Jesus Christ: His Mission and Ministry Chapter 3 Directed Reading Guide Tracing the Historical Life of Jesus Directions: Pages 60-61 One Solitary Life 1

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Jesus Christ: His Mission and Ministry Chapter 3 Directed Reading Guide

Tracing the Historical Life of Jesus Directions:

Pages 60-61 One Solitary Life

1. Why are the charges against Jesus' historical existence important to Christians?

Pages 61-65 Ancient Testimony about Jesus

2. True or False? No credible historians today deny the existence of Jesus.

3. There are numerous references to Jesus and early ___________________ outside the official ______________ of Sacred Scripture which date to the second __________________ and beyond. Most come from members of the Church which neutral observe would not consider ___________________ sources.

4. True or False? No ancient historians or writers mention Jesus.

Match the description on the left to the correct ancient biblical source on the right. Some are used more than once.

5. He sought the Roman Emperor for advice on how Christians should be investigated, tried, and punished.

6. This is a letter to a son questioning the advantage the Jews gained from executing their "wise King."

7. This source tried to refute the Christian belief that the earthquake and darkness associated with the death of Jesus was due to a miracle.

8. This ancient source inaccurately assumed that a Jewish disturbance in Rome in AD 49 was caused by Chrestus, a likely misspelling of the name Jesus.

9. He wrote a vicious attack on Christianity in which he claimed that Jesus was illegitimate and that his father was a Roman soldier.

10. This source refers to the execution of "James the Just" who is called the brother of Jesus.

11. This source chronicles how the Emperor Nero blamed the great fire in Rome on the Christians, which gave him an excuse to persecute them.

12. He was a Greek satirist who mocked Christian faith including the belief in the resurrection after death.

13. This source mentions a certain Yeshu who practiced magic and led Israel astray from true Jewish worship.

14. This source remarks on the rapid spread of Christianity.

15. This source likely contains additions by a Christian copyist.

Pages 66-77 The Gospels and the Historical Jesus

16. The _________________ present a special kind of __________________, beautifully written _____________

 summaries that tell us how God was active in the Person of his ____________, Jesus.

Tacitus

Suetonius

Pliny the Younger Josephus

Thallus

Mara bar Serapion Lucian

Celsus

Babylonian Talmud

17. What is the primary aim of the Gospels?

18. St. ____________ is the evangelist who focused on _____________, the Mother of Jesus, told of the __________________ of the boy Jesus, and shared the Parable of the ________________________ and the story of the rich man and poor ___________________.

19. Luke himself was a ________________ and he often focused on the faith of Gentiles (_________________), women, and the ____________. In fact, his Gospel is often called "the Gospel of the __________. He wishes to show that God's ____________________ was open to _________.

20. True or False? Luke, who also authored the Acts of the Apostles, was a companion of St. Peter.

21. Jesus lives at the ___________________ of the Father, and sent his Spirit to ______________ in us and form us as a _________________ community. The _________________________ is the central saving act and fact of Jesus' life story.

22. What are the three stages involved in writing the Gospels?

23. What are three possible surnames of Jesus?

24. After ____________________ the ministry of Jesus came to an end. He was _________________ by the Roman _______________ Pontius Pilate in cooperation with some _______________________ who saw Jesus as a threat.

25. When did the disciples begin to proclaim to the world the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

26. True or False? The early Christians remained pious Jews.

27. What did the early Christians believe about Jesus?

28. The ________________ was a preaching style that was particularly appropriate for _____________________ The Apostles preached about ______________ referring often to a basic __________________ which recapped the works, teachings, Death, Resurrection, and _____________________ of Jesus.

29. The _______________, or essential "______________" about Jesus Christ, involved further __________________ instruction for those who had already accepted Jesus. These __________________ needed further knowledge about how to live a more ______________________ life.

30. ________________ was another way they ___________________ the Good News about Jesus. The celebration of the ____________________ helped to shape many of the Jesus stories that the Church _________________, and recalled important events, teachings, and _________________.

31. True or False? The early Christian preachers and teachers' primary interest was to provide precise detail about the key events, deeds, and sayings of Jesus.

32. True or False? The earliest New Testament writings are the letters of St. Paul

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33. Why did it take so many years for the early Christians to put handwriting down?

34. What are three major reasons the oral preaching and teaching about Jesus had to be committed to writing?

35. True or False? The first generation of Christians believed Jesus would come back "to judge the living and the dead" sometime in their lifetimes.

36. Sometimes, after the Apostles __________________ in many communities, someone would come along and start to ________________ their message. To combat __________________ teachings, early Christians needed an objective _______________________ of their beliefs.

37. What were the three major criteria used to choose the four Gospels as part of the New Testament canon?

38. What were the apocryphal gospels?

39. What is an example of a recently discovered work that clearly opposed what the Apostles taught or believed?

40. _________________ believed that Jesus shared _________________________ or knowledge with only a few people, and that having this knowledge assured a person of Salvation. It distrusted ______________ creation and taught that the ______________________ was evil.

41. What is an example of a Gnostic gospel?

42. True or False? There is only one Gospel, the Person of Jesus Christ.

43. Why are the four Gospels the most important part of the New Testament canon?

44. Though the four Gospels were written for four different ____________________, they all shared the same ______________________ about Jesus. The ____________________ of each Gospel differed because different people were composing them at different ______________ and in different _______________.

45. True or False? All four Gospels present the Good News of Jesus in the same way.

46. What are the three Synoptic Gospels?

47. Matthew and Luke used _____________________ as their primary source, which is why so much of his Gospel appears in theirs. They also shared a common source of ___________________ of Jesus as well as their own special ___________________ as a third source.

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48. Briefly identify each of these: •Q-

•M- •L-

Pages 77-81 The Reliability of the Gospels

Match the description on the left to the description on the left to the correct form of biblical criticism on the right.

49. Studies how each author edited his material for his particular audience

50. Examines different literary forms used in the Gospels

51. Tries to discover what the evangelists really wanted to say and to determine the probability that what the Gospels report about Jesus can indeed be traced directly back to him

52. Tries to determine what sources the Gospel writers used to compose their works

53. compares the text to various early manuscripts of biblical texts

54. True or False? If Jesus said something unique and original then a strong case can be made that it probably came directly from him alone.

55. True or False? When the Jews of our Lord's day addressed a prayer to God, they used terms of great respect like Abba, which means "Daddy."

56. What is the meaning of the Hebrew word "Amen?"

57. True or False? Jesus' parables were very unique as there is nothing to be compared with them whether in the entire intertestamental literature of Judaism, the Essene writings, in Paul, or in Rabbinic literature.

58. The _____________ of Jesus found in the Gospels have an internal ____________________ meaning there are no contradictions in the different ________________ of Jesus, the miracles stories, or the ___________________ on moral living.

59. What remarkable patterns of speech have scholars found in the words of Jesus when they translating it from its original Aramaic?

Page 82 The Church and Martyrs

60. The existence of the _______________________ makes sense because Jesus Christ __________________ it on St.

Peter and the Apostles. The two-thousand-year-old ________________ of Catholicism can make sense only when we see that Jesus founded the Church and sent his _______________________ to sustain it.

61. The earliest ________________ of Jesus were so convinced about Jesus that they ______________ proclaimed his story. They, along with ___________________ of other early Christians, gave up ___________________ while proclaiming the message Jesus left them.

Source criticism Form criticism Redaction criticism Textual criticism Historical Criticism