1. Jesus and the Gospel of Mark

2. Unit on Christianity Content: Focus on Jesus  Foundational for all forms of Christianity  Informed by historical scholarship Comparing/understanding religion  Sacred communities  Sacramental form of sacred appearance

3. Gospels Purpose Date: written 30-60 yrs after Jesus Process Canonical vs. noncanonical

4. Mark’s context Earliest of the four canonical gospels  Written ca. 66-70 Focus: time of great suffering Relation to Judaism

5. Context of Jesus Dates  born ca. 4 BCE  died ca. 30 CE  Temple destroyed 70 CE Jews in Palestine under Roman occupation  have been under different foreign rulers for most of the last 600 years Diverse groups of Jews  Pharisees  Sadduccees  Essenes  Zealots

6. Landscape of the Essenes