Theology - Unit 1 Study Guide

Romans - Occupiers of Palestine during Jesus’ time; governors ruled and collected taxes from the people

Pharisees - “Separated ones;” experts in Jewish Law who took following the Law very seriously, sometimes legalistically (often portrayed as hypocrites in the New Testament, viewing themselves as better than others)

Sadducees - Priests and aristocrats who cared for the Temple and oversaw worship in Jerusalem (many on the Sanhedrin)

Essenes - Apocalyptic Jewish group living out in the desert community in Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls came from this group); did not marry

Zealots - Jews who believed that God would send a messiah who would overthrow Roman occupiers by force

Women - Thought of as property of men at the time, but Jesus treated them with respect, speaking with them in public, featuring them positively in his teachings and even calling them to play important roles in his ministry

Anawim - “Those who are bowed down;” Widows, orphans, aliens, the poor. Disregarded and kept out of Jewish social and religious life by most, but served, respected and made a priority by Jesus.

Samaritans - Descendants of a mixed population of Israelites who survived the Assyrian deportations and various pagan settlers imported after the northern kingdom fell. They worshipped YHWH on Mount Gerizim and considered only the Pentateuch to be divinely inspired.

Gospel is Good News Because - Jesus Christ himself is the Gospel, his message is the Gospel, and the 4 written accounts of his Life, Death, Ressurection and Ascension in the New Testament are Gospels.

3 stages of the formation of the Gospel - The time of Jesus’ own life, The years when the Apostles and early disciples of Jesus orally preached the Good News, The actual writing of the Gospels.

The kerygma - preaching to unbelievers that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Didache - a Greek word that means “teaching”. Also known as “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”.

The liturgy - (comes from Latin word, liturgia), or Christian worship

Writers began to write between - 50 A.D. - 120 A.D.

Why wait so many years before writing - The end of the world was not coming as quickly as anticipated, Some people were distorting the true Gospel and Christians needed more instruction.

Mark - 65-75, Gentile Christian (not Jewish)/ Gentile Christian audience, Portrayal of Jesus = “The Suffering Servant”, Focus on Jesus’ humanity and deeds more than words

Matthew - 80s, Jewish background/Jewish Christian audience

Portrayal of Jesus = Teacher, the New Moses; Focus on Jesus as the fulfillment/answer to the OT prophecies

Luke - 80s, Gentile Christian/Greek Gentile and Jewish Christian audience Focus is on Jesus’ compassion and forgiveness; a savior, healer, friend to the outcasts

John - 90-100, All Christians + Jewish Christians audience

Portrayal of Jesus = God in the flesh Focus is on the Divine Word of God

Q - stands for “Quelle” which means “source” in German. Document that scholars believed contained jesus's sayings. Common source between Matthew and Luke, not Mark

Nativity - the story of the Savior’s birth in Bethlehem found in Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels.

Jesus - the name comes from the Hebrew word “Yehoshua” (Joshua), meaning “God saves,” or simply “Savior”.

Emmanuel - a name for Jesus that means “God is with us.” It is foretold in the Old Testament (Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 8:8) and recounted to Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, in a dream.

Epiphany - commemorates Jesus’ manifestation as Savior of the world when the Magi visit the Holy Family.