Dominican Scholar The Scott Sinclair Lecture Notes Collection Social Justice | Faculty Collections 8-3-2016 The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the Acts of the Apostles [Lecture Notes] Scott Gambrill Sinclair Dominican University of California, [email protected] https://doi.org/10.33015/dominican.edu/2016.sinclair.04 Survey: Let us know how this paper benefits you. Recommended Citation Sinclair, Scott Gambrill, "The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the Acts of the Apostles [Lecture Notes]" (2016). The Scott Sinclair Lecture Notes Collection. 3. https://doi.org/10.33015/dominican.edu/2016.sinclair.04 This Course Materials is brought to you for free and open access by the Social Justice | Faculty Collections at Dominican Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Scott Sinclair Lecture Notes Collection by an authorized administrator of Dominican Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Permission is hereby given to use this material for any purpose. Course Syllabus for the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the Acts of the Apostles (3 units) No course prerequisites Instructor: Dr. Scott G. Sinclair [email protected] Course description: A detailed study of the New Testament gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and of the historical Jesus. We will reconstruct the social setting of each gospel and examine the gospels' major theological themes. Then we will examine the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Some attention will also be paid to the contents and message of the Acts of the Apostles. Student learning outcomes: Students will demonstrate 1) A knowledge of the social settings of the New Testament gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, 2) a knowledge of the basic theological ideas of Matthew, Mark, and Luke-Acts, 3) an awareness of the historical problem of how to reconstruct the life and teachings of Jesus, 4) a knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and how they were a response to the beliefs and social structures of first century Jewish Palestine, 5) an awareness of the relevance of the teaching of the evangelists and Jesus to such contemporary problems as the proper Christian attitude toward the poor and women. Texts: A Bible (ideally, a modern translation) and these lecture notes. Students should bring a Bible to class. Assessment: There will be quizzes, a midterm, and a final. The quizzes will consist of ten multiple-choice questions based on the notes for the previous two lectures. The midterm and final will each have three sections. The first is multiple choice. The second is essay. The third is extra credit and invites the student to disagree with the instructor on a topic of the student’s choosing. This section is intended to stimulate independent and critical thinking. The essays (including any extra credit one) are to be written at home and handed in on the day of the examination when the students answer the multiple choice questions in class. Of course, the essays are to be in correct, concise English! The midterm will take place after we have finished the section on Matthew's Gospel. The final will not be cumulative but cover the material taught after the midterm. Each quiz will be worth 10 points, and the midterm and the final will each be worth 200 points. In addition, students will receive 2 points for every class attended or every excused absence. 1 Upper division students must write a 6 to 10 page paper relevant to the course. The students are free to select their own topics. The topic could be a theme in one of the gospels and/or the Acts of the Apostles, such as women in Mark’s Gospel or miracles in Luke-Acts. Or the topic could be some aspect of the life or teaching of Jesus (e.g., whether he thought that he was the Messiah) or some institution that influenced Jesus or the gospels (e.g., the first century synagogue). The paper is worth 100 points. 2 Matthew, Mark, and Luke-Acts Lecture Notes by Scott Gambrill Sinclair The Gospels, the Gospel, and the Synoptics; the Origin of the Synoptics; an Outline of the Course; the Cultural and Historical Background of the Synoptics I. How certain books came to be designated "gospels." A. The Greek word "euangelion" which we translate as "gospel" means "good news." B. In early Christian usage it became shorthand for the Church's proclamation of salvation through Jesus Christ (e.g., Rom. 1:1). C. Later the term came to be applied to written documents which contained this good news, and, especially, to documents which recounted the words and deeds of Jesus. D. Nevertheless, the older usage in which "gospel" was a synonym for the Christian proclamation continued. E. Consequently, individual documents were identified as different versions of the one gospel (The Gospel According to . ). F. These titles are not from the original authors but were added in the second century. II. As "good news" suggests, such documents are both history and proclamation. A. They tell us about the past words and deeds of Jesus and to that extent are biographies. B. They recount the origin of Christianity in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. C. They attempt to increase the reader's commitment to Jesus as Lord and to the Christian movement. III. In the course of time, theology and legend drove out history in the gospels. A. Christians wrote gospels for centuries, and, in a way, still write them today. B. Nevertheless, as time went on, new gospels contained less and less history and more reflection, apologetics, and fantasy. IV. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the earliest and most historical and are our best sources for reliable information about Jesus. V. Besides them, only two gospels are important sources for the life and teaching of Jesus: A. The Gospel of John 1. This gospel was written, at least in its final form, around 90-100 C.E. 2. Although it preserves genuine historical facts about Jesus, it concentrates on proclaiming the ultimate meaning of what God did in Jesus. 3 3. This meaning is that the eternal Word of God became a human being in Jesus, and through Jesus we can come to know who God is and share in God's glory. B. The Gospel of Thomas 1. This gospel was rediscovered in modern times. 2. It contains only sayings attributed to Jesus. 3. A form of this gospel existed in the second century. 4. Thomas appears to be based on oral tradition that has already been influenced by the New Testament gospels. 5. Therefore, Thomas is less important for reconstructing what Jesus taught. 6. Nevertheless, some of the sayings in Thomas that are not recorded in the New Testament may go back to Jesus. 7. And Thomas can be used to study how oral tradition evolves. VI. By comparing Matthew, Mark, and Luke with John and Thomas, we can see why the former came to be called "synoptics." A. The meaning of "synoptic" is to "look at together," hence, to compare. B. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are much closer to one another than they are to such gospels as John and Thomas, and, much closer than, for example, John and Thomas are to each other. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke basically the same material occurs in the same order, and there are many similarities in the actual wording in the original Greek. C. Consequently, we can make detailed comparisons between these gospels, and they have come to be called "the synoptics." VII. The synoptics have important similarities in theology which are not shared by such gospels as John and Thomas (for example, the synoptic emphasis on the second coming of Jesus). VIII. Like the other gospels the synoptics are the end result of a long history. A. Jesus said and did certain things. Most of what he said must have been in his native language, Palestinian Aramaic. B. After his departure, people remembered and repeated these things including in early Christian teaching and preaching. C. Then someone, probably Mark, working in Greek produced the first written account of the life and teaching of Jesus based on oral tradition. D. Later Matthew and Luke used Mark plus other surviving tradition to produce their own gospels in Greek. IX. At each point of this long history, people added their own perspectives to the material as they responded to their own situations. X. To study this long history we must work backwards one layer at a time, and that is what we will do in this class. A. What survives is the gospels, and we must begin with them. B. In studying the gospels individually we have to start by looking at their messages to their own situations. Therefore, we will look at the individual theologies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the social situations which they addressed. C. Once we have dealt with the peculiarities of these gospels, then we can 4 try to uncover the older traditions that underlie these documents and, finally, get back to the actual life and teaching of Jesus. XI. In this course I will not attempt to survey all viewpoints about the synoptics but instead will merely present my own (which in most respects are in the scholarly mainstream) and give you the tools to formulate your own viewpoints. A. Perhaps no set of books has been studied and debated as much as the synoptics. B. Consequently, there are countless opinions, and we cannot survey them here.