NT World: Political Background

Vocabulary flashcards covering the NT World Political Background lecture notes, including distance problems, steps in the interpretive journey, and Gospel examples.

Five Problems with Distance

1.) Time, 2.) Cultures - Major / Minor Cultures, 3.) Geography - NT World, 4.) Language - Greek, 5.) History - We live in a very different time in history.

Grasping the text in their town

The first step of an interpretive journey.

Measuring the width of the river to cross

The second step of an interpretive journey: Note the differences standing on the passage.

Crossing the principalizing bridge

The third step of an interpretive journey: Identifying what key similarities exist between the context of the original readers and us.

Grasping the text in our own town

The fourth step of an interpretive journey: How do we interpret this context and what it requires of us.

Babylonian period

606 - 539 temple and Jerusalem destroyed 587/586 and many led into exile

Babylonian Period Identity Crisis

Monarchy Dissolved

Temple Destroyed

Taken from promised land

Results of Exile

Focus on the moral dimension of God’s love

Established the synagogue

Renunciation of Idolatry

Language change to Aramaic

Persian Period

539-331 Persians defeated the Babylonians

SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD BEGINS

First Bill of Human Rights

Sirus Cylinder

Results of Persian Empire

Cyrus the great allowed Jesus to return home

Ezra 1:1-4

Rebuilding Jerusalem

Retaining Language

Completion of OT

Divisions between purist (Pharisees) and those left behind (Samaritans)

Greek Period

539-331 BC

331 BC-320

Conquests of Alexander the Great

320-198 BC

The Ptolemaic Period

198-167 BC

The selected or Syrian period

Greek Period Accomplishments

Conquered the Persians in only 4 years

Expanded his empire as far as the Indus River delta

Aggressive Hellenazation

Greek became the language of Change

The most important influence of Alexander the Great for New Testament background is

His Initiation and promotion of Hellenization

The desecration of the Temple, or “abomination of desolation,” that prompted the Maccabean revolt was committed by

Antiochus IV “Epiphanes”

The victory of the Maccabees over their Syrian oppressors is celebrated in the Jewish Feast of

Hanukkah, Booths

The aristocratic group which arose from the supporters of the Hasmonean dynasty was the

Sadducees

The Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament is called the

Septuagint.

The ___ ___, which dominated Palestine from 323-198 BC, was centered in Egypt.

Ptolemaic Kingdom

The man nicknamed “Maccabeus” who became leader of the Maccabean revolt after the death of his father Mattathaias was

John Hycanus

The Seleucid period is primarily know for the

tolerance shown to Jewish culture and religion

Greek became the language of trade and government in Palestine

Following the conquests of Alexander the Great

Herod was known as “the Great” primarily because:

He was a great builder

Herod’s son ____ ruled in Judea after him but was replaced by Roman governors because of misrule

Archelaus

The second Jewish revolt of AD 132 was led by

Simon bar Koseba

During the Jewish War, Zealots held out against the Romans until AD 73 in the mountain fortress of

Masada

The Roman emperor who ruled during Jesus’ public ministry was

Tiberius

The son of Herod who executed John the Baptist was

Herod Agrippa

Herod the Great, son of Antipater, who ruled Palestine for the Romans, was ___ by ethnicity

Idumean (or Edomite)

The Second Temple was destroyed by the ___ in AD __

Romans, 70

Most people in Israel were members of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, or the Herodians

False

In the first century many Jewish temples were scattered throughout the Roman world

False

The high priest during Jesus’ ministry was

Caiaphas

The Zealots were a part of the group that

held out against the Romans at Masada

The Pharisees dominated the Sanhedrin in Jesus’ day

False

The ___ were not given an allotment in the land but served instead as assistants to the priests

Levites

The ___ arose from the supporters of the Hasmonean priesthood

Sadducees

The ___ were the group that sought to meticulously keep the Law, both oral and written.

Pharisees

The __ were “lawyers,” or experts in the Mosaic Law

Scribes

The __ are Aramaic paraphrases of the Hebrew Scripture

Targums

Apocalyptic literature first arose as a result of the “end times” preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus

False

The __, first discovered in 1947, were probably the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century

Dead Sea Scrolls

The __ is included as part of the Roman Catholic Bible

Apocypha

Two important historians, who lived close to the time of Jesus were:

Philo and Josephus

The apocalyptic movement in Judaism emphasized that

God would soon intervene supernaturally on earth to save his people

The most common and widespread messianic hope among first century Jews was for a

Davidic Messiah

Most scholars consider this group to have established the Qumran community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls

Essenes

The oldest part of the Talmud, composed of rabbinic rulings on issues of Torah applications, was put into written form around AD.200

Mishnah

This collection of intertestamental literature, composed somewhat later than the Apocrypha, was written under assumed names

Pseudepigrapha

__ were generally arranged by parents in first-century culture

Marriages

__ was not rare in Judaism and was not forbidden in the Old Testament law

Divorce

What famous rabbi was strict, and had a more restricted view of divorce

Shammai

__ was very common in the Roman world, and as much as a third of the population were _.

Slaves

Most people in the roman empire were not in the __

middle class

The most important agricultural products of first-century Israel were.

Grapes and Olives

A walking journey from Galilee to Jerusalem took about

five days

According to Strauss, wealth and fame were among the most influential values in the Mediterranean culture of the first century

False, that is current, it was honor and shame

The first-century people of the Middle East were more __ than modern Western society

Group Oriented

__ was more rigid in the ancient Mediterranean world than in modern Western society, and people did not commonly move up and down the _ ladder

Social Status

Families in the Greco-Roman world of the first century were generally

Patriarchal

____ is the practice of a benefactor providing favors to a client of lower status

Patronage