Critical Thinking Assignment This assignment is

The New Testament & Mark

The NEW TESTAMENT CANON has a total of 27 books all written in Greek. The word Canon comes from the word meaning a straight edge for measurement. It is also correct to say that a canon is a collection of books that will provide the measure of a particular discipline.

The contents of the New Testament are arranged in a way that approximates the order of the Hebrew Bible, which is also called the Tanakh, a term, which you will recall, that represents the three principal divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures; the Torah (law), the Nevi’im (Prophets), and the Kethuvim (Writings).

Old Covenant (Testament)	New Covenant (Testament)
T Torah (five books of Moses) A	Four Gospels (story of Jesus) and narrates the beginnings of Christianity
N Nevi’im (Prophets) Deuteronomist History of Joshua through 2 Kings, Book of Prophets	Book of Acts (church history) story of the early followers spreading the faith after Jesus’ death. Letters of Paul and the other church leaders that cover problems and proper beliefs, ethics and behavior.
A K Kethuvim (Writings) Books of poetry, wisdom, and an apocalypse (Daniel)	Book of Hebrews catholic epistles, and an apocalypse describing the culmination of Christianity when God intervenes. (Revelation)

The Gospels were written 35-65 years after the death of Jesus. The traditional designation of who wrote the gospels came about 200 years later. What was happening between 30-65 CE?

· Christianity was spreading through the empire by word of mouth. 

· Stories about Jesus were being told throughout the empire in different languages by converts telling stories from their own context, and who were most likely not eye witnesses to the stories they were sharing. The stories got changed, modified, sometimes accidentally, sometimes to fit current beliefs or to stress certain theological points of view in order to convert others.

Gospels were written in Greek, not in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his followers. All were written in third person. None of the gospels were written by disciples, but the gospels were ascribed by later Christians to the followers of Jesus to ensure their sense of authority.

Mark written approximately 65-70 CE.   Mark’s authorship offers few clues as to his identity, where he wrote or to whom. His equating suffering with discipleship leads many scholars to surmise that the author of Mark was writing at a time when the Christian community in Rome was suffering persecution and severe testing and needed encouragement to remain steadfast. There is also the possibility that Mark was written for an audience in Syria or Palestine because of Mark’s emphasis of the Jewish revolt in 66-73 CE. In the thirteenth chapter of Mark there is a stern warning to believers who were affected by the uprising. Note that also in Mark 13 are passages quoted from the apocalyptic writings of Daniel.

Mark 8:34-38 and Mark 10:38-40 It is possible that the theme of ‘carrying one’s cross’ may derive from the effects of Nero’s persecution, when many Roman Christians were crucified or burned alive.

The Gospel of Mark is not an eye-witness account but depended mostly on collected stories of Jesus and secondhand oral preaching. The story begins his story not with a birth narrative but with the baptism of Jesus. Many of the accounts in Mark are not in chronological order, but stresses Jesus demanding of his followers a willingness to suffer for one’s faith.

Discipleship = Suffering

Very little of Jesus teaching is found in Mark. The gospel focuses on his actions – exorcisms, healings, and other miracles –these works of Jesus’ in the story is the author’s way of offering evidence that God’s Kingdom has begun to rule, and Satan’s hold on humanity has been broken. Under the shadow of Roman persecution and impending destruction of Jerusalem, Mark presents Jesus as an eschatological Son of Man, who will soon reappear and judge all peoples.

Mark’s vision depicts Jesus as an unwanted messiah, misunderstood, rejected who is revealed only in his suffering and death.

Strangely, Mark does not seem to have regarded the family and associates of Jesus with any amount of respect. One of the themes in Mark is his negative opinion of nearly everyone associated with Jesus. They are portrayed as obtuse, dull-witted, inept, cowardly, treacherous, and oblivious to the true message of Jesus and even place obstacles in Jesus’ path.

Mark	Statue of St. Mark in Venice
3:13-19 4:10-13 4:33-41 6:52 8:31-32 9:9-10 10:35-41 14:30 14:66-72

Mark informs his readers of the immediacy of Jesus’ message to humanity and assures his readers that they will experience the eschaton- ‘the present generation will live to see it all” – Mark 13:30.

The Kingdom is so close that some of Jesus’ contemporaries “will not taste death before they have seen the kingdom of God already come to power.” – Mark 9:1.

The author presents early all events during Jesus’ final hours, known as the passion, as revealing God’s unfolding purpose. At his trial before the Sanhedrin, he confesses that he is the Messiah and that the High Priest “will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of God and coming with the clouds of heaven.” – Mark 14:62-63

In Mark’s gospel Jesus is both an apocalyptic ruler and a servant who must suffer and die before attaining the kind of heavenly glory that Daniel 7 and Enoch attribute to him.

Mark’s strong emphasis on political and social chaos as predictions of the End can be explained by the turbulent era in which he composed the gospel. Daily battles and insurrections were daily occurrences, along with suffering by Palestinian Jews and Roman Christians, this chaos meant only one thing the anticipation of the Messiah’s appearance. Mark’s eschatological urgency vividly conveys both the fears and hopes of Mark’s Christian generation.

At the empty tomb the women flee in terror ‘saying nothing to anyone’. The gospel ends with no mention of any post resurrection appearances of Jesus to anyone. Maybe the empty tomb represents the absence of Jesus not yet manifest in his returning glory. His story ends open-ended, perhaps representing the hopes of his community awaiting his return.

Mark ends on a question, ‘what will happen next

Matthew  is the first gospel in the New Testament even though Mark was the first of the written gospels. Probably because Matthew offers a more extensive coverage of Jesus' teaching than any other gospel. Matthew's gospel was also important to the early church leaders because it offers the most information about the nature and function of the early Christian community. 

Another important function of Matthew is that it offers a smooth transition from the Hebrew Bible with its opening genealogy account that connects Jesus with the most prominent heroes of ancient Israel.

As the other gospels, the authorship is unknown but attributed to Matthew, one of the original Twelve. But, the writer of Matthew used Mark as his primary source making it impossible for this writer of Matthew to have been an eye witness to the accounts he wrote about, but it is assumed this unknown author was a Jewish Christian most likely living in Antioch in Syria, the site of a large Jewish and Jewish-Christian community. His 'target audience' were Greek-speaking Jewish Christians and Gentiles who were loosely Torah observant.

This gospel was written about 80 CE, at least a decade after the destruction of Jerusalem. Tensions were high between the Jewish leadership (remember this is the era known as Rabbinic Judaism when the Mishnah is being compiled by the surviving religious group – the Pharisees) and the growing Christian community. In Matthew we can read the most violent criticism of his fellow Jews.( Matthew 23) Perhaps these violent denunciations occurred after the Jewish believers had been expelled from the synagogues which took place about 85-90 CE.

Matthew adds teaching material emphasizing  Jesus as the inaugurator of a New Covenant , (Matt.26:26-29) who interprets the Mosaic Torah and fulfilling specific prophecies in the Hebrew Bible  proving his identity as Israel’s Messiah . But unlike Mark, Matthew softens the rhetoric of Jesus' immediate return by adding parables that imply a delay in the Second Coming. (Matt 24-25.)

"The Evangelist Matthew Inspired by an Angel" by Rembrandt

The author's purpose:

1. Demonstrating Jesus’ credentials as Israel’s messiah. (Isaiah 7:14, Mica 5:2, Hosea 11:1, Jeremiah 31:15, Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 9:1-2, Isaiah 53:4, Isaiah 42: 1-4, Psalms 78:2, Zechariah 9:9) 

2. Presenting Jesus as supreme teacher of Mosaic Law, which provides the community an ethical guidance and correct belief and behavior that will ensure Jesus’ approval when he returns. (Matt. 5:17-20) 

3. Instructing the community – the church – in the kind of correct belief and behavior that will ensure Jesus' approval upon his return. 

Matthew incorporated about 90 percent of Mark into his gospel account into which he adds five large chunks of teaching material duplicating the structure found in the Hebrew Scriptures ( the 'five books of Moses'). Matthew's material includes:

· Sermon on the Mount (Ch 5-7) 

· Instructions to the Twelve Apostles (Ch 10) 

· Parables on the kingdom (Ch 13) 

· Instructions to the Church (Ch 18) 

· Warnings of the Final Judgment (Ch 23-25) 

Other parts of Matthew are similar or identical to material also found in Luke – but not in Mark.

Scholars claim that the authors of Matthew and Luke also used another source, now lost, known as the 'Q' document. (Quelle, or source). This Q document contained sayings attributed to Jesus – kingdom parables, instructions to the disciples, and prophecies of judgment. This now missing Q document is a good way to explain the source of Jesus' sayings absent from Mark but found in Matthew and Luke. Along with shared materials from Mark and Luke, Matthew includes material unique to itself.

Matthew's use of Mark The author generally follows the chronology of Mark but shortens the narrative. Some accounts are abridged, briefly summarized, changed or even omitted. Matthew emphasizes the miraculous and supernatural. He omits and changes the meaning of baptism in Mark from " the forgiveness of sins" to the story of the Last Supper to make sure his readers understood that "forgiveness for sin" comes not from baptism but from Jesus' death.

Mark's brief mention of the temptation of Jesus by Satan is expanded by Matthew and includes a dialogue between Satan and Jesus. Recall that 'hassatan' has now taken on a much grander persona and is now officially 'The Evil One' and his transformation is complete.

The Passion narrative of Matthew adds a supernatural element reminding his readers that he had the power to call up thousands of angels to aid him. Mark has no such account. Matthew's Christ allows himself to be arrested to fulfill scripture. Matthew throws in earthquakes, opening graves of the saints, darkness, and the Temple curtain being torn to add supernatural drama to make sure his readers won't miss the hand of God in these proceedings.

Where Mark ends with the terrified women remaining silent and readers wondering 'what happens next?' Matthew's account assures us the women proclaim the good news of Jesus' victory over death. Jesus, resurrected from death, appears to the eleven and are given a commission to recruit new disciples throughout the Gentile world. This mission emphasizes Matthew's understand that the church has work to do before Jesus will return -sometime in the unknown future. This view, postponing Jesus' immediate return runs opposite to the expectation of Mark and his readership community that anticipated Jesus to return in their lifetime. One might speculate that the believers further away in time from the death of Jesus explained his absence in a way to they could continue to believe in the story and mission of Jesus.

LUKE & ACTS  85-90 CE 

· Christianity has been transformed into a gentile movement. 

· Written for Gentile Christians dispersed through the Roman Empire. 

· Presents Jesus’ career not only as history’s most crucial event but also an extended account of the early church. (Acts 1-28) 

· Luke emphasizes that Jesus and his disciples, working under the Holy Spirit, are innocent of any crime against Rome and their faith is universal. In Luke’s account it is the Jewish leaders who are responsible for Jesus’ death. Pontius Pilate is now presented as a weak pawn manipulated by a fanatical group of Jews. 

Luke and the Madonna,  Altar of the Guild of St. Luke,  Hermen Rode, Lübeck 1484	St. John the Apostle  by Hans Memling

JOHN  90-100 CE

· Ascribing authorship to the son of Zebedee came late. Before 180 CE this gospel isn’t even mentioned. 

· Communities influenced by a uniquely high Christology, maybe Gnostic teachings and also philosophical ideal of a divine logos. 

· Maybe a bit of Essene influences: ethical dualism, world divided up into the people who walk in the light and those in darkness, the world is seen as a battleground of opposites. Devil vs. Jesus. 

· Not really a portrait of Jesus like the other three, but a book about the theological significance of the stories from the earlier gospels. Jesus is equal to God. It is in John where we first see the ‘Cosmic Christ'. John's purpose seems to have been to inspire faith in Jesus’ divinity and the son of god. 

1. No birth story 

2. No baptism by John, emphasizing Jesus independence and superiority to John 

3. No period of contemplation in the wilderness or temptation by Satan. 

4. Never mentions exorcisms, but shows Jesus overcoming Evil with his divine truth. 

5. Where the earlier gospels have Jesus’ family thought Jesus unbalanced, or neighbors dismissing him – in John there is opposition, but Jesus is too charismatic and powerful a figure to be ignored or devalued. 

6. M & M state that Jesus taught with parables. John has no parables, Jesus delivers long philosophical speeches where his nature is the subject of discussion. 

7. None of the Mosaic law as in others. In John there is the one commandment to love. 

8. No prediction of Jerusalem’s fall. 

9. No prophecy of Jesus’ 2nd coming. John writes that Jesus is already present among believers in the form of the Holy Spirit. John does not stress a future eschatological return. 

10. Bread and wine are represented in John, but not presented as a new covenant between Jesus and his followers. John substitutes the disciples feet washing for the Eucharist 

11. Jesus can’t be tempted so no agony before his arrest. Poised and confident, Jesus experiences his painful death as a glorification, and raising on the cross symbolizing his imminent ascension to heaven. No cry of despair as in Mark, but a declaration that he has ‘accomplished’ his life purpose. 

12. Not a supplement to the others but a unique new vision. He begins with praising the eternal Word to Jesus’ promised re-ascension to heaven. Every part of the Gospel is calculated to illustrate Jesus glory as God’s fullest revelation of his own ineffable

· What were the real conflicts?

· The Controversies of Jesus

· The controversies Jesus had with the Pharisees and other Jewish teachers were not over whether or not the law of God should be followed.  Jesus and his followers kept Jewish customs, they observed Jewish festivals, and kept kosher, and they followed the Jewish law.  Where they differed was over the proper interpretation of the law. These theological debates were no more intense than other Jewish groups, for example, between the Essenes and the Pharisees, who were at each other’s throats, or the Essenes and the Sadducees, or conflicts between disparate Pharisee groups.

·             What was the reason for such conflict? It was difficult to make definitive moral decisions because the Law of Moses was incomplete and ambiguous.  For example; the law concerning divorce.  In the Torah, Moses had allowed a man to divorce his wife. (Deut. 24) What would be grounds for divorce? That was the rub.

· Jesus took a radical stand – if the grounds for divorce were unclear then probably God preferred people never to get a divorce. (Mark 10).  This stand was a positive position to take for women because being divorced left a woman without social position or protection.  So by prohibiting divorce, it was supporting the cause of women.

·             Should a Jew support a corrupt civil government by paying taxes to Rome? The Law of Moses is silent on such matters. Jesus’ opinion is found in the Gospel of Mark, ‘Render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, and the things that belong to God, to God.’ Obviously Jesus thought the taxes should be paid.

· The more intense argument Jesus had with the Pharisees was over the proper interpretation of laws that both sides agreed were given by God and needed to be followed.  For example; observing the Sabbath.  It would be a mistake to think Jesus dismissed the Sabbath laws.  Even in the New Testament it is difficult to find where Jesus violates the Sabbath.  What is true is that Jesus broke the Pharisees’ interpretation of Sabbath laws. He heals the sick on the Sabbath, or allowing his followers to pick grain and eat it on the Sabbath. Nowhere in the Hebrew Scriptures does it say healing on the Sabbath is forbidden. Also, Jesus didn’t pick grain – his followers did.

·             His view of the Sabbath is expressed in Mark 2:27, ‘Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.’ This is one of those saying that make more sense if you look at it in Jesus’ own language – Aramaic.  In Aramaic the term “man” and “Son of Man” are the same, barnasha. In Aramaic this verse makes more sense.  It means that humans are to lord it over the Sabbath, the Sabbath isn’t to lord it over humans.  In other words, Jesus is acknowledging the Sabbath, but maintains the observing of the Sabbath shouldn’t be a burden on anyone.  God meant the Sabbath as a way to help humans, not to hurt them.  So, in Jesus’ understanding it’s always right to do what helps, not what hurts, other people on the Sabbath.   For Jesus, he taught that any interpretation of the law that didn’t have as its principle aim the love of others above all else was misguided.

· A fourth area of conflict with the Pharisees involves the oral laws. Jesus thought they were too restrictive. An example of that would be the laws of tithing.  The Pharisees pointed out that the scriptures taught that a person needed to give 10% of everything they grew to God. (Remember this was an agrarian society) But, what if you buy something do you have to tithe on that?  Maybe the farmer you bought your vegetables from hadn’t tithed?  Maybe you should, just to make sure.   Jesus thought that kind of petty attention to tithing was going too far. People who worried about such small matters were avoiding bigger issues, like mercy and justice and love to each other.

· Again, the conflicts Jesus had with the Pharisees weren’t about whether one should or shouldn’t observe the Mosaic Law, but  how  one should keep the law, whether one must follow the oral law developed by the Pharisees in order to be right with God.  Jesus insisted that one did not.  In Jesus’ words, from Matthew, the Pharisees are too concerned about little things.  They tithe cumin and mint, but forget about love and justice.  “They strain at the gnat, but swallow the camel.” (Matt. 23:24)

· These debates, discussions and arguments with the Pharisees weren’t out of place in 1st Century Palestine.  It was not a case of Jesus against everyone else.  There were lots of views and interpretations of Mosaic Law with each group insisting that they were right, and others were tragically wrong.

· Apocalypticism 

· The exile in Babylonia lasted less then 70 years. In 538 BCE, the Babylonian empire was overthrown by Cyrus at the head of the Persian army. The policy of Cyrus was to allow and encourage the conquered peoples to keep their way of life and religious traditions. The Israelites were allowed to return to their homeland, rebuilt their temple and enjoy a considerable amount of autonomy in their own decision making. It seemed as if the prophecy of Second Isaiah was about to come to pass. 

· Break forth together in singing, you waste places of Jerusalem for Yahweh has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem, Yahweh has bared his holy arm  before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

· Not only did the nations fail to notice the salvation of this Israelite God, the descendants of those deported by the Assyrians did not return and even the majority of the people exiled in Babylonia chose to stay in the only home they had come to know. It is at this point of time that the term 'Israelites' with its associations to particular territories, is no longer used in favor of the term 'Jews.' This term identified a person living in the Diaspora as being a former citizen of the former Israel or Judah. Being a 'Jew' meant identity was based on a person's religious orientation, not where they lived.

· This small, impotent, and poverty stricken land of Judah could hardly hold claim to being the center of the world or imagine their political star rising anytime soon. Prophets still foretold of a glorious future and the sureness of Yahweh's direct intervention in transforming their desperate lives. Yahweh himself speaks of a new creation.

· For behold I create new heavens and a new earth. Former things shall no more be remembered nor shall they be called to mind.  Rejoice and be filled with delight, you boundless realms which I create. . . "

·

· The prophets weren't speaking of the destruction of the current chaotic imperfect world, but of a complete transformation of the world into a new indestructible perfect world. Isaiah sees a world where God will reside in the hearts of his people and all will receive the gifts of prophecy. Death in youth will be unheard of, people will live past the age of a hundred. The blind will see the deaf will hear and the lame will walk.

· This time is known as the 'messianic age' – which in Hebrew and Aramaic means 'anointed one'. This term was reserved for the king or high priests of former days. At the very most a military leader or a wise judge or ruler was imagined and in no way was this messiah to be a supernatural being or divine. The idea of a 'divine savior' in human form, so important in Zoroastrianism and so central to Christianity, is totally unknown to the Hebrew Bible.

· This wonderfully imagined new creation was, of course, reserved for the faithful and not idolaters, or oppressors. Their enemies were Yahweh's enemies and the forces of evil would be put to the sword and torch to cleanse the world of chaos. When the new age comes the lawless, the ungodly, the wicked – will all be destroyed.

· It seems reasonable to imagine a group of people living on the edge of existence, suffering at the hands of foreign rulers, wars and taxes to imagine their enemies 'getting what they got coming to them'. The people who were once Israelites and Judeans with a glorious golden past were now shaken by events that made them question the existence of a world with order and justice. The promise of a glorious future to be enjoyed by the chosen few was to remain a potent force centuries after the remnant of Judean society returned to a ruined Jerusalem.

· Nearly two centuries after the re-dedication of the temple in 515 BCE Alexander the Great swept through the known world and inaugurated the Hellenistic period in the Mediterranean world. After Alexander's death his empire was divided up amongst dynasties of Greek descent. Palestine – formerly Judah – was under the rule of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty then later the Seleucids, based in Syria.

· Jewish apocalypses The earliest writings were produced in Palestine in the third and second centuries. They are strange and difficult to decipher; filled with esoteric learning and complicated symbolism. The themes of chaos, cosmos and the coming new age had no comfortable place in official 'mainstream' Judaism because many of these writings were definitely 'fringe'. Described as  'unveiling'  of original truths these writings had been hidden from sight until the most opportune moment to reveal the impending plans of Yahweh. There is no mistaking them for 'ancient' texts, they were clearly authored at a much later date then the writings claim, yet reading these apocalyptic texts it is clear that the authors regarded their visionary writings as genuine.

· Apocalyptic prophecy differs from biblical prophecy in that the apocalyptic revelations are visual, dreams or ecstatic visions. Sometimes he felt himself transported to distant places on earth, or to the heavens. Truth was cloaked in symbols and allegories that were not unknown to the readers having been derived from ancient myths and familiar biblical imagery.

· The other major difference between the two was that in apocalyptic writings human beings cannot change the coming events by their actions. The coming transformational age is not contingent upon the obedience or disobedience of human behavior. If the world as they knew it was on the brink of change, then it was because it had been decreed by God in the distant past.

Sadducees

Who were the Sadducees?

A simple explanation is that the Sadducees were the temple officials who supervised the day to day workings of the Jewish Temple.  They were also an elite, influential, powerful and wealthy sect that was responsible for the running of the temple, oversaw many formal affairs of state and worked closely with the Roman authorities to keep the peace. Many Jews of the day were suspicious of their motives and oftentimes viewed them as self-serving collaborators. 

Political sphere of influence :

· Administered the state domestically

· Represented the state internationally

· Participated in the Sanhedrin (Jewish court) and often encountered the Pharisees there.

· Collected taxes. These also came in the form of international tribute from Jews in the Diaspora.

· Equipped and led the army

· Regulated relations with the Romans

· Mediated domestic grievances.

General Beliefs 

The Sadducees rejected the Oral Laws as proposed by the Pharisees. Rather, they saw the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures) as the sole source of divine authority. The written law, in its depiction of the priesthood, corroborated the power and enforced the hegemony of the Sadducees in Judean society.

According to Josephus (an influential writer of his day who wrote an exhaustive history of the Jews which is still quoted to this day), the Sadducees believed that:

· There is no fate

· God does not commit evil

· Man has free will; “man has the free choice of good or evil”

· The soul is not immortal; there is no afterlife, or resurrection of the dead

· There are no rewards or penalties after death

The Sadducees rejected the belief in the resurrection of the dead which was believed by the Pharisees and Early Christians.  The Sadducees supposedly believed in the traditional Jewish concept of  Sheol  for those who had died, but attached importance to what bears upon this present life, and which in modern times goes under the name of secularism.

 According to the New Testament, the Pharisees also believed in the resurrection, but  Josephus  who himself was a Pharisee, claims that the Pharisees held that only the soul was immortal and the souls of good people would be reincarnated and “pass into other bodies,” while “the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment.” The idea of ‘reincarnation’ is an example of the myriad ideas that were circulating at the time of Jesus.

Mention of the Sadducees in the New Testament

The origin of this Jewish sect cannot definitely be traced. It was probably the outcome of the influence of Grecian customs, philosophy and political structures during the period of Greek domination. The first time they are met with is in connection with John the Baptist's ministry. They came out to him when on the banks of the Jordan, and he said to them, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" (Matt. 3:7.) The next time they are spoken of they are represented as coming to our Lord tempting him. He calls them "hypocrites" and "a wicked and adulterous generation" (Matt. 16:1-4; 22:23). The only reference to them in the Gospels of Mark (12:18-27) and Luke (20:27-38) is their attempting to ridicule the doctrine of the resurrection, which they denied, as they also denied the existence of angels. They

Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers

Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.

Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS

Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?

Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.

We write plagiarism Free Content

Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.

Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.