RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS Teaching Jesus of Nazareth MAURICE RYAN JACINTA PETERSEN Teaching Jesus of Nazareth ________________ Resources for Teachers Maurice Ryan Jacinta Petersen lumino Press Published in Australia in 2020 by Lumino Press PO Box 1024 Hamilton QLD 4007 www.luminopress.com.au [email protected] © Maurice Ryan and Jacinta Petersen, Teaching Jesus of Nazareth: Resources for Teachers ISBN 978-1-921538-45-2 The authors assert their ownership of the original material in this manual. No reproduction of this work - manual, digital or otherwise, in whole or in part - is permitted without specific written permission by the authors. Permission is granted for those who have purchased this manual to use the materials with their own classes and students, as allowed by the Copyright Act. No further permission is required in these cases. All attempts have been made to establish the rightful owners of copyrighted material used in this manual. Anyone who believes their rights have been unintentionally infringed is encouraged to contact the publisher. The Scripture quotations contained herein are from theNew Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible: Catholic Edition copyright © 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All URLs described in this book were live and active with appropriate content at the time of publication. Due to the dynamic nature of the internet, no responsibility can be taken for subsequent changes, additions or deletions to these sites. A number of pages in this book were designed and created by Kylie Phillips, an experienced and gifted classroom teacher. We are grateful to Kylie for sharing her expertise in our book. AUTHOR CONTACT DETAILS Dr Maurice Ryan is an author, publisher and lecturer in religious education based in Brisbane. [email protected] Dr Jacinta Petersen is a Senior Lecturer in Religious Education at the Catholic Institute of Western Australia in Perth, Western Australia. [email protected] RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS TITLES Teaching the Christmas Story Teaching Jesus of Nazareth Teaching the Easter Story TEACHING JESUS OF NAZARETH 1 Contents ________________ THE LIFE AND CAREER OF JESUS OF NAZARETH The Historical Jesus 3 Mapping Jesus 4 Real Estate Advertisement 5 Building Jesus’ World 6 See, Think, Wonder 7 News Headlines 8 Jesus Using Social Media? 9 Images of Jesus and his Mission 10 Jesus the Carpenter 11 Jesus the Carpenter in Art 12 Was Jesus a Carpenter? 13 Word Find - Jesus and the Gospels 14 Jesus Reading and Writing 15 Could Jesus Read and Write? 16 A Life of Jesus in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 17 This is Your Life! - Jesus 18 Mind Map - Jesus 19 Voice-Over Commentator 20 The Transfiguration - Historical Investigation 21 Character Emotions Thermometer 22 RAFT Writing 23 Jesus as a Child - Then and Now 24 Jesus as a Child 25 Text Messages 26 My Inquiry - Exploring the Life of Jesus through Art 27 Eight Ways of Knowing Jesus in the Gospels 28 Jesus of Nazareth: A Poem 29 Jesus and Sculpture 30 Re-imagining Stories of Jesus in our Times 31 Perspectives on the Historical Jesus 32-33 Jesus of Nazareth: Story Starters 34 Story Bag - The Story of Zacchaeus 35 Random Word Association - Jesus Calls His Disciples 36 Baptism of Jesus 37 Jesus’ Baptism through Drama and Music 38 JESUS THE JEW Jesus the Jew from Galilee 39 Wonder Wall - Jesus the Jew from Galilee 40 Picture Writing - Jesus of Nazareth 41 Main Titles for Jesus in the Gospels 42 Create a Jesus Slide Show 43 A Life of Jesus 44 My Image of Jesus 45 Image of Jesus - Before and After 46 Interviewing Others about Jesus’ Jewish Faith 47 Father Abraham 48 Jesus the Jew: Official Catholic Church Documents 49-50 Jesus the Jew in the Gospels 51 Jewish Festivals and New Testament References 52 Jewish Festivals Research 53 Jewish Festivals - News Report 54 JESUS AND MONEY Jesus, Wealth and Money 55 The Ways of Wealth 56 Jesus, Wealth and Money - Quotable Quotes 57 Money and the Women of Galilee 58 Six Thinking Hats: Poverty and Justice 59 The Divide Between Rich and Poor 60 Children’s Literature - Poverty 61 Causes and Effects of Wealth Distribution 62 Persuasive Argument Organiser 63 John Chrysostom - Wealth and Justice 64 Money Words 65 Exploring Wealth in Early Childhood 66 I Used to Think...But Now I Think 67 Election Campaign - It’s the Economy 68 MAURICE RYAN JACINTA PETERSEN I RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 2 TEACHING JESUS OF NAZARETH JESUS AND LEADERSHIP Jesus and Leadership 69 Jesus: Leadership Style 70 Annual General Meeting: Jesus Reform Movement 71 Biblical Resources for Reflecting on Leadership 72 Groups Who Followed Jesus 73 Jesus and Servant Leadership 74 Jesus Under Pressure 75 Was Jesus a Great Leader? 76 Exploring Leadership in Early Childhood & Primary 77 Children’s Literature - Leadership 78 Qualities of a Good Leader 79 Creating a New Brand Image 80 Write a Mission Statement 81 Design a Logo 82 PUZZLES AND GAMES Using Puzzles and Games to Teach Jesus 83 Dictionary Race 84 Tic-Tac-Toe 85 Jesus of Nazareth Board Game 86 Games Jesus Played: Mill 87 Word Game Board 88 Ten Jesus Word Games 89 Who Belongs Here? 90-91 Basketball Team 92 Ten Classroom Team Activities 93 Story Jigsaw 94 GALILEE Jesus and Herod Antipas 95 Herod Antipas: Memorable Quote 96 A Biography of Herod Antipas 97 Jesus’ Home Town - Nazareth 98 Dear Diary 99 Galilee Herald 100-101 Jobs and Occupations in the Gospels 102 Wanted to Hire 103 Archaeology in Capernaum 104 Become an Expert 105 Virtual Field Trips: Galilee and Beyond 106 ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS Collaboration When Teaching About Jesus 107 Developing Thinking Capabilities 108 Plus, Minus, Interesting 109 Consider All Factors 110 Using Poetry to Teach Jesus 111 Mantle of the Expert 112 Project Tree Planning Chart 113 Inquiring into Jesus 114 Who Was Jesus? TWLH Chart 115 Talking Tub 116 Frequently Asked Questions 117-8 MAURICE RYAN JACINTA PETERSEN I RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS TEACHING JESUS OF NAZARETH 3 The Historical Jesus ________________ The life and career of Jesus of Nazareth has come into sharper focus over the past generation. The Nicene Creed - the Church’s statement of its core beliefs - included a mention of Jesus, but only fleetingly: “by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried”. This formulation moved from the birth of Jesus to his death, skipping over any consideration of the circumstances and meaning of his life and career. Recent years have seen a burst of scholarly activity designed to provide greater insights into the historical Jesus than was provided in the Nicene Creed. A battalion of scholars has come forward to research the historical Jesus. These scholars have brought to their task a range of theoretical perspectives and commitments. The gospels are the main source for their historical research, but other texts are also relied upon, especially those written by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus who lived and wrote in the same era as the New Testament authors. Scholars also sift and search the evidence provided by the geography, languages, philosophical perspectives, religions, political organisations, architectures and other artifacts available to archaeologists. Today, many and varied perspectives are offered by scholars concerning issues such as: who was Jesus?; what was his mission and purpose?; what was his relationship to Jewish religious authorities?; how is it best to understand his preaching, teaching and healing ministry? Also, scholars have attempted to discover aspects of his life and career, such as: what did he look like?; what clothes did he wear?; what was his occupation prior to (during?) his public ministry?; and, his level of literacy: could he read and write? and could he speak other languages besides his own Aramaic? The scholarly answers to these kinds of historical questions are determined, in part, by the cultural contexts of the scholars themselves, by which biblical texts they choose to highlight, and by their personal, political and social interests. Each scholar attempts to describe a portrait of Jesus that as closely as possible resembles the original subject who conducted a public ministry in Roman Palestine in the first century of the Common Era. Unfortunately, historical research has limits; not everything we would like to know can be told by historians. All forms of inquiry have limits. Each adds something to help solve the puzzles involved in coming to know Jesus. The field of historical Jesus’ studies is large and growing. Debates and disputes among scholars can be lively and contested. Scholars tend to disagree on many key points. Some scholars think Jesus was a political agitator, others think he was a Jewish version of a Greek philosopher who advocated an austere lifestyle. Some think he was a prophet who announced the end of times about to happen; other scholars think he did not actually exist and was created by the first Christians for their own purposes. All scholarly insights add fruitfully to knowledge of Jesus; their disputes can be a cause for puzzlement among those who are unsure which perspective to adopt in their quest to understand Jesus. Understandably, students will often ask their teachers for the “right” answer to contested notions concerning Jesus. For many students, ambiguity and contested claims about Jesus are not satisfactory and they seek for the teacher to clear up any ambiguities. The reality is that ambiguity and contest will continue to be characteristic of the study of Jesus in his gospel context.