Mark L. Strauss - Four Portraits, One Jesus Workbook: Guided Reading Projects and Exercises in the Gospels

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Four Portraits, One Jesus Workbook

Copyright 2015 by Mark L. Strauss

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Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

ePub Edition July 2015: ISBN 978-0-310-52285-0

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Cover artwork: Bridgeman Art Library, Thinkstock

Interior design: Kait Lamphere

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Contents

Students learn best not just by seeing and hearing but also by doing. This workbook is designed to supplement the Gospels textbook Four Portraits, One Jesus: A Survey of Jesus and the Gospels. It includes a variety of different kinds of exercises, all designed to provide hands-on experience for the study of the Gospels.

There are four main types of assignments:

1. For every chapter in the textbook there are overview questions designed to review the main concepts from that chapter. Answering these questions will enable students to check whether they have grasped the basic content and concepts of the chapter and also will prepare them for quizzes and/or exams.

2. For each of the four Gospels, there are guided reading projects. While it is helpful to read about the Gospels, it is even better to read the Gospels. In these assignments, students read the biblical text and are asked leading questions to guide them through the progress of the story, the narrative themes, and the theological purpose of each Gospel.

3. There are a number of assignments that enable students to see Gospel methods at work. For example, chapter 2, which deals with source, form, and redaction criticism, has an assignment where students compare the Synoptic Gospels in order to experience firsthand the literary relationship between Matthew, Mark, and Luke and to test out various solutions to the synoptic problem. Similarly, a worksheet on redaction criticism allows students to draw conclusions related to the theological purposes behind the editorial activity of the Gospel writers.

4. There are a number of worksheets in the addendum that provide a methodology for preparing to teach Gospel passages. Many students, whether they are headed into vocational Christian ministry or lay leadership in the church, will have opportunities and responsibilities to teach the Bible in general and the Gospels in particular. These worksheets are meant to help develop skills for the analysis and teaching of Gospel texts.

A note to professors: these assignments can be used either as homework assignments or in-class work. They can also be adapted for different kinds of courses and different levels of students. For example, there are two guided reading projects for each of the four Gospels. These are quite long, and instructors may want to break them up into shorter projects, depending on available homework or class time. Also, get creative! Use these exercises as idea starters for developing your own projects. If you develop a creative idea that works well, forward it to the author (m-strauss@bethel.edu), and perhaps we will incorporate it into the next edition of the workbook.

1. Identify the unique portrait of each of the Gospels, as suggested in the textbook.

Matthew: The Gospel of the .

Mark: The Gospel of the .

Luke: The Gospel of the .

John: The Gospel of the .

2. What are the Synoptic Gospels? What are the main differences between the Synoptics and the Gospel of John?

3. Describe the Gospel genre in terms of the three characteristics. What do each of these mean?

History

Narrative

Theology

4. Why were the Gospels written? What suggestions have been made concerning why the authors wrote?

5. To whom were the Gospels written? What does the text say concerning whether the Gospels were written to believers or unbelievers? To a specific or a general audience?

6. Why do we have four Gospels instead of one? Why are there only four in the New Testament?

7. What does it mean to read the Gospels vertically? What are the benefits of doing this?

8. What does it mean to read the Gospels horizontally? What are the benefits of doing this?

9. When is a harmonistic approach to the Gospels legitimate? When is it not?

1. What are some things we learn in the writings of the apostle Paul about the historical Jesus?

2. What do we learn about Jesus in the writings of Flavius Josephus?

3. How helpful are the apocryphal gospels in providing reliable information about the historical Jesus?

1. Summarize the four stages of composition that led to the production of the Gospels, and identify the method that was developed to analyze each stage.

Underline the sentence in Luke 1:1 4 corresponding to each stage, and use your devices notetaking function to mark each sentence as stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, or stage 4.

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Luke 1:1 4

2. What is the synoptic problem?

3. What is source criticism? What are its goals?

4. What is the most widely held solution to the synoptic problem?

a. What is Markan priority?

b. What is the two-source theory?

c. What is the four-source theory?

5. Use your devices notetaking function to note the relationship between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Q according to (a) Markan priority, (b) the two-source theory, and (c) the four-source theory.

6. What is Q? (What is it at its most basic? What additional claims about Q have been made?)