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 Gospels
David Noel Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary (6 vols)
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 Society 27 (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 Quarterly 62 (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 Background article on Herodian Dynasty. Also

consult Anchor Bible Dictionary article 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:
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)
98–120.
 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
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., Israel’s Messiah in the Bible and the 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.