1. Announcements Wednesday, March 8th Graded papers returned
Discussion of final project details/grading
SPRING BREAK IS NEXT WEEK! WOOHOO!

2. Canonization + The Gospels
RELS 3300: Early Christianity
Monday March 6, 2017

3. Canonization of the Bible: A Brief Timeline
1446 BCE: The Pentateuch
425 BCE: Last book of the Old Testament
250 BCE: Old Testament translated into Greek
30 CE: Jesus dies
50 CE: Paul’s letters begin
60-90 CE: The Gospels and others
367 CE: Athanasius’ Festal Letter
382 CE: Latin Vulgate
397 CE: Council of Carthage
405 CE : Pope Innocent + 27 book New Testament

4. Approaches to Studying the Bible
An Introduction to the Bible: A Journey into Three Worlds (Hauer + Young)
Literary world: the world of the text itself, excluding outside influences.
Historical world: the events and situations that form contexts for understanding the Bible as it was being written and interpreted.
Contemporary world: sensitivity to the impact of the Bible on the world today.

5. The Gospels: The Synoptic Texts + John
Synoptic gospels: Mark, Matthew, + Luke
Mark- oldest + shortest, approx. 70 CE
Matthew + Luke- approx CE
Based partially on Mark (revision/expansion?)
John- approx. 90 CE
Marked differences from the others
Not biographies of Jesus; theology presented as a narrative.
Christology- investigating the meaning and significance of Jesus
Debates
Agendas, biases
Conversion, instruction, regulation
What Christians believed about Jesus approx years after his death

6. Biographies: Ancient vs. Modern
In your project groups, create a chart in which you compare and contrast the key features and structure of ancient vs. modern biographies. (You may use your textbook.)

7. The Gospels As Biographies?
Ancient biography- characteristics?
A kind of sub-genre
Ancient biography
Religious
Distinctive in Christian character
Focus on the death of Jesus- why?

8. The Biography of a Religious Leader (Ancient)
Main figure was an important religious leader
All important characterization at the beginning of the narrative
Actions and reactions to reaffirm characterization
Miraculous beginning and ending to life
Divinely inspired teachings
Supernatural acts

9. Introducing the “Synoptic Problem”
Mark, Matthew, and Luke tell similar stories about Jesus, BUT there are marked differences between them.
The problem of how to explain both the similarities and the differences between the synoptic gospels is called the “synoptic problem”.

10. Looking forward… The Synoptic Problem (insert dramatic sound effect)
Discussion of final projects- new information, and deadline reminders.
Spring break!