The Bible
Timeline (approximate)
BCE
950 Solomon builds Yahweh’s
Temple in Jerusalem
922 Israel splits into rival kingdoms of
Judah (south) and Israel (north)
850-750 Homer is active poet in Greece
587 The Babylonians under
Nebuchadnezzar destroy Jerusalem
587-538 Jewish priests begin the final process of
compiling Torah
563-483 In India, Siddhartha Gautama experiences
mystical enlightenment, becoming the
Buddha
Timeline (approximate)
BCE
551-579 Confucius enunciates a religious philosophy in
China
336-323 Alexander the Great conquers most of the
known world, bringing Greek culture and ideas
to the ancient Near East
CE
27-30 Jesus of Nazareth preaches Torah reforms and is
executed by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate
66-70 The first narrative of Jesus’ life, the Gospel of
Mark, is written
Timeline (approximate)
CE
70 Roman armies destroy Jerusalem and its Temple
80-90 The gospels of Matthew and Luke are written
570-632 The Prophet Mohammed dictates the Qur’an and
founds Islam
Biblical Analysis
Historical Criticism
Is this event likely to have occurred in the way the
author presents it?
What is the writer’s bias or agenda and how does it
affect what he reports?
Investigates authorship, date and place of
composition
Historical Analysis continued
Form Criticism
Recognizes that in addition to oral and
documentary sources, longer accounts are made up
of smaller units of narration: folk tales, genealogies,
anecdotes, war hymns, battle stories and formulas
for priestly rituals
Form criticism would look up the stories behind
the stories (i.e. the oral narrative that became the
written)
Literary Criticism
Literary criticism examines the literary genres in the text
and any unifying theme. It explores the figurative language
(poetry) of the story telling
For instance, the Pentateuch could be seen as illustrating
God’s promises and the delayed fulfillment of these
promises
Narratives illustrating how Yahweh’s covenant brings
national success while disobedience results in national
annihilation
How form connects to story-telling: 21 of the New
Testament’s 27 books take the form of letters ; how the
celebration of sexual love in the Song of Solomon differs
from the content in other narratives
Key Terms
• Bible little books
• Pentateuch Five scrolls / first 5 books of the
Hebrew Bible/Torah (also Tanak)
• Torah “Law” or “Teaching”
• Religion linking back or binding
• Elohim plural for “gods” or “divine powers”
• Yahweh The 4 consonants comprising the sacred
name of Israel’s God (YHWH). Revealed
to Moses at the Burning Bush. Might
translate to “he is to be”
• Transcendent That which goes beyond human
knowledge. This may be the only way to
“think” about “God”—an idea beyond
language
Key Terms for New Testament
• Synoptic Problem (“seen together”) This refers to
scholarly attempts to unravel the literary dependence
or connection among the three Gospels Matthew, Mark
and Luke.
• Q Document (German Quelle meaning (source”) a
document thought to have been written around 50 and
70 B.C.E. Because it does not survive, scholars
reconstruct its contents from passages that Matthew
and Luke have in common but did not derive from
Mark (see attached)
• Gospel Good news
• Exegesis Critical interpretation of the Bible
Terms Contiued
• Gnosticism/Gnostic Gospels Gnosticism was a
movement in early Christianity which taught that
salvation was gained though special knowledge
(gnosis) revealed through a spiritual savior
(presumably Jesus). Answers to questions are found
within, not without. This was one reason the belief
system became heretical. The gospels themselves are
writings from around 2nd century about Jesus (Gospel
of Mary, Thomas, Judas, among others). Question:
how does content from Gnostic texts change meaning
of Bible (Old and New Test.)?
• Apocrypha means “hidden books” and refers to non
canonical literature that parallel or supplement New
Testament canon. There is much debate as to the
importance of these texts (read intro from Oxford
Annotated for more)
• Apocalypse “Unveiling” of unseen realities
• Eschatological Dealing with final events (see Revelation)
• Matt, Mark and Luke
• All 3 begin with Jesus’ baptism in the river Jordan, followed by
descriptions of his tours through villages of Galilee, where he
heals sick, teaches and debates Torah. Jesus only makes one
trip to Jerusalem in these three, but in John Jesus is going back
and forth between Galilee and Jerusalem.
• In the synoptics Jesus teaches mostly in parables (fictional
narratives comparing God’s kingdom to an object or action) or
aphorisms (quotable statements that question conventional
wisdom). In John, Jesus teaches using long, philosophical
discourses about his divine nature, not the kingdom of God.
Parable example Luke 6: 39-42. John example 8:34-42
Biblical Roles of God
God as Divine Sovereign
Yahweh, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to
anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness; for
thousands he maintains his kindness, forgives
faults…yet he lets nothing go unchecked,
punishing the father’s fault in the sons and in the
grandsons to the third and fourth generations
(Exodus 34:5-7)
Biblical Roles of God
God as Warrior
Israelite poets sang of Yahweh’s prowess on
the battlefield, praising him as Yahweh
Sabaoth. This translates to “cosmic general”
or “commander of invisible armies”. Note
the armies he unleashes against Israel’s
Canaanite enemies (Joshua 5:13-15)
Biblical Roles of God
God as King / Lord of History
Yahweh invisibly reigning over Israel as
(heaven’s) king
Genesis through Kings 2 present Yahweh as
the Lord of history—the all-powerful
director of human events. This differs from
a god or gods meddling in human affairs
Genesis
(roughly) 3 Part Division
Primeval history (chapters 1-11) shows the Deity
manifesting a profound ambivalence toward his
flawed human creation
Ancestral Stories (chapters 12-36) God/human
relations improve as the narrative focuses on a
series of promises God makes to specific groups—
story telling becomes more complex?
The story of Joseph (chapters 37-50) God makes
Abraham’s descendents a source of universal
blessing. Genesis concludes with the chosen people
settled in Egypt, far from their promised homeland
The Sacrifice of Isaac
Caravaggio 1600
The artist thrusts the action to the front of the picture
frame. Abraham is intercepted in the act of slitting his
son's throat by an angel who with his right hand
prevents the murder and with his left points to the
substitute victim. Light directs the viewer to scan the
scene from left to right as it picks out the angel's
shoulder and left hand, the quizzical face of Abraham,
the right shoulder and terrified face of Isaac and finally
the docile ram. A continuous movement links the back
of the angel's neck to Isaac's profile; and angel and boy
have a family likeness.
From Web Gallery of Art
Michelangelo
The Fall from the Sistine Chapel Ceiling