assignment guide for thbbx 220 (arts students)

8/7/2019 Assignment Guide for THBBX 220 (Arts Students)

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Assignment Guide for THBBX 220 (Arts)Assignment 1: Creative Essay or

Research Essay (Background and Themes)

Date Due Fri 15th

April

Word Length: 1500 words

Double-spaced and typed. You should follow the normal conventions with regard to

footnotes (see Style Manual or Resources for Budding Theologians) and include an

alphabetical bibliography.

For the marking criteria, please see handout Marking Scheme for Research Essays

Pick ONE option either Creative Essay or Research Essay

Creative Essay

Examine three major Jesus films (Passion of the Christ, Greatest Story Ever Told,

Godspell, etc) and critically compare them to the portraits of Jesus we have in the

Gospels.

Bibliography

Larry J. Kreitzer, Gospel images in fiction and film (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic,

2002)

J. Cheryl Exum (ed.), The Bible in film - the Bible and film (Leiden: Brill, 2006)

Background Essay

For general information related to background, you might like to start with the

following works: These books may or may not include specific information related to

your topics.

Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds to Early Christianity, 2nd edn

J. Julius Scott, Jr., Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament

Helmut Koester, Introduction to the New Testament Vol 1: History, Culture, and

Religion of the Hellenistic Age

Calvin J. Roetzel, The World that Shaped the New Testament

John E. Stambaugh, The New Testament in its Social Environment

John E. Stambaugh and David Balch, The Social World of the First Christians

Craig A. Evans and Stanley E. Porter, Dictionary of New Testament Background

Joel Green, et al., Dictionary of Jesus and the GospelsDavid Noel Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary(6 vols)


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Consultation of the indexes of major Historical Jesus works may also assist. See

J.D.G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered

J.P. Meier, A Marginal Jew (4 vols.)

N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God

Craig Keener, The Historical Jesus of the Gospels

Question 1

What are the historical problems that surround Luke 2:1-5? To what degree have

evangelicals provided satisfying answers to these problems?

Examine commentaries on Luke 2:1-5, in particular those by I.H. Marshall, D. Bock, J.

Fitzmyer and J. Green (it should be noted that Marshall, Bock and Green are all

evangelical commentators).

See the article on Birth of Jesus in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels.

See also:

Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah (New York: Doubleday, 1977).

P.W. Barnett, Apographe and apographesthai in Luke 2:1-5, Expository Times 85

(1973): 377-380.

Wayne Brindle, The Census and Quirinius: Luke 2:2, Journal of the Evangelical

Theological Society27 (1984): 43-52 available online at

http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/27/27-1/27-1-pp043-052_JETS.pdf

Mark D. Smith, Of Jesus and Quirinius, Catholic Biblical Quarterly62 (2000): 278-

293.

Question 2

Assess the benefits and deficits of the reign of King Herod the Great. How is he

presented in the gospel of Matthew and is the portrait accurate?

See Dictionary of New Testament Backgroundarticle on Herodian Dynasty. Also

consult Anchor Bible Dictionaryarticle on Herod the Great or Herodian Dynasty.

Examine commentaries on the gospel of Matthew 2:1-12, to see if they say anything

on Herod (remember to research Herod the Great, not Herod Antipas or Herod

Agrippa, etc). Consider also:


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Paul W. Barnett, Jesus and the Rise of Early Christianity(Downers Grove:

InterVarsity, 1999), 67-89

Peter Richardson, Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans (Minneapolis:

Fortress Press, 1999).

Byron R. McCane. "Simply Irresistible: Augustus, Herod, and the Empire." Journal of

Biblical Literature 127 (2008): 725-735.

M. Grant, Herod the Great(New York: American Heritage, 1971)

R.T. France, Herod and the Children of Bethlehem, Novum Testamentum 21 (1979)

98120.


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Question 3

Compare and contrast Jesus practice of table-fellowship with the meal practices of

Judaism between the Testaments.

See the article by S.S. Bartchy on Table-Fellowship in Dictionary of Jesus and the

Gospels. See also the article on Table-Fellowship in the Anchor Bible Dictionary.

Good commentaries should also be consulted for their indexes on the topic of

table-fellowship or meals

Joachim Jeremias, New Testament Theology: Volume One: The Proclamation of Jesus

(London: SCM, 1971), 108-121.

James D.G. Dunn, Jesus, table-fellowship, and Qumran. in J.H. Charlesworth (ed.),

Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 254-272.

James D.G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 599-605.

Craig Keener, The Historical Jesus of the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009),

208-211 (make sure you read his footnotes at the back as well)

Craig L. Blomberg, Contagious Holiness: Jesus Meals with Sinners (Leicester: Apollos,

2005), 65-96 (not at Wesley see lecturer)

Craig L. Blomberg, Jesus, sinners, and table fellowship Bulletin for Biblical Research

19 (2009): 35-62 (not at Wesley)

Jerome Neyrey, Meals, Food, and Table Fellowship, in The Social

Sciences and New Testament Interpretation (ed. Richard Rohrbaugh; Peabody:

Hendrickson, 1996), 159-182.

Kathleen Corley, Private Women, Public Meals: Social Conflict in the Synoptic

Tradition (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1993) (in particular, pp.24-82).

Question 4

Assess the similarities and differences between the messianic hopes of Qumran and

the Gospels.

Check out articles on Messiah in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels and in the

Anchor Bible Dictionary. To get a sense of the Gospels presentation of Jesus as

Messiah, use the index on Messiah or Christ in your Blomberg textbook; or

Strauss, Four Gospels, One Jesus; or Robert H. Stein, Jesus the Messiah; or Darrell

Bock, Studying the Historical Jesus; or Craig Keener, The Historical Jesus of the


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Gospels. This is NOT meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a place to make a

start.

For Qumran, as a starting point, see:

L.H. Schiffman, Messianic Figures and Ideas in the Qumran Scrolls, in J.H.

Charlesworth, The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity

(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 116-129.

Craig A. Evans, The Messiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls, in R. Hess and M. Daniel

Carroll R., Israels Messiah in the Bible andthe Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids: Baker

Academic, 2003), 85-102.

Joseph Fitzmyer, The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins (Grand Rapids:

Eerdmans, 2000), 73-110.

J. Julius Scott, Jr., Jewish Backgrounds to the New Testament(Grand Rapids: Baker,

2003), 307-324

Al Wolters, The Messiah in the Qumran Documents, in Stanley Porter (ed.), The

Messiah in the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 75-89.

Assignment 2 Exam

Length: 1.5 hours

Due Date: 30 May 2011

Format:

You will be asked to pick a series of questions from a larger group. This exam will test

your knowledge of the lecture material and the reading of the textbook by

Blomberg.