The New Testament

and the Historical Jesus

• Who wrote the Gospels? When? What are their problems as historical sources?

• Who was Jesus? What can we know about him and his context historically?

Key Terms

1) Appolonius of Tyana

2) Apocalyptic Prophet

3) The Gospels as Historical Sources

4) Paul of Tarsus

5) Edict of Milan

6) Council of Nicea

7) St. Augustine and The City of God

I.  The Problem of Evidence: The New Testament Gospels

· Secular Sources: Josephus and Tacitus

· The Four Gospels:  Anonymous, Mythical, “Truth”ful

o Mark (c.65 CE)

o Matthew (c.70-100 CE)

o Luke (c.80-100 CE)

o John (c. 100 CE)

· The Gospels that Didn’t Make It and “Lost” Christianities

II. The Historical Jesus: Jewish Apocalyptic Prophet

• First Century Judea:  A Normal Roman Province?

• Judaism in the First Century

o Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots

o Apocalyptic Prophets

• Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet and Troublemaker

o Judgement, The Kingdom of God on Earth, & the Destruction of the Temple

• The Arrest, Trial, and Death of Jesus

o Pontius Pilate

o Jesus, the Jewish Leadership, and the Passover Celebration

o Incident in the Temple and The Charge of Sedition

o Blaming the Jews and the Origins of Christian anti-Semitism

III.  From Jewish Sect to a New Universal Religion

• Paul of Tarsus (5 AD-67 CE)

• Toward a Stable Community (100-200 CE)

• Roman Persecution (200-313 CE):  Diocletian’s Scapegoats

• Constantine and the Edict of Milan (313 CE)

• Theodosius (392 CE):  Christianity as State Religion

• Structural Conditions of the Roman Empire and the Appeal of Christianity

IV. The Emergence of the Catholic Church

• The Creation of Bishops:  The Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome

• The Creation of Christian Theology

• Settling Disputes:  The Council of Nicea (325 CE) and the Trinity

• The Church “Fathers”

o    St. Jerome  (340-420 CE)

o    St. Ambrose (340-397 CE)

o St. Augustine (354-430 CE):  The City of God