Midterm Examination: Information and Format

Midterm Examination: Synoptics I

Prof: Fr. Randy Flores, SVD
August 9, 2010, MONDAY
Time: 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Place: Martyrs’ Hall
Coverage:
1. Topics 1-5 (Lectures)
2. Required Readings:
Topic 1: Ehrman, pp. 17-35.
Topic 2: Amy-Jill Levine, “Jesus and Judaism”;
and James H.Charlesworth, “Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls
Significant for an Improved Perception of the Origins of Christianity?”
Topic 3: Ehrman, pp. 1-16
Topic 4: Ehrman pp. 70-74


Format of the Exam:
Part I: Multiple Choice (5 questions = 10 points)
Part II: Identification (5 questions = 10 points)
Part III: Short Answers (7 questions = 20 points;
Types can be definitions, explanations, enumerations)
Part IV: Essay (from two questions, choose one to elaborate = 10 points)
-----------------------
Total number of points: 50 x 2 = 100.

Click here to download a copy in pdf.

Of Miracles by David Hume

David Hume (7 May 1711 [26 April O.S.] – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher and historian, regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment. Hume is often grouped with John Locke, George Berkeley, and a handful of others as a British Empiricist.

During his lifetime, Hume was more famous as a historian....

In his discussion of miracles in An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (Section 10) Hume defines a miracle as "a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent". Given that Hume argues that it is impossible to deduce the existence of a Deity from the existence of the world (for he says that causes cannot be determined from effects), miracles (including prophesy) are the only possible support he would conceivably allow for theistic religions.

Click here for more on David Hume.

Read his essay on miracles here.

The Miracle Genre

Click: PowerPoint Lecture on Genre of Miracles

From the Cover of In the Name of Jesus:  Exorcism Among Early Christians by Graham H. Twelftree

Assignment 2: Miracles

Healing of the man born blind (by El Greco, 1521-1614)

Click on the link.
Submission will be on Monday 2 August.

Debate between Bart Ehrman and William Lane Craig: Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

In connection with our discussion on genres in particular, miracles -- and how the issue of genres also raises historical questions.

John P. Meier - Lecture on the Volume 3 of his A Marginal Jew

Jesus' Companions and Competitors

Topic 5 (Week 8): Literary Forms within the Synoptic Gospels

Topic 5 Hand-Out, click here.

Some Examples:
Genealogy
my homily on  Genealogies

Parable
Links to Fr. Randy's commentaries on Parables.1) Parable of "Lost and Found" (Luke)
2) Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)
3) Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15)
4) Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16)
5) Parable of the Wily Steward (Luke 16)
6) Parable of the Fig Tree (Luke 13)

Allegory


Aphorism

Healing Miracles

Pronouncement Story

Chreia 

Pericope

NT Scholars

Rudolf Bultmann
Joachim Jeremias
John P. Meier

Dei Verbum no. 12

12. However, since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion,  the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words.

To search out the intention of the sacred writers, attention should be given, among other things, to "literary forms." For truth is set forth and expressed differently in texts which are variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of discourse. The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in particular circumstances by using contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture. For the correct understanding of what the sacred author wanted to assert, due attention must be paid to the customary and characteristic styles of feeling, speaking and narrating which prevailed at the time of the sacred writer, and to the patterns men normally employed at that period in their everyday dealings with one another.