Reading the Bible as a Historian
4 Canons of Historical Criticism
Synoptic Problem
Bible in Museums
Bible & Methods
100

This specific emoji represents the goal of this unit because it symbolizes "zooming in" on different parts of the Bible to observe them objectively and critically

What is a microscope

100

These are the four fundamental "canons" or rules used in historical criticism: Doubt, Analogy, Correlation, and Autonomy

What are The 4 Canons of Historical Criticism

100

These are the three specific books of the New Testament that make up the "Synoptic Gospels" due to their significant overlap in material

What are Matthew, Mark, and Luke?

100

While many institutions have biblical artifacts, this museum is specifically designated as a "Bible-Centric" institution.

What is the Museum of the Bible

100

This scholarly approach is defined by its prioritization of the historical timeframe and original context when interpreting the Bible

What is the historical-critical method?

200

Although canonical lists were disputed for many years, the New Testament formally became a collection of this specific number of books in the 4th century

What is 27?

200

To verify the historical existence of Jesus, scholars look to these two non-Christian sources, one Jewish and one Roman

Who are Josephus and Tacitus

200

Derived from the Greek language, the term "Synoptic" literally translates to this English phrase, describing how these three Gospels can be compared side-by-side.

What is "Seen Together"?

200

This historical artifact, belonging to the leader of a famous 1831 slave rebellion, is currently housed in the National Museum of African American History and Culture

What is Nat Turner's Bible?

200

These were the two specific ancient nations responsible for exiling the Jewish people from the land of Israel.

What are Babylon and Assyria?

300

While 13 letters in the New Testament are attributed to Paul, many scholars believe he only actually wrote THIS many of them

What is Seven?

300

When historians encounter an event that cannot be verified with 100% certainty through scientific or historical methods, they typically use one of these two phrases to describe it

What are "we cannot say" or "most likely no"

300

According to the general consensus of historians, this was the first Gospel written (dated roughly A.D. 65–70), serving as a primary source for the others.

What is the Gospel of Mark

300

The focus of this specific museum is to recount biblical history starting from the beginning of time while explicitly challenging modern scientific understandings of history.

What is the Creation Museum?

300

According to the Documentary Hypothesis, the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) was not written by a single author but was constructed from this many distinct sources.

 What is four?

400

This specific type of criticism involves the analysis of available textual manuscripts to determine what was most likely the original form of a biblical verse

What is textual criticism?

400

The specific edition of the Westminster Study Bible used in class is unique because it includes these additional books often omitted from standard Protestant bibles

What are the Deuterocanonical (or Apocryphal) books

400

In the Two-Source Hypothesis, this hypothetical written collection of Jesus’s sayings (from the German word Quelle) is believed to have been used by Matthew and Luke to account for material not found in Mark

What is "Q"?

400

This 16th-century masterpiece by artist Paolo Veronese depicts the biblical account of Jesus performing his first miracle at a marriage feast. 

What is "The Wedding at Cana"?

400

This method involves paying close attention to intertextuality, or the way biblical texts are used or referenced within other parts of the Bible itself.

What is inner-biblical exegesis (or intertextuality)?

500

This type of criticism uses tools from the social sciences to analyze how social systems, such as the roles of women in the ancient world, impacted biblical writings.

What is Social Scientific Criticism

500

While theological interpretation focuses on faith, the class study bible and the 4 canons are used to look at the Bible this way, aiming for objective and critical analysis

What is Historical Interpretation?

500

This is the most common solution to the Synoptic Problem, which argues that Matthew and Luke independently used both Mark and a second source to compose their accounts.

What is the Two-Source Hypothesis?

500

These famous stained-glass installations, created by artist Marc Chagall, serve as a prominent example of how the Bible continues to inspire world-renowned art.

What are the "Jerusalem Windows"?

500

This specific literary theory explains the relationship between the Synoptic Gospels by identifying Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the hypothetical "Q" as its primary source.

What is the 4-Document Hypothesis?

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