9 letters to the Early Church are attributed to this author.
Who is Paul?
100
The influence of Greek (and Roman) culture, philosophy, and modes of thought that was prevalent during the New Testament Period.
What is Hellenism?
100
A small village in the lower region of the province of Galilee, which the New Testament consistently refers to as Jesus' hometown.
What is Nazareth?
100
An abbreviation meaning "before the common era."
What is BCE?
100
Scholarly study of the Bible with an emphasis on the explication of texts using various academic approaches (often called critical methods or "criticism").
What is exegesis?
200
One of the major Jewish groups active during the Second Temple period; largely associated with synagogues; many members were rabbis and scribes; emphasized faithfulness to Torah, accepted as authoritative the oral tradition known as "the tradition of the elders," and believed laypeople should follow the same purity regulations in their daily lives as the priests serving in the temple.
Who are the Pharisees?
200
A Greek translation of the Old Testament produced during the third century BCE; often abbreviated LXX.
What is the Septuagint?
200
The home to Caesar.
What is Rome?
200
The year that the Romans destroyed the Temple.
What is the 70 CE?
200
Figurative stories or sayings that convey spiritual truth through reference to mundane and earthly phenomena.
What is a parable?
300
One of the major Jewish groups during the Second Temple period; who were closely associated with the Temple in Jerusalem and, so, were concerned with maintaining the sacrificial system; most priests appear to have been part of this group.
Who are the Sadducees?
300
A term used to describe the perspective in some New Testament accounts of the exalted Jesus being virtually equated with God.
What is High Christology?
300
A term used to refer to Jews living outside of the traditional homeland of Palestine.
What is Diaspora (or Dispersion)?
300
A term often used to refer to the span of Jewish history from the building of the second temple during the Persian period (515 BCE) to the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 CE.
What is Second Temple Judaism?
300
In Christian theology, a term used to refer to the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.
What is the passion?
400
The Roman appointed king who ruled all of Palestine from 37 BCE to 4 BCE. He was known for his building projects as well as his paranoia of those wanting to usurp his throne. He was the ruler of Palestine at the time Jesus was born.
Who is Herod the Great?
400
A religious perspective that tends to separate phenomena into sharply opposed categories, with little room for anything in between (e.g., to regard everything as either "good" or "evil").
What is dualism?
400
Where did the Essenes, a separatist Jewish sect live in private community?
What is Qumran?
400
A time when scholars often claim that interpretation reveals more about the interpreter than it does about the text, and they employ the method of deconstruction to demonstrate that proposed interpretations of any given text are dependent upon subjective criteria.
What is postmodern?
400
A term used by scholars to refer to the Jesus that emerges from an analysis of sources (primarily the New Testament) that extracts information pertinent to a credible reconstruction of who Jesus was and what happened in the world because of him.
What is the historical Jesus?
500
A convenient term used by scholars to refer to the earthly, historical figure of Jesus.
What is the pre-Easter Jesus?
500
A religious movement or perspective that regarded "spirit" as fundamentally good and "matter" as fundamentally evil, and so salvation is receiving knowledge that enlightens one to realize their true identities as spiritual beings.
What is Gnosticism?
500
What is the region between Jerusalem and Galilee where the Jews believed in worship at Mt. Gerazim.
What is Samaria?
500
The time period of Justin Martyr.
What is the Second Century?
500
The question of the literary relationship between Matthew, Mark, and Luke; that is, which ones used one or more of the others as a source.