New Testament Survey Terms

Question 1

God-Fearers

Answer 1

members of the non-Jewish community drawn to Judaism

Question 2

Hellenist

Answer 2

Stephen was more of a Hellenists; realized the importance of prophetic figures.

Question 3

Historical Anachronism

Answer 3

Things or people that happen or appear in the incorrect historical or chronological time.

Question 4

Eschatological Theology

Answer 4

A subject refers to how do people understand the end of the world to be coming.

Question 5

Philo

Answer 5

from a Hellenized Jewish family; tried to integrate philosophy with biblical principles both directly and through allegorical interpretation
of the Bible

Question 6

Epicureans

Answer 6

a philosophy designed to free people from fears and superstitions; believed gods have nothing to do with human existence

Question 7

Parakletos

Answer 7

Literally “the One called alongside,” is a personal designation picturing a Spirit called in after Jesus’ departure as “advocate” to
defend Christians and “consoler” to comfort them.

Question 8

Euaggelion

Answer 8

“good announcement”, “gospel”. It does not refer to a book or writing but to a proclamation or message.

Question 9

Parousia

Answer 9

the second coming of God

Question 10

Koinonia

Answer 10

the practice of community as seen in the early church of acts

Question 11

Messianic Secret

Answer 11

often in the gospel of Mark, Jesus is telling the disciples not to tell other people when he performs miracles. Understanding and
secrecy is a key theme in Mark that conveys that the Kingdom of God is complex and that understanding can only be granted in the Cross

Question 12

Markan Sandwich

Answer 12

Markan sandwiches stories in the gospel to add more meaning and shed interpretive light (or conceal) on each of the stories. An
example is of Jesus stopping in the middle of his way to heal Jairus’s daughter to stop and talk to the hemorrhaging woman who touched his cloak and
was healed.

Question 13

Polyphonic

Answer 13

multiple perspectives that come from different characters, sometimes in direct opposition to one another (found in Gospel of Luke)

Question 14

Stoics

Answer 14

believe in the gods, but are most concerned with proper living. They seek independent actions and thoughts, and restraining passion so that
reason can be improved. Emphasis on duty to emperor, the gods, and the household.

Question 15

Cynics

Answer 15

These stem from another disciple of Socrates but one who disagree with Plato. Behavior rather than abstract thought characterized the Cynic
outlook, specifically frugality and a return to nature, rejecting artificial conventions.

Question 16

Zealots

Answer 16

The Zealots objected to Roman rule and violently sought to eradicate it by generally targeting Romans and Greeks. Zealots who engaged in
violence against other Jews were called the Sicarii. They raided Jewish habitations and killed Jews.

Question 17

Philo of Alexandria

Answer 17

c. 20BCE - 50CE Hellenistic Jewish philosopher in Alexandria Egypt during the Roman Empire. He explained Judaism to the
Hellenistic culture through philosophical allegory.

Question 18

Roman Imperial Theology

Answer 18

Incarnation of God through Emperor

Question 19

Jamnia

Answer 19

location of rabbinic school in the post-Temple era. The rabbis located here were thought of as the spokespeople for the Jewish people.

Question 20

Jerusalem Conference (Council)

Answer 20

Acts 15 meeting to debate whether or not male Gentiles who were converting to become followers of Jesus were required
to become circumcised

Question 21

Proselytes

Answer 21

Gentiles that were drawn to Judaism and became Jewish people

Question 22

Two Source Theory

Answer 22

Mark was the first, Mathew and Luke borrowed from Mark and Q

Question 23

Exousia

Answer 23

The Matthean Jesus teaches with exousia: divine power and authority (Brown, p.178).

Question 24

“Son of God”

Answer 24

A major Matthean motif. The Matthean christological sequence pertaining to divine sonship runs from the angelic announcement
(1:20), God’s revelation (2:15), the voice at baptism (3:17), disciple’s recognition (14:33) and culminating with Peter’s confession (16:16).

Question 25

Fulfillment Citations

Answer 25

In 14 instances where Matthew cites the OT, the passage is accompanied by the formula: “all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet”. This was used by Matthew to inform Christian leaders in settled Christian communities and to give support to their faith.

Question 26

The Casuistic Approach to Law

Answer 26

A love for Jewish law that did not show up in thought or behavior. This is what is criticized by Matthew, who uses the scribes and Pharisees as prime examples of this.

Question 27

Double Tradition

Answer 27

nonMarcan material that Matthew and Luke have in common, explained by the Q source by most scholars (Brown, p.116), and used as part of the Two-Source Theory.

Question 28

Domusâ€

Answer 28

a house for wealthy people in which the door was open and life was public. As a result, when early Christians gathered in the triclinium for a meal, outsiders could see if the rich were seated with the poor, making the Eucharist a visible and perhaps even dangerous activity.

Question 29

Pharisees—

Answer 29

a sect of Judaism whose adherents were known for their exegetical expertise, stewardship of oral traditions and customs, concern with table fellowship, and anticipation of the apocalypse. Jesus may have been a Pharisee.

Question 30

Midrash

Answer 30

a Hebrew term for the body of homiletic stories told by Jewish rabbinic sages to explain passages in the Bible.

Question 31

Davidic Messiah

Answer 31

David's descendent will reign after him.God will treat him as a son.That promise was provoked by David's desire to build a temple for God.

Question 32

Q Source

Answer 32

thought to be a lost collection of Jesus' sayings that influenced and are shared in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, but not Mark.

Question 33

Sophists

Answer 33

philosophers who went from city to city teaching for free. They emphasized material success and were able to argue any viewpoint, whether true or not.

Question 34

Replacement

Answer 34

heme in Gospel of John where Jesus takes something familiar to Jewish tradition and transforms it. For instance, taking the water of the purification jars in John 2 and transforming it into wine, which is symbolic of the blood of Christ purifying sins.

Question 35

Ego Eimi

Answer 35

Greek for "I am". Jesus frequently used this term to describe himself, making him equal to God. This was a source of much hostility between Jesus and the Jews, who saw Jesus' ego eimi sayings as blasphemous, and later saw the Johannine community's worship of Jesus as violating the monotheistic principal of worshiping Yahweh alone

Question 36

Synoptic Problem

Answer 36

Each of the three gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) gives their own account of what happened which changes the importance of the message to the Jewish and Gentile communities to which each Gospel was written separately.

Question 37

Four Source Theory

Answer 37

There are also M & L sources that Matthew and Luke only used, respectively. This is in addition to Mark and Q

Question 38

Engidzo

Answer 38

is the Greek word means " draw near" or " approach". Jesus uses this word (tearm) with great frequency to approaching the Kingdom in the Gospels.

Question 39

Tosepta

Answer 39

Addition. Companion volume to the Mishna. Written by 3rd century sages. It is a "collection of laws and comments" mainly dated to the 3rd or 4th century CE... 4 times size of the Mishna.

Question 40

Roman Centurion

Answer 40

a commanding officer of a company of 100 men/soldiers

Question 41

Sadducees

Answer 41

a Jewish sect which emerged during the Maccabean times, becoming identified with the Hellenized aristocracy and remaining identified with the Jerusalem Temple when others turned away.

Question 42

Gnosis

Answer 42

means knowledge in Greek and is the root of Gnosticism

Question 43

Gnosticism

Answer 43

a sect of a given religion which eschews the physical world in search of a higher, more spiritual realm.

Question 44

Roman Domus

Answer 44

one of the house types most people would have lived in during this period of time in the Roman Empire. Door only closes when the master of the house dies. There is an atrium for business, and shops to sell goods he makes. The paterfamilias is the head of the household.

Question 45

Magnificat

Answer 45

A song of praise that appears in Luke 1, and is often attributed to Mary (though it could have been sung by Elizabeth - and many earlier versions read as such).

Question 46

Dispora

Answer 46

It literally means "scattering dispersion". It is the movement and migration of Jewish people from their established home land.

Question 47

Parousia

Answer 47

It is from Greek. Literally it means to be present. In the Christian theology parousia signifies the second coming of Jesus as a Judge in the eschaton.

Question 48

Myth of Redemptive Violence

Answer 48

violence can restore what is lost by violence (when I get honor I get it at your expense)

Question 49

Myth of Scarcity

Answer 49

there is a fixed amount of money, honor and land in the universe

Question 50

Canonical Criticism

Answer 50

Critical examination of Scripture in light of the OT and NT.

Question 51

Social Criticism

Answer 51

Studies the text as a reflection of and a response to the social and cultural settings in which it was produced.

Question 52

Source Criticism

Answer 52

is the study of the antecedents from which the NT writers drew their information.

Question 53

Notion of Christianity

Answer 53

binding both Jews and Gentiles; not forcing choice between the two cultures

Question 54

Koine

Answer 54

the spoken Greek at the time the New Testament was written; a dialect of Attic (Athenian) Greek that Alexander the Great spread throughout the Hellenistic world.

Question 55

Sensu Plenior

Answer 55

the "fuller sense" of Scripture, understood as the deeper meaning intended by God (but not intended by the human author)

Question 56

Historical Criticism

Answer 56

what the author literally meant to say. Sometimes it requires knowledge of the ancient languages, grammar, idioms, and customs

Question 57

Textual Criticism

Answer 57

"The comparison of the diversities" in Greek Bible manuscripts.

Question 58

Maranatha

Answer 58

Come Lord Jesus OR Our Lord Has Come

Question 59

Structuralism

Answer 59

concentrates on the final form of the NT works. This approach is far more than a general outline.

Question 60

Targumim Aramic

Answer 60

translations of the New Testament some of them are literal some of them are very free. They are made for Jews who no longer speak Hebrew

Question 61

Haireseis (later heresies):

Answer 61

parties, sects, or schools of thought. Referred to in the New Testament pertaining to the three main haireseis of Judaism which are the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes.

Question 62

Mishna

Answer 62

means "repetition" and/or "to study and review" in Hebrew term. It is a written codification in Hebrew of Jewish oral law under the editorship of Rabbi Judah the Prince made ca. AD200.

Question 63

Latifundialization

Answer 63

The consolidation of land for the purpose of creating large commercial estates. It was predatory lending practices by the Romans that enabled lenders to take the land from debtors and force the people to work the land

Question 64

Corrective Gospel

Answer 64

a type of non-canonical gospel that attempts to offer a competing, corrective understanding of Jesus. Examples: Gospel of Judas, Gospel of Mary.

Question 65

Essenes

Answer 65

Jewish sect contemporary with the life of Jesus. Believed that the entire society had been corrupted, so completely withdrew into their own separate community located near Qumran.

Question 66

aretalogy

Answer 66

a special genre of biography where a divine man with preternatural gifts works miracles

Question 67

Demiurge

Answer 67

: it is a concept from the Platonic school of philosophy. It was adopted by the Gnocticism). They distinguished the highest, unknowable god and Demiurge who was the "creator",

Question 68

Shema

Answer 68

Jewish prayer that originally appears in the OT (Hear, O Israel..)

Question 69

eggizein

Answer 69

"has come," the best translation of this verb (in Mark) is probably "come near"

Question 70

Basileia

Answer 70

kingdom, sovereignty, royal power

Question 71

Euthus

Answer 71

Greek, "immediately" or "just then" also "once, strait, forward"

Question 72

blood guilt

Answer 72

This liability for the shedding of blood. If it was innocent blood that was shed the next closest relative under Jewish law became the avenger of blood and it was their duty to kill the murderer

Question 73

Historical present

Answer 73

presenting the text in a way that lets you know that it happened in the past but uses the present tense to describe the story. It makes the story more alive. Says that the story is happening in our midst.

Question 74

Marcan Apocalypse

Answer 74

differs from others in that Rome fulfills the will of God through its wrath on Judea, not the other way around.

Question 75

biblios geneseos

Answer 75

could mean “the record of the generations” of Jesus Christ.

Question 76

Anamnesis

Answer 76

the recollection or remembrance of the past, reminiscence. A prayer in a Eucharist service recalling the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ.

Question 77

Canticle

Answer 77

Song, poem or hymn of priase

Question 78

Motif of Reversal

Answer 78

Recurring theme in Luke. Person's current circumstances are reversed or actions have opposite of expected effect.

Question 79

Metanoia

Answer 79

Greek, to change ones mind

Question 80

episkopos

Answer 80

literally means "one who oversees," or "superintendent," which is the Greek word for bishop.

Question 81

horao

Answer 81

mental seeing

Question 82

blepo

Answer 82

physically seeing