Class Business:

1
Class Business

• Midterms and class notebooks
• Exegesis paper instructions
• How to use PHOC background info and corrective
• 4. Proposed revision to Final Paper/Exam.

2
Who is Jesus? Possible Approaches1. Prefer
the Christ of Faith to the Jesus of
History2. Prefer the Jesus of History to the
Christ of Faith3. Refuse to concede that the
two are fundamentally opposed.
3
Prefer the Christ of Faith to the Jesus of
History

• Gospel narratives only useful because they give a
  set of timeless principles about Jesus.
• The various quests for the historical Jesus
  have had as their intent the dismantling of the
  Christian faith.
• If Jesus was the Son of God, its inappropriate
  to understand him as socially- and
  historically-located.

4
Prefer the Jesus of History to the Christ of
Faith

• Whatever Christians confess about Jesus is
  suspect, because it is confessional and biased.
  We must rule out supernatural explanation in
  order to be objective.
• Its possible -- through science, preference for
  non-canonical gospels, etc. -- to strip away all
  of these biases arrive at a historical Jesus.
• If Jesus was socially- and historically-located,
  its inappropriate to think of him as the Son of
  God.

5
Refuse to concede that the two are opposed

• Christians proclaim that the Christ of faith is
  fully human, and humans are historically-located
  .
• The testimony of Jesus followers provide the
  best means of access to who Jesus was.
• The Jesus of History often ends up mirroring
  the values of the historian.

6
Jesus, the First-Century Palestinian Jew
7

• What he did and what he did not do disclose
  the particular kind of Jew he was and what he
  sought to achieve as a Jew. They were
  addressed to his fellow Jews as part of his
  mission to Jews, a mission that fused teaching,
  healing and exorcism and behavior into what
  Meier aptly called an atypical configuration.
• Leander Keck
• Who Is Jesus? History in Perfect Tense.
  (Minneapolis Fortress, 2000) 47.

8
Atypical configuration

• In the gospel accounts, we see common elements of
  the world of first-century Judaism in the Roman
  empire.
• The elements, though common, are put together in
  a unique way in Jesus, as compared to other
  historical figures from the time.
• The four gospel writers bring out different
  elements of this complex figure.

9
Jews in First-Century Palestine

• Political Status Rome was now the foreign
  imperial power, following a brief episode of
  Jewish national sovereignty after the Maccabean
  revolt against the Greeks in 168BC. Roman
  prefects were regional administrators, appointed
  by the emperor.

10

• Status of Temple
• Herod the Great of Rome had expanded and largely
  rebuilt the Temple complex in 19 BC.
• Jewish nationalists - zealots - found this
  outrageous and offensive.
• In AD 70, following Jewish revolt, the Temple was
  destroyed. (This did not happen during Jesus
  lifetime, but it did happen during many NT
  authors lifetimes.)

11

• Religious in-fighting within Judaism
• Sadducees -- priestly party, connected with
  Temple. Wealthy and powerful.
• Pharisees developed the oral Torah. Not
  politically powerful associated with synagogue.
• Essenes - Not mentioned in NT, but by the
  historian Josephus. Ascetic sect that shared
  everything in common and considered Temple
  defiled.. (Dead Sea Scrolls).

12

• 4. Messianic Expectations
• Messiah as political savior would overthrow
  foreign rulers.
• Messiah as heavenly messenger would usher in a
  new, glorious age.
• Some Jews thought that only those alive at the
  messiahs arrival would enjoy the new age.
• Others believed that all the faithful departed
  would be resurrected so they could enjoy it too.

13
Gospel of Mark

• Earliest gospel What is a gospel?
• Marks first verse The beginning of the gospel
  of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
• euaggelion gospel, good news, good
  tidings.
• Used in the Roman emperor cult of the
  pre-Christian era official statement of good
  tidings.
• Has come to mean a kind of Christian text, but
  did not mean that originally.

14
Historical facts about Mark

• Widely regarded as the earliest of the synoptic
  gospels. Matthew and Luke use Mark.
• No reliable historical information about Marks
  identity/name/biography.
• Probably wrote in Rome, just before or just after
  the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, during
  Jewish revolt of 66-73.

15
Features of Mark

• Repeated use of euthys -- immediately.
• Marks messianic secret.
• Emphasis upon the passion and death of Jesus.
  (look at next time)
• Overall, a stark, somber, enigmatic tone.

16
Marks Messianic Secret

• The choice, made by the author of Mark, to
  portray Jesus as hiding his identity as the Son
  of God, until that identity is made apparent in
  Jesus death on the cross.

17
Examples of the Messianic Secret

• First instance in Mark 134 -- Jesus forbids the
  demons to speak because they knew him.
• Mark 829-30 And he asked them, But who do you
  say that I am? Peter said to him in reply, You
  are the Messiah. Then he warned them not to tell
  anyone about him.
• Puzzlement and bewilderment throughout as to
  Jesus identity

18
Effect of Messianic Secret

• Introduces dramatic irony into the narrative. We
  know from Marks opening - the gospel of Jesus
  Christ, the Son of God - who Jesus is, but none
  of the characters do until the centurions
  confession at the cross.
• Jesus identity as the Son of God is manifested
  in the crucifixion. Close harmony in meaning
  between Son of God and Crucified One.