NBST 515 Exam 2

Josephus - Jewish Antiquities - The first-century non-canonical author who made two references to Jesus. Also be sure to know the name of the work that contains these references. Babylonian Talmud - "He then went and raised Jesus incantation" - Jewish source that includes a reference to Jesus' resurrection. Did not - just attributed them to sorcery - Whether or not opponents of Christianity during the second century typically denied that Jesus performed miracles. Tacitus - Annals - Roman historian who noted that Jesus was executed during the reign of Tiberius by Pontius Pilate. Suetonius - Roman historian who erroneously believed that Jesus was still alive and created unrest at the time the Jews were expelled from Rome in 49 A.D. Pliny the Younger - Roman ruler who noted that Christians gathered before dawn on a particular day to chant hymns "to Christ as to a god" and to partake of a meal together. Thallus - Roman writer who made references to the darkness that occurred at the time of Jesus' death. Lucian of Samosata - Roman satirist who referred to Jesus' death, His Palestinian origin, and His founding of a new faith. Miracles did not occur and Biblical accounts needed to be stripped of miracles in order to be more "reasonable". - How advocates of the first quest for the historical Jesus viewed miracles and the veracity of the Biblical accounts about Jesus. Aim of source criticism - To identify the historic Jesus, though it also serves for the purpose of exegesis - quest to determine the literary relationship amongst texts (most often the Gospels). R. Bultmann - Scholar who emphasized the importance of demythologizing the early church's stories about Jesus in order to isolate the kernel of truth they contained for the Christian faith.Stated that a Jesus divorced from history could be applied to any agenda - Jesus needed to be connected to early Christianity, thus a higher emphasis was placed on historical background. - How advocates of the Second Quest challenged the prevailing assumptions of the so-called Abandoned Quest. Jesus Seminar - Name of the controversial group that is a modern manifestation of the second quest for the historical Jesus. Desire to place Jesus in the context of first-century, Second Temple Judaism, locate him as an actual historical figure. - Key objective of the Third Quest. Date of beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist - in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius. - Only precise date explicitly mentioned in the Gospels and which Gospel includes this information. Herod the Great - Death of which ruler provides a helpful clue about the year in which Jesus was born? The 46 years refers to how many years following the completion of the temple this conversation took place. Therefore, John 2:20 and the start of Jesus' ministry occurred in AD 29ish. - Manner in which the authors believe John 2:20 should be understood and the relevance of the passage for the dating of Jesus' ministry. John - 3 times. Synoptics - 1 time. All 3 visits of John were Passover visits. - Number of times the Gospel of John and the Synoptics record Jesus visiting Jerusalem during his ministry. Gospel of Thomas - Non-canonical Gospel which members of the Jesus Seminar have regarded as a fifth Gospel. De Spinoza - Influential Jewish philosopher who published the important work "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus" and was known for his rejection of the possibility of miracles.