for March 30th

Posted on March 21, 2006

We will be beginning our work with the Christian Greek Scriptures or "New Testament." As I have noted, this is all (or almost all) still "Jewish" writing: Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostle are the only major texts in the Bible written by a non-Jew (actually Luke-Acts is really a single text, though they are separated by John's Gospel in the canonical Bible).

Although, chronologically speaking, Mark is the first Gospel (at least, of those "in" the Bible)--composed around 70 CE--we will start with Luke and Matthew because Mark doesn't have a nativity story ((he begins with the baptism of Jesus); John doesn't have a nativity story either. You will note, though, that, while Luke and Matthew have certain details in common, their nativity stories are quite different in many key details (and I will ask you about those on the quiz). As you read through Crossan's "A Tale of Two Gods," you will also learn why the details are so different (or at least what the implications are). If you find this curious, please go back to what you learned in Alter's chapter, "Composite Artistry."

In the second half of class we will consider Crossan's "A Kingdom of Nuisances and Nobodies," which will introduce us to many of the central themes of Crossan's work (his particular reading of Jesus of Nazareth: be prepared for a "revolutionary" portrait, in all senses of that). We will use this account as a jumping off point into some of Jesus' parables (stories told "by" Jesus rather than "about" him ... so, we'll get a look at Jesus as a story-teller). We will then take a look at one or two of the important parables (certainly the parable of the Good Samaritan will be among these).

We may or may not get a chance to discuss the parable of the Prodigal Son, but this is a good chance to tell you that the details of your second essay are now available. Look under "assignments" on the blog-site ... scroll all the way down. I've given you a bunch of topics to choose from (I'm sure there will be something there to interest you). That essay is due on Friday, April 10th.

Hope you come back from Spring Break ready to go. We'll have just 5 weeks left.