Literature and People Surrounding the New Testament and Jesus

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering the literary context, historical manuscripts, Greek terms, and key socio-religious groups surrounding Jesus and the New Testament.

Dead Sea Scrolls

Discovered at Qumran in 1947 by Bedouin shepherds, these represent the most important 20th-century biblical discovery and provide the oldest Old Testament texts existing during the time of Jesus (roughly 200 BCE to 68 AD), consisting of 12 complete scrolls, over 100,000 fragments, and only about one-quarter Bible-related material.

Cave 4

A cave at Qumran where over 400 manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.

Temple Scroll

The longest and one of the best-preserved Dead Sea Scrolls, measuring over 8 meters (27 ft) long; retrieved in 1967 from an antiquities dealer in Bethlehem who hid its main body in a shoebox under floor tiles and damaged fragments in a cigar box for over 60 years.

Qumran Community

A Jewish social group who rejected the Jerusalem temple, isolated themselves claiming they had the right way to be Jewish, authored the Dead Sea Scrolls, and anticipated two Messiahs: a Davidic/Royal messiah and an Aaronic/priestly messiah.

Codex Leningradensis

The oldest complete Hebrew Bible surviving today, dated to AD 1008.

Targums

Translations of Hebrew Old Testament texts into Aramaic.

OT Apocrypha

Deuterocanonical writings that are not quoted in the New Testament.

OT Pseudographia

Old Testament books that were not canonized by the Jewish community.

Philo of Alexandria

An Egyptian Jew (20 BC–AD 45) who applied the Greek allegorical method to the Old Testament, utilizing Platonic metaphysics of the soul, Stoic metaphysics, and a doctrine of an intermediary between Creator and creature.

Nag Hammadi

A collection of Gnostic texts discovered in 1945 reflecting Neo-Platonism, including The Secret Book of John and The Gospel of Thomas, which depict Jesus solely as a Revealer rather than a savior.

Josephus

A Pharisee historian (AD 35–100) who authored The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews.

Talmud

A compilation of Rabbinic texts completed between AD 200–500 that represents 500 years of Jewish writing, consisting of the Mishnah and the Gemara.

Mishnah

Rabbinic text written around AD 200 containing scribal interpretations of the Torah used during Jesus' time and the century following, aiming to interpret Old Testament rules for living.

Gemara

Rabbinic commentary compiled around AD 500 that serves as an interpretation of the Mishnah.

Am Ha’aretz

A Hebrew phrase meaning 'the people of the land,' referring to common peasants, the social group to which Jesus belonged.

Magi

Non-Jewish figures, likely from Babylon, derived from the Greek word μάγος (magos); associated with Epiphany on January 6, celebrating the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.

ἁμαρτωλός (Hamartōlos)

The Greek word for sinner; in Jesus' era, it applied to moral violations as well as non-moral conditions outside one's control, such as carrying a disease or working on the Sabbath.

ὑποκριτής (Hypocritēs)

The Greek word for hypocrite, denoting 'judging on the side,' such as condemning others as sinners for non-moral reasons.

Tax Collectors

Individuals permitted to levy taxes on behalf of the Roman authorities, widely despised by Jewish contemporaries.

Elders

Older Jewish leaders who governed their local villages, functioned as local courts of law, upheld conservative local Jewish political traditions, and whose interpretations Jesus frequently challenged.

Herodians

Partisans who sought personal advantage by flattering and aligning themselves with Herod and his family dynasty.

Pharisees

The most frequent group in the New Testament, originating during the Maccabean revolt from the Hasidic movement; they separated themselves to pursue universal obedience to the Torah in everyday life, often worked trades (such as Paul as a tentmaker), and were the group Jesus was most like.

Sadducees

A powerful Jewish faction emerging from the Hasidic movement who held political influence, owned land, served as priests, operated the temple, and believed God was confined to a building.

Scribes

Literate individuals originally tasked with copying and interpreting the Torah for local villages, who also came to manage village records such as births, deaths, marriages, and divorces by the time of Jesus and Paul.

Chief Priests

High-ranking temple officials, likely Sadducees, who established temple rules and administered the sacrificial system; the chief priest condemned Jesus.

Samaritans

A group of Jewish descent who intermarried with other foreign cultures, so intensely rejected by mainstream Jews that travelers routinely bypassed their territory, an avoidance custom Jesus broke.