1. Week one: 1 (C) Gospel of Thomas, Saying 96 Jesus said, "The kingdom of the Father is like a woman. She took a little bit of yeast. She hid it in dough and made it into huge loaves of bread." Question: A saying of Jesus similar to this one appears in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, but in two different narrative settings.
Assuming that this saying originated in the life of Jesus, how might someone explain its journey from Jesus himself to the Gospels of Thomas, Matthew, and Luke, with reference to oral tradition, "Q," and the Two-Source Hypothesis? (You will find the answers in the power point !)?
1 (B) 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news [gospel] that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you-unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Question: Where and how does this passage fit into Mark Allan Powell's four stages of application of the term "gospel" (good news)? How does the understanding of "gospel" in this passage both relate to and differ from the understanding of Gospel as a type of literature (e.g., Gospel of Mark)?
2. Week Two:
2 (C) Luke 2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Question: How does this passage relate to the broader theme in Luke's Gospel of Jesus' mission to the poor? What is one other passage from Luke's Gospel that illustrates this theme? (power point Nazerath)?
3. Week Three:
3 (A) John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. Question: What Christian doctrine does this text illustrate, and what are three attributes of the Word (Logos) mentioned elsewhere in John's Prologue implicitly ascribed here to Jesus?(prolong of John )
4. Week Four:
4 (B) Nicene Creed [We believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one (same) substance (homoousios) with the Father . . .. Question: In what way(s) does this statement illustrate some of the issues at stake in the "Arian Controversy"?(power point )
5. Week five:
5 (D) Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride toward Freedom (excerpt) Living through the actual experience of the protest, nonviolence became more than a method to which I gave intellectual assent; it became a commitment to a way of life. Question: What "protest" does King refer to, and how do three (choose three) elements of the philosophy of non-violent resistance applied during this protest relate to the person of Jesus?
6. Week six:
5 (C) Hermann Samuel Reimarus, "On the Aims of Jesus and His Disciples" (excerpt) We have reason to draw an absolute distinction between the teaching of the apostles in their writings and what Jesus himself proclaimed and taught in his own lifetime. Question: Why would Reimarus-as a Deist influenced by Enlightenment ideals-make this distinction, otherwise known as the distinction between "Jesus of history" and "Christ of faith"?