What sort of Christology does the New Testament present?
What were the messianic expectations in Judaism of the time?
What messiahs were expected?
What sort of Christological understanding did Jesus have of himself?
Did Jesus teach he was the Messiah?
When did the disciples understand he was the Messiah?
If so, which Messiah?
Does Jesus fulfil Jewish Christological expectations?
Is Christian Christology low or high?
Was Jesus before his death seen as more man or God?
How does this differ to his after-death manifestation.
Does the understanding of Jesus as Messiah change over time? If so, how?
In the above be sure to discuss the Christology of Paul, the synoptic gospels (Mark, Luke, and Matthew), John, and Hebrews, and whether they differ.
Describe the eschatological expectations found in the New Testament
Describe Jesus’s eschatological teaching
How did it differ from the Jewish understanding of the time?
Is it a realized or a future eschatology?
Did his teaching come true?
Does Christian eschatology differ from that taught by Jesus?
Does the role of Jesus change?
Does Christian eschatology change over time?
In the above be sure to discuss the synoptic gospels, John, the letters of Paul, and the Book of Revelation.
Choose one of these two questions:
Are the four gospels and the Book of Acts history?
In what sense are these books history?
How do they differ from how we do history?
How did ancient historiography differ from modern historiography?
Are the events in each book presented in chronological order?
How reliable are they historically?
Are they based on oral tradition?
Is oral tradition reliable?
Use examples from all five books (Mark, Luke, Matthew, John, and Acts)
The four gospels and the Book of Acts as literature
In what sense are these books literature
What techniques do they use that we associate more with fiction rather than non-fiction?
How are they structured?
How is meaning conveyed through the structure
Do they reference other literature?
Be sure to reference all four gospels and the Book of Acts
Choose one of the two following questions
Describe faith in the New Testament
Describe the understanding of faith in Judaism
How does the faith of Jesus differ from that of his contemporaries?
For example, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes
How do Jesus’s Christian followers such a Paul and John understand faith?
Does it differ from the faith of Jesus?
Is faith in the New Testament more about what you do or what you believe?
Be sure to reference the synoptic gospels, John, the letters of Paul, and James
Describe the teaching of Jesus in regards to social justice
What was the way of Jesus?
What is social justice, and how does the teaching of Jesus embody it?
How does it relate to social justice found in Judaism?
Was it an unusual teaching at the time in Judaism?
How central was this teaching to later Christians, e.g., Paul and John?
Do the teaching and the faith of Jesus differ?
