups and what is contained in the readings, is fair game for exams. Attendance at lectures and careful reading of the assignments are both crucial. Class work and readings are meant to be complementary. This point needs to be stressed so that you are not surprised when material appears on exams that was in the readings but not dealt with explicitly in class, or mentioned in class but not in the readings.

There will be a ten to twelve-page research paper worth 24% of the grade. Specifics concerning this paper will be made clear in a handout. Aids to writing the paper are posted on my web site. You have a great deal of freedom in choosing the topic for this paper, and so as the course progresses you should be thinking about topics that you would find interesting to pursue. I welcome visits to my office or questions by email while you are writing the paper. Plan ahead for this paper – avoid asking for extensions. If for some unavoidable reason an extension becomes necessary, we will set a new due date, which must be treated as strictly as the first one. Late papers will be penalized, and I reserve the right not to accept papers that come in late without explicit extensions.

The remaining 10% of the grade will consist of an evaluation of your attendance and participation in class and discussion groups. Throughout the term, I will be looking for signs that you have done the reading, engaged the subject, and are willing to share your insights with others.

First Midterm 20%

Second Midterm 20%

Research Paper 24%

Participation 10%

Final Exam 26%

STUDY TIPS

As far as possible, do all the reading for each class before coming to class. This applies especially to primary texts. Otherwise, you will find yourself “lost” or “bored” during lectures. Carefully take notes, underline, outline, and so on, as you read both primary and secondary texts. You need to spend time with the readings to understand what they mean and how they work. Notes and underlinings will help you both to analyze texts as you read them and to review them later in the term. It is not enough to “read through” assignments once. You should return to them and study them, both primary and secondary sources.

After each class take a few minutes to review your class notes and to look again at important primary texts. You will be surprised at how this helps the material to “stick.” It will also make the material more available to your own reflection as the term progresses, and it will lend depth to your reading of later texts.

REQUIRED READINGS

HarperCollins Study Bible, Revised Edition. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006. If you have another version of the Bible, check with me about whether it is appropriate for this class.

Shaye Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. 2d ed. Louisville: John Knox Westminster, 2006. We will read part of this as a complement to Murphy. It is arranged differently – topically rather than chronologically – and it offers alternative and sometimes fuller treatments of some subjects.

K. C. Hanson and Douglas Oakman. Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and Social Conflicts. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998. This book will be read as preparation for most discussion groups. It applies social-scientific analysis to the first-century Palestinian environment of Jesus and Christianity.

Frederick J. Murphy. Early Judaism: From the Exile to the Time of Jesus. Peabody: Hendrickson, 2002. This is the main textbook for the class. Note the glossary of terms and the glossary of names at the back of the book. Available in pdf form at http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/fmurphy/Early%20Judaism/Murphy.pdf.

Geza Vermes. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. London: Penguin, 1997. This is a collection of English translations of the scrolls, along with several excellent explanatory and analytical chapters at the beginning.

Primary Sources: Central to this course is the examination of primary sources from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Jewish historian Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other ancient documents that fall outside the limits of the biblical canon. The secondary sources provided (Hanson, Murphy, Vermes, Cohen) are mainly guides to the primary texts. You are expected to pay close attention to the analysis of texts found in the secondary sources, but you must also read the original documents as indicated in the reading assignments for each day. Read the primary texts carefully, noting their literary genres, historical context, historical references, the web of ideas and symbols which they contain and in which they are enmeshed, and so on.

Many of our primary sources are found in the Bible. Some readings from Josephus are supplied within the textbook (Murphy). Many of our readings are found in print only in collections that are rather expensive. Here are three of them:

R. H. Charles. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon, 1913.

James H. Charlesworth. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. (2 volumes) New York: Doubleday, 1983, 1985.

H. F. D. Sparks. The Apocryphal Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon, 1984.

I have located most of these texts on the internet. Check the links on my site for those. This syllabus also directs you to some of them. If you discover others, please let me know. I have also made the sources that we will read available through Blackboard.

USE OF THE COLLEGE COMPUTER NETWORK

I use the College computer network a great deal for communication. I also use Blackboard. I post course material on my web site as well, and I use e-mail extensively to make announcements to the whole class, to contact individual students, to distribute course materials such as handouts, and to respond to your questions. (To get to my web site, go to the Holy Cross home page, then to departments, then to Religious Studies, then to the Religious Studies home page, then to faculty. You should then bookmark my page.) It is very important that you know how to use the network. If you do not, then take steps to learn it. I would be glad to help you do so.

It would also be very helpful to you if you learned to use the electronic resources provided by the library for research purposes. If you do not know how to use those, take some time to explore them to see what is available. Particularly helpful are electronic databases and online journals. Note that using internet sources (other than those supplied or referenced by the library or my links page) for papers needs to be done with great caution, since it is often difficult to know their origin and to judge their reliability. If you plan to use such sources, it would be a good idea to tell me about them so that I can take a look at them myself. You can occasionally find useful books through books.google.com.

Hanson and Oakman maintain a website that complements their textbook. Visit it and explore the resources they have made available there: www.kchanson.com/PTJ/ptj.html. Also check out the links on my links page, particularly the pages of individuals, study aids, and texts online.

You are responsible for checking your email at least once daily for class announcements, handouts, etc. If I am unable to make it to campus for any reason, I will e-mail the class as soon as I know as I cannot make it.

SYLLABUS

NOTE: Syllabus may change somewhat during the semester. Changes will be announced in class, and all students are responsible for all changes and announcements made in class. Absence from class is not an excuse for being unaware of any information given in class.

JANUARY

16 (W) Introduction. Goals and mechanics of the course; introductory remarks on the nature of Judaism of the Second Temple; discussion of the syllabus.

18 (F) The Story of Israel. The major events and characters in Israel's story; the problem with writing history; the nature of the sources. Topics that will serve as a groundwork for understanding Israel of the Second Temple period.

READ: Murphy, “Preface,” “Introduction,” and pages 9-34 of Chapter 1, “Israel before the Second Temple Period”; Cohen, Chapter 1, “Ancient Judaism: Chronology and Definitions.”

What do you find familiar about this material? Unfamiliar?

What would you identify as the most important events in this biblical history?

Whom do you consider the most important persons?

Can you identify key terms and define them?

What are the main themes of this narrative?

21 (M) MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY – NO CLASS

23 (W) Priestly Religion: Rationale, Place, Personnel. What priestly symbols mean and do. The figure of the priest in Israelite society. The definition of “cult.”

READ: Murphy, pages 34-58 of Chapter 1, on priestly religion; 1 Kings 8; Numbers 16; Leviticus 8.

Describe the role of the priests in Israelite society.

What does purity/impurity mean? Holiness? Dirt? Cleanness?

Describe ancient attitudes toward the presence and power of God.

25 (F) Priestly Religion: Sacrifices, Feasts. Social and theological function of sacrifice; major pilgrimage feasts.

READ: Exodus 12; Leviticus 1-7, 16, 19.

What were the major feasts in the Israelite calendar? What were their origins?

What are the major elements of sacrifice? What is the significance of these?

Why is the Passover so foundational for Israel?

28 (M) *** DISCUSSION SESSIONS *********************

READ: Read Leviticus 16 and 19, and be ready to comment on them. To what extent do they embody priestly religion? What other elements are present in them? How are these elements all related? How does the liturgy work as a symbolic representation of Israel’s relationship with God and the sacred? What makes sense to you in these passages, and what does not?

30 (W) The Babylonian Exile. A watershed in Israel's history. Changes in Israel’s political, social, and religious situation.

READ: Isaiah 40-55; Jeremiah 7 and 26, 24, 29, 31; Ezekiel 1, 8-11.

What transformations did Israel undergo during the exile?

What are the main images used in Second Isaiah and what were their origins?

How does Second Isaiah constitute an adequate response to Israel’s situation?

How does Ezekiel conceive of Israel’s sin and God’s response? How is his approach priestly?

What was Jeremiah’s attitude to the temple?

FEBRUARY

1 (F) Restoration. Reconstitution of Israel in its own land; beginning of Second Temple Palestinian Judaism; role of foreign overlords.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 2, “The Restoration”; Ezekiel 34, 36-39, 43:1-5, 48:35 (skim chapters 40-48); Haggai; Zechariah 1-8; Isaiah 56-66; Malachi.

Sketch the main elements of Ezekiel’s vision of restoration.

In what ways is Haggai priestly?

Explain Zechariah’s visions in chapters 3, 4, and 6.

Trace the different attitudes to the establishment found in Isaiah 56-66.

What are Malachi’s complaints against the priests, and what does he look for in the future?

4 (M) The Missions of Ezra and Nehemiah. Jewish agents of the Persian crown craft a new community and social system.

READ: Ezra; Nehemiah (You need not read the lists of names in either book, but note their presence and significance. The names are found in Ezra 2; 8:1-14; 10:18-44; Neh 7; 10:1-27; 12:1-26).

Who is Ezra? Nehemiah?

What is the main task of each man?

What are the credentials of each man?

Why was intermarriage so important to both men?

What is the “Torah” brought back by Ezra? Did it not already exist in Israel?

What is the relationship between Jews in Israel and in Babylonia?

6 (W) *** DISCUSSION SESSIONS *********************

READ: Hanson and Oakman, Chapter 1, “Catching the Drift.”

8 (F) Hellenism and Palestinian Judaism. The nature of Hellenism; the evidence of 2 Maccabees.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 3, “Hellenism, Judaism, and the Maccabees” (only pages 91-112); 2 Maccabees 1-10.

Why do you think 2 Maccabees was written?

What are the main themes of 2 Maccabees?

What is the attitude of 2 Maccabees toward the temple?

Is there a “moral” to the story in this book?

What is the role of God in the book? How does this affect human agency?

11 (M) The Maccabees. The fight for independence.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 3 (only pages 112-24); Cohen, Chapter 2, “Jews and Gentiles”; 1 Maccabees 1-7, 14 (pay special attention to chapters 2 and 14); Sirach.

Why do you think 1 Maccabees was written?

How is this book different from 2 Maccabees?

What is the attitude to the Maccabean family in this book?

What role does God play in the book?

Describe the role of the upper-class scribe, as embodied in Sirach.

What is the relation between Wisdom and Torah, according to Sirach?

13 (W) Apocalypses and Apocalypticism. The worldview of apocalypticism; the Enoch traditions.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 4, “Apocalypticism” (only pp. 127-144); 1 Enoch 1-36 (Book of the Watchers). All readings from 1 Enoch are found online (also available on Blackboard): http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/ot/pseudo/enoch.htm

Define “apocalypse.”

Define “apocalypticism.”

In what way can 1 Enoch 1-16 be considered apocalyptic?

Why was The Book of the Watchers written?

Why does Enoch take a tour of the universe?

What in its author’s experience does this book explain?

15 (F) *** MIDTERM EXAM *********************

IMPORTANT NOTE: The exam will include only the material assigned by Monday, February 11. It will not include the material assigned for Wednesday, February 13.

18 (M) More Apocalypses. The rest of the Enoch traditions from before the first century, C.E.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 4 (only pages 144-152); Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72-82 – just skim the “technical” information, but look more carefully at chapters 80-82); Book of Dreams (1 Enoch 83-90); Apocalypse of Weeks (1 Enoch 93:1-10; 91:11-17); Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 91-108). All readings from 1 Enoch are found online (and on Blackboard): http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/ot/pseudo/enoch.htm

How are each of these books apocalyptic?

What ties these books together?

What are the major themes and outlooks of each book?

How do these books conceive of the relationship between God, humans, and the cosmos?

20 (W) Daniel. An apocalyptic response to persecution.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 4 (only pp. 152-163); Book of Daniel.

How does this book’s response to the crisis under Antiochus IV differ from that of the Maccabean literature?

How is Daniel apocalyptic?

Analyze chapter 7 of Daniel.

What does Daniel expect for the future?

22 (F) Qumran. Nature and history of the community.

READ: Vermes, Chapter II, “The Community”; Damascus Rule (CD; this is the abbreviation for the book, so it does not mean CD in the usual sense!; pp. 127-158); MMT (pp. 221-229).

What does the Damascus Document reveal about the people of the Qumran community?

What do the rules in the second part of the scroll reveal about the community?

Can we piece together a general history of the sect from this scroll?

In what ways can this be considered an apocalyptic document?

25 (M) Qumran. Another community rule; eschatology; war; messianic hopes.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 5, “Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls” (read each section of Murphy as it applies to primary documents); Vermes, Chapter III, “The History of the Community”; Community Rule (1QS; pp. 97-117); Messianic Rule (1QSa; pp. 159-162); War Rule (1QM; pp. 163-185); Florilegium (4Q174; pp. 525-526); Testimonia (4Q175; pp. 527-528); A Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521; pp. 412-414).

Do these texts reveal the sect to be apocalyptic? Why or why not?

How does the Community Rule differ from the Damascus Document?

What does the sect expect for the future?

What is the sect’s attitude toward the Torah?

27 (W) Qumran. Video on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

READ: Vermes, Chapter I, “Introduction.”

29 (F) *** DISCUSSION SESSIONS *********************

READ: Hanson and Oakman, Chapter 2, “All in the Family.”

MARCH

3 (M) SPRING VACATION

5 (W) SPRING VACATION

7 (F) SPRING VACATION

10 (M) Qumran. Biblical interpretation; foundations and piety.

READ: Vermes, Chapter IV, “The Religious Ideas of the Community”; Commentaries on Habakkuk (1QpHab; pp. 509-516), Psalms (pp. 519-523), Nahum (4Q 169; pp. 504-508); Thanksgiving Hymns (1QH; pp. 249-305).

Explain how the sect uses scripture.

What can we tell about the history of the sect from the pesharim (biblical commentaries)?

What can we tell about the history of the sect from the Thanksgiving Hymns?

If the central figure in many of the hymns is the Teacher of Righteousness, what can we tell about him?

What are the main themes of the hymns? What sort of piety to they represent?

12 (W) Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. Profession (scribe) and parties (Pharisees and Sadducees).

READ: Murphy, Chapter 6, “Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Sanhedrin”; Cohen, Chapter 5, “Sectarian and Normative”; Matthew. Download, print out, and bring to class “Texts on the Pharisees” from Blackboard.

Define each of these groups.

How did the groups relate to each other?

What is the relationship between these groups and the group at Qumran?

How did each of these groups affect Jewish society?

14 (F) Rewriting the Bible. Interpreting the Bible by rewriting it. The example of the Book of Jubilees from the second century B.C.E.

READ: Vanderkam on Jubilees (Blackboard). The Book of Jubilees, chapters 1-10, 23, 50, and sections of the Bible which Jubilees is rewriting. The Book of Jubilees can be found online (and on Blackboard): http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/ot/pseudo/jubilee.htm

What are the differences between the way Jubilees tells the stories and the way the Bible tells them?

What is the significance of the differences?

What are the main themes of the author of Jubilees?

What similarities and differences do you find between Jubilees and any other Jewish texts we have studied, in terms both of themes and of technique of interpretation?

17 (M) *** MIDTERM EXAM *********************

19 (W) Enter the Romans. Roman conquest of the eastern Mediterranean and the Jewish state; Jewish reaction.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 7, “Enter the Romans” (only pages 245-259); Psalms of Solomon (found online and on Blackboard): http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/ot/pseudo/psalms-solomon.htm).

Identify the main concerns of the Psalms of Solomon.

Describe the outlook of the psalms.

Are there concrete historical references in the psalms?

Describe the messianism of the psalms.

21 (F) EASTER VACATION

24 (M) EASTER VACATION

26 (W) More Jewish Reaction to Roman Conquest. Apocalyptic response.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 7 (only pages 259-279); Testament of Moses (also called Assumption of Moses; online (and Blackboard): http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/fmurphy/texts/assumptionofmoses.doc or http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/pseudepigrapha/assumptionofmoses.html); Similitudes of Enoch (1 Enoch 37-71; online and Blackboard – see above).

Explain the historical allusions in the Testament of Moses.

Explain the eschatological scenario in TMos 10.

Explain the relationship of TMos 9 to chapter 10.

Have you seen the sort of martyrdom described in TMos 10 before?

What is Enoch’s role in the Similitudes?

Describe the figure known as the Son of Man in Enoch. Is he related to other figures in the book? How?

What circumstances are addressed by the book?

28 (F) *** DISCUSSION SECTIONS *********************

READ: Hanson and Oakman, Chapter 3, “Pyramids of Power”

31 (M) Roman Rule. The Jews live under Roman rule.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 8, “Roman Rule”; John 4; Luke 9:51-55; 10:25-37; 17:11-19; please download, print out, and bring to class “Texts about the First Century in Palestine” (Blackboard)

What new problems did Roman occupation create for Jews in Palestine?

Describe Roman rule in Palestine, using specific examples.

Describe the prophets of the first century CE.

What role did messianism play during this period?

What was the role of the various Jewish groups during this time?

What was the place of the temple in the first century?

Who were the Samaritans and what was their relation with the Jews?

APRIL

2 (W) Jesus the Jew. “Facts” about Jesus; Jesus' teachings.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 9, “Jesus the Jew.”

What “facts” are relatively secure about the historical Jesus?

How does Jesus fit into his environment?

What difference does taking Jesus’ Jewishness seriously make in how we look at him?

Was Jesus an eschatological prophet?

4 (F) Jesus and the Torah; Reasons for Jesus’ Death. Locating Jesus within Judaism.

READ: Matthew.

Was Jesus Torah-observant?

How did Jesus relate to the religious leaders?

How did people react to Jesus?

7 (M)*** DISCUSSION SESSIONS *********************

READ: Cohen, Chapter 3, “The Jewish ‘Religion’: Practices and Beliefs.”

9 (W) The Revolt against Rome. Causes, conduct, and aftermath of the war; apocalyptic reaction.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 10, “Israel in Revolt”; 4 Ezra (This is 2 Esdras 3-14 in the Apocrypha in your Bible).

What were the reasons for the war?

Why were the Jews initially successful?

Why did the Jews lose to the Romans?

What role did religious belief play in the war?

Was the war a natural result of factors in first century Jewish Palestine?

What were Ezra’s protests against God?

How did the angel answer those protests?

Why is Ezra eventually persuaded by the angel?

In what ways is 4 Ezra apocalyptic?

What did 4 Ezra expect for the future?

Describe the messianic expectations of 4 Ezra.

11 (F) Beginnings of Rabbinic Judaism. Reconstitution of Judaism without temple and cult; formative Judaism; scribes and Pharisees.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 10 (only pp. 389-390); Jacob Neusner, “Tall Pillar” (Blackboard); Cohen, Chapter 7, “The Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism”; Excerpt from the Mishnah (Blackboard).

Who determined the course of Judaism after the war?

In what ways was postwar Judaism continuous with and discontinuous with prewar Judaism?

Describe formative Judaism. What were its main symbols, practices, beliefs?

Who was Yohanan ben Zakkai? What was his significance for Israel?

*** RESEARCH PAPER DUE ON MONDAY, APRIL 14^TH, AT 5:00 PM ***

Please submit the paper via email or the digital drop-box on Blackboard.

14 (M) *** DISCUSSION SESSIONS *********************

READ: Hanson and Oakman, Chapter 5, “Was Bigger Better?”

16 (W) Jesus as Apocalyptic Warrior: The Lion and the Lamb. Jesus in Christian eschatological expectation.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 11, the section on “The Book of Revelation”; Revelation (The Apocalypse).

What is Jesus’ job in Revelation and how does he accomplish it?

Is Jesus divine in this book?

What is the author asking his audience to do?

What is the book’s attitude to the Roman empire?

What concrete situations of the churches are visible in the messages of chapters 2-3?

In what ways is Revelation apocalyptic?

18 (F) *** DISCUSSION SESSIONS *********************

Video on the Book of Revelation. View this video before class. All are required to view this video. I have placed three copies of it on reserve on the second floor of Dinand. The video is two hours long and is a Frontline presentation. Plan well ahead so that you are not trying to see this at the last minute.

21 (M) The Palestinian Jewish Setting of the Gospels. A look at the narrative environment in Mark.

READ: Mark.

Is Mark true to what you know of first-century Judaism? How and how not?

Is Jesus seen in Mark in ways that make sense for first-century Judaism?

According to Mark, what is the relationship between the various groups, Jewish, Gentile, and Roman, in Palestine?

Is Jesus’s teaching Jewish, as far as you can tell?

23 (W) Early Christian Interpretations of Jesus: Matthew. Jesus the Teacher of Torah.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 11, “Jewish Foundations of New Testament Views of Christ” (as appropriate to the primary readings for this and following weeks); Matthew; Luke 1-2.

What are the main concerns of Matthew’s gospel?

Can you find similarities between the way Matthew treats scripture and the way Qumran does?

When you compare Matthew to Mark, can you draw some conclusions about how he interprets Mark? Are there similarities in his technique with the way Jubilees treats its sources?

Is Matthew’s Jesus more Jewish than Mark’s Jesus? How?

What familiar Jewish themes and motifs do you find in Luke?

What are the political and economic implications of Jesus’ coming for Luke?

Does Jesus come for the Jews or for the Gentiles, according to Luke?

25 (F) Jesus and the Cult: Hebrews. Jesus as High Priest and Mediator of a new covenant.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 11, section on “The Letter to the Hebrews”; Hebrews.

What has Jesus accomplished and how has he accomplished it, according to Hebrews?

In what sense is Jesus a priest?

Analyze in detail how priestly categories are applied to salvation in Hebrews.

How does Hebrews use scripture? What is its conception of scripture?

Analyze Hebrews’s concept of faith, of salvation, of pilgrimage.

28 (M) Christianity and Judaism Become Separate Religions.

READ: Murphy, Chapter 11, section on “Acts of the Apostles”; Acts of the Apostles.

What is the relationship of Christianity to Judaism according to Acts?

Why did the Christians begin the Gentile mission?

Who was responsible for the Gentile mission?

What were the issues at the Council of Jerusalem and how were they solved?

What is the christology of Acts?