Deck 4: The Traditions of Jesus in Their Greco-Roman Context

Question 1

Discuss how stories about Jesus spread throughout the Empire and how the retelling of Jesus traditions worked to convert people. What effect did this storytelling have on the traditions about Jesus?

Answer 1

Students should discuss the nature of oral traditions: Why were stories about Jesus told? Who told stories and to whom? How did these stories function in the process of conversion? Were Christians most interested in preserving Jesus' exact words or did they invent stories as they passed them along? In addition, students could discuss the transition from oral to written traditions about Jesus.

Question 2

Using a specific example from the New Testament Gospels, discuss the evidence that Christians changed stories about Jesus. Why might early Christians have changed and created traditions about Jesus?

Answer 2

Because students (presumably) have not read the Gospels yet, they might choose to discuss the example from the textbook: the day of Jesus' death in the Gospels of Mark and John. One reason early Christians changed stories was to convey their theological perspectives.

Question 3

Discuss the symbolism of the Passover foods, both from the perspective of the Jewish tradition and from the perspective of the Christian tradition. What additions did Jesus make, and why did he make them? Be sure to point out the direct analogy Jesus made between the wine and his blood and the bread and his body?

Answer 3

Jesus used the Passover story as an analogy to suggest that its meaning would be fulfilled by him. Passover commemorates the exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. The meal is highly symbolic to aid memories of the event down through the generations. The unleavened bread symbolized the need to eat quickly in preparation for escape, and the wine symbolized the blood of the lamb that was to be used to paint the doorframes so that the angel of death would pass over that house and not kill the firstborn humans and animals inside. The bread was likened to the body of Jesus and the wine to his blood. He became the sacrificial lamb that would save his followers from death and liberate them from oppression.

Question 4

Why do scholars think that the disciples, Matthew and John, and associates of the apostles, Mark and Luke, did not write the Gospels attributed to them?

Question 5

Jesus died around _____.

A) 20 CE
B) 30 CE
C) 50 CE
D) 70 CE

Question 6

Who is the earliest of the New Testament writers?

A) the author of the Gospel of John
B) the author of Hebrews
C) the author of the Gospel of Matthew
D) Paul

Question 7

Which of the following languages was Jesus' native language?

A) Coptic
B) Aramaic
C) Latin
D) Greek

Question 8

The Gospel of Mark was probably written around _____.

A) 30 CE
B) 50 CE
C) 70 CE
D) 90 CE

Question 9

Matthew and Luke were probably written around _____.

A) 40 CE
B) 50 CE
C) 80 CE
D) 100 CE

Question 10

The Gospel of John was probably written around _____.

A) 30 CE
B) 60 CE
C) 70 CE
D) 90 CE

Question 11

Which canonical Gospel was probably written last?

A) Matthew
B) Mark
C) Luke
D) John

Question 12

The early Christian mission was conducted primarily _____.

A) through public preaching to large numbers of people
B) through private interactions
C) in revivals
D) by distributing copies of the New Testament

Question 13

By the beginning of the second century, Christianity had spread _____.

A) only within Galilee
B) only within Palestine
C) only within Palestine and Egypt
D) around the Mediterranean, as far as Italy

Question 14

What unique miracle does Jesus perform in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas?

A) Raises a cooked fish from the dead
B) Drinks poison without harm
C) Makes living birds from clay
D) Commands a dog to speak

Question 15

Which of the following Gospels was written during Jesus' lifetime?

A) The Gospel of Mark
B) The Gospel of Matthew
C) The Gospel of Thomas
D) none

Question 16

Oral traditions about Jesus were spread throughout the Mediterranean primarily through _____.

A) the original eleven disciples
B) eyewitnesses to Jesus' ministry
C) Christian converts who were not eyewitnesses to Jesus' ministry
D) Jews

Question 17

Oral cultures tend to _____.

A) maintain verbal accuracy of stories
B) understand stories as changeable
C) produce accurate historical writings
D) have a high literacy rate

Question 18

In the Greco-Roman world, stories about a god having the power to heal _____.

A) were unique to Christianity
B) were unique among Jews and Christians
C) were relatively common
D) were forbidden

Question 19

The term "moral truth" describes _____.

A) something that is true but did not happen
B) an historical event that is morally correct
C) a rule in Greco-Roman society
D) a Jewish Passover tradition

Question 20

Evidence suggests that the early Christians did all of the following except _____.

A) create stories about Jesus
B) change stories about Jesus
C) write down stories about Jesus
D) use accounts written by Jesus' original disciples

Question 21

The circulation of oral traditions about Jesus _____.

A) maintained accurate, eyewitness reports
B) occurred only within Palestine
C) was tightly controlled
D) produced many differences in the stories

Question 22

According to Jewish reckoning, when does a new day begin?

A) at sunrise
B) at sunset
C) at noon
D) at midnight

Question 23

What is commemorated by the Jewish festival of Passover?

A) the exodus from Egypt
B) the crucifixion of Jesus
C) the building of the Temple
D) the giving of the Law to Moses

Question 24

In Jesus' time, the Passover festival drew pilgrims to which city?

A) Alexandria
B) Jerusalem
C) Caesarea
D) Rome

Question 25

Which of the following is not traditionally consumed at Passover?

A) wine
B) lamb
C) unleavened bread
D) fish

Question 26

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus died _____.

A) the day before the Passover meal
B) the week before Passover
C) the day after the Passover meal
D) the week after Passover

Question 27

According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus died _____.

A) the day before the Passover meal
B) the week before Passover
C) the day after the Passover meal
D) the week after Passover

Question 28

Why did God instruct Moses to have every Israelite family sacrifice a lamb and paint their doorframes with its blood?

A) so the angel of death would not visit those houses a.
B) so the Pharaoh would be afraid to send his soldiers to those houses for fear of infection
C) to show the world how the Jews suffer
D) as a symbolic offering to the Pharaoh

Question 29

Ancient biographies are most concerned with which of the following?

A) recording complete factual data
B) inner development of the subject
C) portraying essential character traits
D) using only written sources

Question 30

The New Testament Gospels are _____.

A) anonymous
B) eyewitness accounts
C) written by Paul
D) written in Aramaic

Question 31

When were the names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John attached to the New Testament Gospels?

A) when they were originally composed
B) first century CE
C) second century CE
D) third century CE

Question 32

Who was the Roman governor who ordered Jesus crucified?

A) Hanina ben Dosa
B) Pontius Pilate
C) Julius Caesar
D) Alexander the Great