Tamara, Ana and Jessica's 3rd part of the assignment

Written by Jessica in her house though.

1. Why did a divine figure as Jesus get crucified by the human race?
2. Why do humans have sins? Why do they sin?
3. What happened to those who claim to be Christians but do not follow the God's law?
4. How do you know heaven and hell exist?
5. If God watches over his people, why are there Christians that suffer and live in agony?

Maggie, Felipe, and Jimena

1. People have many different meanings of the word salvation, including: the act of delivering from sin or saving from people; a means from preserving from harm or unpleasantness; the state of being saved or preserved from harm; saving someone or something from harm or form an unpleasant situation, but in my opinion I think that salvation is the act of believing in God and always trying our best to make the right decision in order to be saved from sin.
2. Paul's presentation of salvation includes: The Human Dilemma; The Divine Solution through Christ's Death; The Gospel Message Is Rooted in the Scripture; Christ's Death and Resurrection Bring Freedom from the Powers Opposed to God; The Gospel Message Is Consistent with God's Dealings with Israel and Represents a Fulfillment of His Promises; The Law-Free Gospel Does Not Lead to Lawless Behavior; Close of the Letter.  Paul presents two perspectives on Salvation: The Judicial Model and The Participationist Model.  The Judicial Model presents three different defenitions: Sin-human disobedience that brings a death penalty; Jesus' Death-payment of the penalty of sin; Appropriation-acceptance of the payment through faith, apart from works of the Law.  The Participationist Model also presents three different defenitions: Sin-a cosmic power that enslaves people; Jesus' Death-defeat of the power of sin; Appropriation-participation in Christ's victory through baptism.
3. Dear Lucrious, I've heard that you are from Bulgaria and that you don't know anything of faith.  I want to tell you that to me, salvation is when someone believes in God, someone who has a lot of faith, and that repents their sins, that when judgement time comes he is saved from all kind of sin.  I think that if you have faith in God, and you repent from your sins, you will be saved.  I hope that you make a wise decision.  Hoping to hear from you soon, sincerely, MFJ.

Jessica, Tamara, and Ana... SALVATION!!!!

sal⋅va⋅tion [sal-vey-shuhn]–noun

1.	the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.

2.	the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.

3.	a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.

4.

Theology. deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption. According to Paul, God's salvation comes to those who have faith and that salvation comes first to the jew and then to the Gentiles. He also claims that all sinners are to get salvation through Christ's death [the divine solution.]

questions...Gaby

Salvation---the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.

Paul's salvation way---he believed that they would be saved. 

Catholicism to a buddhist---catholicism is a religion that worships one god, jesus. Salvation in catholicism is when you believe in a god that he will save you. Like the israelites they waited to be saved. 

Carmen

1. Salvation:the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.
2. Paul's  concept of salvation:is the culmination of a long evolutionary history in biblical times.The nature of the "law" moved from an unspecified kind of faithfulness, through rather rigid and increasingly elaborate apodictic,ritual formulations, to common wisdom and finally an open kind of motivational renewal "in the Spirit".

3. Christianity is at least three things:

   • A set of beliefs
   • A way of life
   • a community of people

   • Christianity separated from the main body of Judaism for two major reasons:

     1. Christianity came to regard Jesus as in some sense God's presence in human form. This was unacceptable to most Jews.
     2. Judaism is defined by a covenant made between God and the Jewish people. Part of this covenant is the Law, a set of religious and ethical rules and principles. Most Christians came to regard both this covenant and Law as in some sense superseded by Jesus' teaching and the community that he established. On the night he died, Jesus talked about establishing a "new covenant" based on his death and resurrection.

Salvation by Gabriel and Ricky

1. In our opinion salvation is the opportunity of going to heaven through faith and good works.

Faith is believing in the Holy Trinity which is God the father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus the son.  And believing that Jesus died for our sins.

2.  Paul presents two main models for salvation in the book of Romans, the judicial model and the participationist model.  The judicial model is easier for us to wrap our heads around and therefore it will be the only one mentioned.  The judicial model is based upon the idea that God is the lawmaker and the judge.  God has made the laws and everybody in the world, not just the Jews, have broken these laws.  The punishment for breaking these laws is death, but the solution for this punishment is the death of someone who does not deserve death.  Jesus was this someone and God brought him back from the death because he was satisfied with the punishment.  Through this model humans can be saved by trusting that God will find it acceptable, it was not by earning or deserving it, it was by someone else's sacrifice for us. 

3. Christianity is the belief that God's son, Jesus Christ, came down to Earth to die for our sins and save us from eternal death.  Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected three days later.  People can be saved through belief in the one true God and that his son Jesus Christ died for our sins.  God loves us all.

Felipe-The Judicial Model

God is a lawmaker who has made laws for people to follow, everyone however had broken the laws. God is also the judge before whom people appear as lawbreakers. The divine solution to this problem is again conceived in judicial review. The problem was sin, which is understood to be a transgression of God's law.

Felipe-

Gabriel The Theme of the Epistle

Paul is not ashamed of the gospel.  Paul's gospel is God's powerful means of salvation.  This salvation comes to those who have faith.  Salvation comes first to the Jew and then to the Greek.  The gospel reveals the righteousness of God. The Scriptures proclaim the gospel. 

Ch. 21 Conclusion... Ana.

It isn't certain, but it's said that Paul succeeded in his Western mission and gained a following among Christians in Rome. Romans is the most closely reasoned letter that survived. In it, it's said that God's power that brings salvation for both Jew and Gentile.

Question: According to the book of Acts did Paul get arrested?

Answer: Yes.

Maggie

Box 21.2 The Beginnings of the Roman Church

In Rome, on 57 or 58 C.E., the Christian Church was already established, is probably the date for Paul's letter, although no one knows for sure.  Scholars say that writings of the Roman historian Suetonius, are evidence that Christianity already existed about a decade before Paul's letters.  By the 50s, Roman Christianity was mostly made of Gentiles.  But scholars, don't know who brought Christianity to Rome.

The Participationist Model Ch.21 - Jessica

There are two different models of Christian salvation: Judicial and Participationist.

The Participationist Model is a very similar one to Judicial, but it is different on that the sin is not simply a disobedient action that a person does against God, but it is a kind of comic power, an evil force that compels people to live in alienation from God. It relates the power of sin to the power of death, as it is seen that death is not only to stop breathing but it is to be overpowered by a cosmic power and to be permanently removed from the realm of God.

In this model, Jesus' death has a meaning as though the power of sin was defeated, while in the Judicial model is simply portrayed as the payment of the penalty of sin.

At last, the appropriation according to this model is the participation in Christ's victory through baptism. 

JP Box 21.1

In this box they are talking about how paul started his letter to romans in a weird way. Another indication that is a letter that pail spent some considerable care in constructing, giving thought to how he might win over this important church his gentile mission.

Pauline Models For Salvation...gaby

There are two models that paul uses for understanding the importance of Christ's death in the letter to the romans. The judicial and the participationist models. These models understand that human beings are somehow alienated from god and that Christ's death and resurrection work to resolve the problem. It talks about the two models that are the solution to the problem, for salvation. 

The Flow Of Paul's Argument by Tamara Torrez-Koll

Paul's flow has seven main points. The first point is that the Jewish scripture is the condemning scripture. The second is the solution to this problem, both for the Jews and Gentiles. This solution is through Christ. However, the Gospel message comes from Jewish scripture. The next argument follows and broadens on this one, by presenting Christ as the Jewish saviour, through who's death and resurrection, everyone is saved. So since Christ s death frees the people, God has kept his promise and fulfilled it. The Law is left behind, for it taught the people to sin, so a Gospel world without the Law no longer has sin and is therefore not lawless. Then Paul closes his letter, greeting many people which scholars think may not be part of the original.

Question: Who is God's mortal enemy?

Answer: Death

 

Box 21.5 Ricky

Paul explains Jesus' sacrifice as analogies.  In the analogies Jesus is a mediator between two people and by his sacrifice he restores his relationship.  Jesus' blood is the price that was payed, a sacrifice that was made, and a rescue from physical danger.

Hugo: Comparison and Contrast of the Two Models

Paul's gospel is not "Justification by faith" or "union with Christ." In both of them, the problem is "sin," but in one model, sin is an act of disobedience that a peron commits, whereas in the other it is a cosmic force that works to enslave people.

Who's Jesus Christ?

Jimena Marquez

Box 21.4

The Judicial Model

Sin-human disobedience that brings a death penalty

Jesus' Death- payment of the penalty of sin

Appropriation- acceptance of the payment through faith, apart from works of the law

The Participation Model 

Sin- a cosmic power that enslaves people

Jesus' Death- defeat of the power of sin

Appropriation- participation in Christ's victory through baptism

Box 20.4...gaby

2 corinthians...

This book seems to embody at least two of Paul's letters, of these letters they were taken and edited. You could trace Paul's relationship with his community with these books. After he wrote 1 corinthians, he visited corinth again and faced public humiliation. afterwards christian apostles arrived in town advocating a view that paul opposed. Paul was angry and responded with a letter that could be found in chapters 10-13, sent through a personal messenger, Titus. The letter had an affect on the community and wrote a conciliatory letter in response found in chapters 1-9. Some of the apocalyptic themes of 1 corinthians can be found in 2 corinthians. 

HUGO/JOSE BLOG

1 Corinthians is written to the church located in Corinth, in the Roman Province of Achaia.  Paul converted former pagans to faith in jesus.  Most of the pagans were poorly educated.  When Paul left the community disunity within the church began. Paul discuses the understanding of resurrection.

Maggie and Jimena

Box 20.11 Philippians

Philippians is written to Christians telling them how Paul had converted the Philippi city to Macedonia.  Many say that Paul wrote this letter from prison in a location that is unknown. Philippians is made up of two or more letters.  Paul, basically, wrote the letter of Philippians to all of the Philippian Christians who supported Paul during this time.  "Christ hymn," is said to represent a pre-Pauline tradition.  

Box 20.1... Tamari & Ana

The Corinthian concept of death differed from the Pauline concept of death. There were three different ways that death and life after death was portrayed.

The first, which was most common in the Roman world, was that death was the end of life. After death you would cease to exist.

The second was a Greek concept of soul. In this the soul or spirit was unattached to the human body. Therefor after you died you went on existing in a disembodied form. 

The third is now the most commonly held Christian one. This is the doctrine of the bodily resurrection. In this, the body is ultimately resurrected at the end of human existence and ascends into the afterlife. 

Gabriel and Skippy 20.12

Paul wrote the letter from prison, to a relatively wealthy Christian Philemon, about his runaway slave Onesimus, whom Paul had converted. The letter is an intervention on Onesimus's behalf, urging Philemon not to punish him. Paul may have wanted the letter to suggest that Philemon give him Onesimus for his own service.

Ricky and Felipe Box 20.8

The letter to the Galatians is written to a group of churches that Paul established in the Roman province of Galatia in Asia Minor.  After Paul left other missionaries came in and started insisting another version of the gospel.  They insisted that Gentiles had to become circumcised and keep the Jewish Law to be right with God. Paul's angry response with an autobiography sketch designed to show that his version of the gospel came directly from God through a version from christ. He then argues vehementaly  that salvation come to Gentiles by faith Christ alone. The letter concludes with ethical admonitions.

WHAT TO EXPECT -Jessica

In the books 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Phillipians, and Philemon, we can see diverse problems that the Church at the time was facing. When Paul faced the problems, he wrote letters to address different situations. The problems were quite diverse, from false teachers who considered themselves Christians but whom Paul thinks are cursed, to members of a Christian congregation who were sleeping with prostitutes and didn't understand why that should be a problem, to a run away slave Paul had met who was not eager to return to his owner.

In this chapter, we are going to study the Pauline letters that addressed those issues.

Blogging Assignments

Text Chapter 20, Page 316
Assignments: Read the assigned box and summarize in a blog. Summaries by team, not indivuals.

• Box "What to expect" : Jessica
• Box 20.1: Tamara, Ana Luisa
• Box 20.2: Hugo, Jose
• Box 20.4: Lu, Gaby
• Box 20.8: Ricky, Filipe
• Box 20.11: Jimena, Maggie
• Box 20.12: Skippy, Gabe

Paul in Thessalonia by Tamara Torrez-Koll

Paul's mission to spread the new Christianity around the Roman world was widespread. He traveled far and wide and worked to maintain the new converts. Thessalonia was no exception. Thessalonia's conversion, though was not the typical Pauline example. In Thessalonia it is hypothesized that Paul set some sort of shop. In this shop he came in contact with his costumers and began to convert people that way. Since most were pagans Paul's first task was to convince them that there was only one God. Another problem that later faced the Thessalonian church was the prominent idea that the world would soon come to an end. Paul did address this issue ad others in his epistles.  

Boys on 1st Thessalonians

Paul did not preach in a local synagogue, on a street corner, and he did not stage evangelistic rallies.  Paul actually started a business and talked and converted his customers, who were mostly pagan.  Paul appeared like a philosopher in the Greco-Roman world.  It is the oldest book in the New Testament. It has facts from a  different points of views. It will always be different. by the end, previously learned it is always a theory, like all the bible. the only thing we can do is have faith. 

How did Paul convert the people in Thessalonica - Jessica

We don't know for certain how Paul managed to convert the people in Thessalonica so the Thessalonians came to build a church on their own but we can suppose some certain things.

1. Paul was used to go speak with assembled Jews. For this reason, he may have convinced the Jews in Thessalonica first, and eventually they could have caused an influence to the Thessalonians.

2. It is said that Paul and his companions received attention in Thessalonica. Using this attention, Paul managed to preach in front of the people more easily.

3. Not everyone believed on what Paul preached, however he did not get discouraged.

4. Paul preached that Jesus is the Messiah and the Christ. He reinforced that Jesus is the King and focused on his suffering and resurrection.

5. Paul used the Sabbath days to preach as the people were free from work.

6. When there were people that did not understand or misunderstood his preach, Paul tried his best to reason the doubts they had.

Maggie, Jimena, Lu, Gaby

PAUL>>>>

Most people believed that paul was just passing by and that he was not going to stay. Paul converted a number of people over a period of three weeks after a group of jews wanted to run him out. he and his companions preached the gospel night and day. Like philosophers they exhorted, encouraged, and pleaded.

Hugo Arellano, and Sebastian Figueroa

During this last retreat, we experienced something different from what we had already done. It was different, because we got to meet the teacher in a different "plan" if you could say. It was a very good idea to let us as students choose where did we wanted to go, because we  felt better talking with the teachers that we already know, and trust. 

It was also awesome, because we had a lot of fun. It was fun, because meetings were not the only thing we did, we could also go in the pool and the lake. you could also concicer as a time for us to reflect and turn in to better people, well if you could say we are good people. 

retreat...Gaby

This year retreat was okay. I like the fact that we could split up into groups and talk about a certain topic and that the groups were small enough so we could share our opinion. I liked the fact that we changed the location to Pana, though the hotel wasn't very nice. Next year they should plan with more time. I didn't like the fact that we had to cram into little beds because we didn't all fit in the room and that we didn't have any toilet paper so we had to go to other rooms and ask for some. I liked the bamboo because of the hotel but what i did like about this years hotel was the view we had. I liked the fact that the lake was right in front of the hotel and that you could go in it and i liked that it was a very wide open space. There was a lot of space to be around on. I also didn't like the food but that was the least of a things since we had the big box of food in our rooms. The activities were fun and the night game was fun too, and ice cream night was fun also.

Felipe Retreat

I learn something new about this retreat. You cannot have the same hobby for ever you need to change ones in a while. I think the retreat needs to be cooler this retreat did not have any games so it was kind of boring. 

Retreat... Jessi, Tamari, and Ani

Ana's story:

 As Jessica was flipping though channels on the TV I noticed Alvin and the Chipmunks were on, so I started yelling to go back. Finally they found the channel again. It had been a while since I had heard the chipmunks talk, so when I heard Alvin talking in Spanish I found it hysterical. I found myself wanting to use the little lady's room so I got up the bed with difficulty (because of how much I was laughing) and ran to the bathroom. What I didn't remember though was that Ms. Rivera, Tamara, and Jessica had showered before, so there was a huge puddle in front of the bathroom door. I slipped, obviously, and fell on my knees/legs, and started laughing even more. I had to crawl to the bathroom, and laughed all the while. What made it even worse was that I could hear the chipmunks' voices as I was in the bathroom. I washed my legs, and when I came out of the bathroom I was still laughing. For the rest of the show I kept laughing and laughing. Haha. =D

Tamara's Story:

After dinner the first night of the retreat, Jessica, Ana, Christian, Michael, Catia, Skyy, and I went down to the pool. Catia shared with me the brilliant idea of throwing someone into the pool. The sky was quite dark, a velvet blue as we concocted our master plan. We informed the others of our plan and settled on Skyy as our target. Thus we began the process of trying to get him in the pool. We seemed so close; he was holding on to the edge of the pool with curled toes. Yet somehow with the six of us we could not manage to get him in. We pushed, he pulled, he ran, we caught him, and forced him towards the pool again. Unfortunately for us, we had a couple weaknesses. Mostly Ana's fear of getting her jeans wet was our greatest disadvantage. A disadvantage that our foe, Skyy, very quickly picked up on. He would grab hold of Ana's wrist with amazing strength and relentlessly pull her towards the pool. Ana would yell, "No! No!" And one of the Sanders twin would pull her back. This happened a couple times and greatly slowed our progress. At one point Skyy had a firm grip of my hand, I pleaded with him like Ana, and managed to pull myself free only to be under a pile of bodies. After I was able to recover from this we went after Skyy with renewed force. Finally his body splashed into the pool, and the six of us remained dry. Victorious at last! 

Jessica's story:

 We (Ana, Tamara, Catia, Jana, and I) were bored in our room and decided to play poker. I had brought with me my brother's Texas Hold'em Poker set so we settled in the balcony and played it but we had some troubles in the way we knew how to play it so we just stopped playing it. Then Jana went out and we decided to play BS with Michael, Christian, and Skyy but since they could not go in our rooms we had to go outside to play it. We had so much fun, but since the name BS includes an inappropriate word, we decided to change it. Christian brought up the idea that some people say "baloney sandwich" instead of it. Ana thought it was hilarious. Then Skyy brought up another phrase for the game which was "M&M's" which was used to say that you had gotten away with lying after your turn, since no one could do anything about it. We kept playing it until dinner time, and played it while we were eating. Ana, Catia, the Sanders twins, and I got bored so we ended the game. Too bad for Skyy and Tamara.

*We think retreat should be longer... and have more free food. =]

Retreat Experience-Jose P.

I had a nice experience in the retreat. It was fun, I think it's good to have a retreat, to create a closer relationship to God. I really liked sharing some time with the teachers. I liked hearing their advice on several topics. I think it was good to hear different answers, especially from bothe genders. The lake in my opinion was the best thing, i really enjoyed it. So this is what i think, this is my experience.

Carmen

Well what i thought about the retreat was that it was a good retreat.  But i think it could of been better. But still i did liked the retreat this year.  i really did not like the hotel rooms jajaja. so i hope next years retreat be in another place. i dont care if it is in pana but i would like to be in another hotel.  

Maggie and Jimena

We learned many things in the retreat.  We learned about the beginning, the middle, and the ending parts of a faith journey.  We also got the opportunity to hear many anecdotes and funny stories from different teachers at IAS. Maggie's and Jimena's favorite part was Gender Time, because many weird events occured during this time. Girl readers may know about this happenings. Seniors told us about there fun activity about baptism.  The night games that we play throughout the whole retreat were awesome, too.  We had so many experiences, from which we learned different things.

Ricky and Gabriel Retreat

On the first day of the retreat we arrived at Vision Azul at Pana.  There we enriched our religous faith and the teachers passed down their knowledge.  On the second day we had two meetings where the teachers passed more of their knowledge and we went to swim in the lake.  In the lake we had a "seaweed fight"  and played a game called mafia.  We came back to Xela on Friday.  It was a very fun experience. 

Jessica, and Ana... Spiritual Emphasis

Our study of the New Testament has given us an understanding of what spiritual concepts the first Christian communities had and how they relate to our own.  We have also learned about events that are clearly spiritual throughout the whole of the Testament. Through these events we have learned about the direct interaction with the Holy Spirit and the Christian community's quest for a close relationship with God. 

Jimena Marquez

I think that knowing about the New Testament as we go to the retreat is very important because you are going to learn about the bible. You are going to the retreat to learn about what God made for us and all of the good things that he has done for us. 

Maggie

The New Testament is important for the Spiritual Emphasis Retreat in many ways.  For example, in the New Testament we can see different topics that we can relate for the Spiritual Emphasis Retreat, like topics on revolution, death, trouble, faith, and many more.  I think that the Spiritual Emphasis REtreat is gonna be great!

Spiritual Emphasis Week..Gaby & Lu

• For Spiritual Emphasis week this year i think that it will be very different than the past years. I think that it is gong to be fun to change places from the coast to Pana. Though we don't have any speakers coming to talk to us this year i still think that it will be fun, and i am looking forward to it since we weren't even sure if we were going to have a retreat this year.  
  

• Well i am looking forwards for this years retreat. i think it will be a lot different from the passed retreats. but i hope it will be a great retreat! 
  

FElipe marquez Jesus death according to the scriptures

 Jesus was the one whom God had shown special favor. Jewish messianic expectations reflected in the surviving  source are quite disparate.

Jimena

The term Son of Man for example might have made sense to jews familiar with the prediction of Dan that one like a son of man was to come on the cloud of heaven. The term Son of God would have meant something quit different to Jews, who could have taken it as a reference to the king of Israel, then to gentiles for whom it would probably mean a divine man.

Assignment

By Jessica Jeon

JESUS' RESURRECTION FROM AN APOCALYPTIC PERSPECTIVE

"For them, Jesus himself was now exalted to heaven; clearly, he must be the judge about whom he had spoken. Therefore, in their view, Jesus was soon to return in judgment as the Son of Man."

Gabriel 17.2 Jesus, the Messiah, and Resurrection

Some people use Jesus' resurrection to prove that Jesus was the messiah.  Jesus was not the messiah that anyone had expected.  Jesus died for the sins of the world and then he resurrected.

Assignment lu gaby, & joseph

The gospel of Thomas is growing in acceptance among liberal theologians. It includes many sayings of jesus that are not found in the four canonical gospels. this gospel is a collection of 114 sayings of jesus that includes wisdom sayings, parables, proverbs and prophecies. It was believed to be written around 60 CE and in greek. "The gospel of thomas had core elements as old as the synoptic gospels."

The gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical gospels in the new testament and the first of the three synoptic gospels to be written. it was written anonymously. it talks about the life of jesus of nazareth from his baptism by john the baptist to the ressurection. the messianic secret and "obtuseness of the disciples  are important factors.

The gospel of is the fourth gospel in the canon in the new testament.  It contains the sayings of jesus of nazareth.  It appears to have been written with an evangelistic purpose or to strengthen the faith of christians.  Another purpose was to counter criticisms or unorthodox beliefs of jews. John tells the story in four parts: the Prologue, the book of signs,the Passion narrative, and the epilogue. 

Boys Review 3rd Quarter

This quarter we learned about the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  We also talked about how Jesus is portrayed in each of the Synoptic Gospels.  In Matthew Jesus is portrayed as the Jewish Messiah, while in Luke he is portrayed as the savior of the world.  Acts, John, and other gospels were also our topics for this quarter.  Acts was written at the same time as Luke and was written by the same author.  The Gospel of John was traditionally written by John the son of Zebedee and was written in Greek.  We also learned about how Jesus was viewed by other gospels that were written at this time but were not included in the Bible.  This has been an enlightening quarter where we have learned much about the New Testament. 

Assignment

By Jessica, Ana Luisa, and Tamara 

Our study of the New Testament over the past quarter has been quite extensive. We have covered the four Gospels and the book of Acts. As we studied each of the Gospels we used different techniques of analyzing the text. All of the Gospels are now thought to be a form of Greco-Roman biographies. The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus to us as the Jewish savior from scripture. The Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as a universal savior, the savior of the whole world. The book of Acts, though is drastically different. This book appears to be in the form of a historical novel. The reasons for why is the idea that the writer of the book simply adapted a travel diary. This is how far we have gotten under the guide of Mr. Mac. 

Maggie and Jimena

We have learned many things this third quarter. For example, we have learned that the word edit can describe the redaction method of the Biblical interpretation. Literary-historical is the method of interpretation that compares a Biblical document to similar contemporary documents and looks at the cultural and historical context. According to Matthew seven is the number associated with the divine, which is the same number for the number of stages that there is someone's personal life. The Golden Rule says: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Matthew is written in the Greek language. Matthew uses the sources of Mark and Q, and it is a kind of Greco-Roman biography. The prophecy states that the Messiah is the son of David. In Israel's history, every fourteenth generation something cataclysmic happens. The Holy Spirit is said to be responsible for Mary's pregnancy. Marcion was the early Christian teacher. One of the five teachings of Jesus in Matthew is the Sermon on the Mount, where Matthew portrays Jesus as a new Moses, and where Jesus gave the golden rule. According to Matthew, Jesus was the fullfillment of Jewish Law, not the opposition to it, the Jewish Law is basically a commandment to love. Anthesis is a contrary statement. Luke was probably written between 80 to 85 C.E. Luke was written by a Greek speaking Christian. Luke probably used the sources of Mark, Q, and L. A comparitive is a method of analysis that can reveal many different themes. Ancient scholars believe that Acts is more like an ancient novel. The death of Judas is portrayed differently in Acts and in Matthew. The Acts of the Apostles has two volumes. Acts was written between 80 to 85 C.E. just like Luke. The unity of the church is thanks to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The hand of God directs the course of the Christian history.

MrMac: Assignment

Review (using book, study guides, homework, and past tests) and write a summary blog of what we have covered so far in this course during the 3rd Quarter. If you need resources, please ask your teacher for permission to get them.

The Gospel of the Ebionites

The Gospel of the Ebionites is related to the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Nazoreans.  The Gospel of the Ebionites is only partially complete and we only have writings from Epiphanius, and the book is supposed to be a summary of the synoptic gospels.  This gospel is different than the Gospel of the Nazoreans and it is made distinct that they are different. Because of a small mix up of words the gospel makes Jesus and his followers vegetarians.

Sir Skippy Star

Marcion gospels as it said in the book is the most strict of all of them, because it is the one that is the most separate if you could say. it was the most strict, because they use to punish the people who disobeyed the law of God. in my opinion the best religion should be praising God our own way. 

Gabriel The Gospel of the Hebrews

The Gospel of the Hebrews was also written in Greek and was used by Christians in Alexandria, Egypt.  The Gospel was first called the Gospel of the Egyptians.  The Gospel of the Hebrews talks about important events in Jesus' life like his baptism, temptation, and resurrection.  Quotes in the book show that the Gospel was original and not just a collection of parts of other books.  The Gospel has a gnostic slant, and the place were it was written was a center of early Christian Gnosticism; Alexandria.  This book can be found in certain places but it was not included in the bible so you can't find it in a normal library. 

Overall we do not know fore sure the meaning of the gospel of Thomas. Many of the misunderstood and puzziling sayings in the gospel of thomas are apparently are reflecting the notation that within the listener there is a great spark of divine that has a heavenly origin.

There is no word in the gospel of Thomas about Jesus' cruicifixion and resurrection. For the gospel of thomas, jesus' earthly life and activities 

The character of the Sayings (JIMENA)

This sayings in the Gospel might be similar to those of the synoptic gospel. It also states that they are blind . each message In the bible it also states that many of the people in the gospel where blinded by their thoughts about religion. 

Thomas and the synoptics. gaby robles

The gospel of thomas, some scholars debate whether it is considered a form of christianity that is early and independent of that preserved,say, in the synoptic gospels or whether it represents a later development of christianity, based in part on the teachings of jesus found in the synoptics but modified in light of gnostic belief. The gospel of thomas is growing in acceptance among liberal theologians. it includes many sayings of jesus that are not found in the four canonical gospels. some theologians believe that it was first written about 60 CE and later expanded. it was written in greek. three greek fragments from the gospel were found about 1900 CE. basically people dont know whether they should include the gospel of thomas as a gospel because of these reasons.

Maggie

The Gospel of the Nazareans

The Gospel of the Nazareans is also called The Jewish Gospel.  It was written from 100-150 C.E.  Many say that the Gospel of the Nazareans might have been a loose translation of the book of Matthew, but in Aramaic.  But there are others scholars who say that there are different stories in both of them, which makes it hard to know if the author of Matthew and the author of the Gospel of Nazareans are some how related.  In a small community in Western Syria, the Nazareans lived, where many scholars believed that it was the location were the Gospel of the Nazareans was probably composed during the second century.  Many scholars think that this might be the location where Matthew was composed, too.  The bad news is that we don't have a copy of the Gospel of the Nazareans, we just have some quotes from the Gospel of the Nazareans quoted in other written sources.

Felipe Marquez

In a traditional point of view Thomas wrote the Gospel.

MrMac: Assignment Non-Canonical Gospels

Research and blog on the non-canonical gospel that you were assigned from the text.

THE GOSPEL OF PETER - By Jessica

The Gospel of Peter is known to be written by the 8th or 9th century by the Apostle Peter in Syria. It was a prominent passion narrative in the history of Christianity, but over time it passed out of common usage. Only some fragments remain and they ascribe responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus to Herod Antipas rather than to Pontius Pilate and for representing the true Cross as miraculously capable of speech.

This gospel was popular by the second century, but the actual text is still not found. In 1886, parts of its actual text was discovered in Egypt. Since then, we have known of the existence of this gospel.

SOURCES

It is said that the Gospel of Peter has parallels with the three other gospels but actually there are two different opinions about the sources of the Gospel of Peter.

1. Ron  Cameron and others conclude that the author may have been independent from the synoptic Gospels and that he indirectly used the Q Gospel.

2. Raymond E. Brown and others conclude that the author may have been acquainted with the synoptic Gospels including the Gospel of John.

Although sources are not certain, it is possible that the original text was vastly changed by oral tradition.

CONTENTS

Basically it talks about the death and resurrection of Jesus, but there are two main characteristics that stand out.

1. Anti-Judaism. The author opposes to Judaism and Pontius Pilate is exonerated of all responsibility for the Crucifixion. 

2. At the final parts of the text, the author talks as the cross itself is speaking, and it is even floating out of the tomb.

AGAIN, we do not know full content of the Gospel of Peter, and it is not longer used, but some parts are very interesting and they are used to study the Bible by the scholars. ^_^

Thomas and the Q source... Ana.

Some scholars have said that the Q source was made up completely of Jesus' sayings and that the community it was written to was not concerned about Jesus' activities and experiences. 

But many other scholars have doubts about that. There are in fact some stories in the Q source (the temptation of Jesus and the healing of the centurion's son.) But there are no more narratives in the Q source that are known for sure, such as a Passion narrative. The only way to find out is to see the similarities in Matthew and Luke, that re not found in Mark. Yet the Passion narrative between Matthew and Luke are different than Mark.  But that doesn't mean that the accounts were specifically taken from the Q source. There are other sources, such as M and L, that could have been used.

The biggest difference between the Q source and Thomas has to do with the way different communities had preserved them. Thomas denies the future coming of the Son of Man in judgement upon Earth. This theme, though, is important in the Q source. But some scholars, though, say that maybe the theme was added on later. The Q source is thought to be originally not apocalyptic "in its orientation." If the apocalyptic sayings were removed  it would be very similar to Thomas. Therefore, the Q source was originally like Thomas.

Gospel of John by Ana Luisa, Tamara and Jessica

The four ways to study the gospels are historical-literary, redaction, comparative method, and thematic method. The historical-literary method consists of viewing the gospel while taking into account the historical context in which they were written. The redaction method consists of reading the gospel while keeping in mind what is unnecessary and what could be changed in an editing way. The comparative method consists of comparing one gospel to another gospel and other sources written around the same time. The thematic method is reviewing of the central themes in a gospel and seeing why they are important.

These methods can all be used to study John for it is gospel was last written and thus it has used many sources. A historical literary-historical method would provide a contextual view.

Boys blog john

We have studied the literary-historical method, the literary historical method is a method used to study a literary text by asking how its genre text functioned in its historical context and by exploring, then, its historical meaning (i.e., seeing how its meaning would have been understood to its earliest readers) in light of its literary characteristics.  We can use this method to study John by looking at other sources from that were written in that time period and comparing them.  Then we can look at the book the way that people from that time period would have looked at it.  

Now is my turn to talk about the redaction method. Redaction method: is the study of how authors modified or edited their sources in view of their own vested interests and concerns. i think that all of this is talking about whenever other people change some of the words in the scriptures for them to make a little bit more of sense. of course this is written for the people who actually care about it. another thing, could e that it is hard to understand, so they wright it again, and make the people who don't understand to understand. 

The comparative method is a method used to study a literary text by noting its similarities to and differences from other, related, texts, whether or not any of these other texts was used as a source for the text in question.  Scholars used to comparative method in luke to determine who the author was.

 Thematic method is a method used to study a literary text by isolating its leading ideas, or themes, and exploring them, seeing how they are developed in the text, so as to understand the author's overarching em phases. it helps understand the book of John, because it only focus on one theme and it helps us understand more about the book.

Project: Methods Review

We have learned four methods of Scripture study so far:

• Literary-Historical Method
• Redaction Method
• Comparative Method
• Thematic Method

Describe each of these methods, and explain how you would apply them to a study of the Gospel of John.

Jessica, Tamara, and Ana...

The four major themes are:

- The Holy Spirit: Christ promised that his followers would receive the holy spirit following his ascension.

- Evangelism: the author's emphasis on the missionary work of the Apostles, especially Paul and Peter, underscores the central theme of the importance of evangelism.

- Apostolic Authority: The work of the apostles organizing the church and teaching the gospel.

- Opposition to Christianity: Another important theme in Acts of the Apostles is that Christians will encounter opposition. 

-Defense of the Gospel: in other words this refers to the martyrdom endured by early Christians in defense of their faith.

The authorship of Acts is contested because of the lack of evidence to support it. At first the medical terms used in the book seemed to be proof but upon further investigation it proved to be no more specific than what other educated authors of the day would have used. 

We believe the author was perhaps someone who came in contact with early Christian communites, a companion of Paul, or even Luke himself.

Boys Luke

The author of Luke is traditionally known as Luke himself.  Scholars think that the author of Luke was actually someone who was a personal witness to Jesus' acts.  Although  their are disputes concerning wether Luke was the author of Luke or not.  Paul was one of the followers of luke but he eventually did not wrote luke. Luke probably wrote down all of jesus' acts from his view point, and to his understanding. in the end wee really do not know, because everything as you said in chapel is a hypothesis, and it is not proved. Another thing is that we se a lot of stuff repeated, it is probably there for a reason. 

Maggie, Lu, Jime

The book of Acts is a book from a two volume work by Luke.  The book of Acts is dedicated to an unknown Theophilus.  The book has been ascribed to Luke.  Just like Luke, Acts was written around 80 to 85 C.E.

There are several themes for the book of Acts: the Jewish origins of Christianity, the portrayal of Jesus as a Jewish prophet, the consequent movement of the religion from the Jews to Gentile, the proclamation of Jew and Gentile, the delay of the time of the end, the rightness of this religion, the complete unity and harmony, and the hand of God directing the course of Christian history.

MrMac: Acts of the Apostles

1. List the Major themes found in the Book of Acts.
2. Discuss the authorship of Acts. Why do some scholars doubt that the physician Luke, the traveling companion of Paul, was the author.
3. Who do you believe was the author? Why?

The gospel of Luke is one of the four gospels in the New Testament, it portrays the life and death of Jesus. Written around 80-85 C.E by a Greek-speaking christian probably outside of palestine. The sources of luke were Q and L
he dedicates his book to an otherwise unknown person, "theophilus." may have been a roman administrative official, or the name may be symbolic, refering to the other gospels, revels several distinctive themes.
Luke's birth narrative shows the importance of the jerusalem temple, the central institution for the jewish religion.

mr.mac: Gospel of Luke

Discuss the Gospel of Luke.  Include authorship, date, language, audience, and theme.

Luke,.,.,.,, Tamara, Jessica, & Ana.

Luke is a gospel in the Christian Bible. It was written around 80-85 AD. It was written in Greek and was probably written by a gentile-Christian. In its dedication perhaps is one of its important features. It is dedicated to Theophilus, if Theophilus was a Roman administrative it is less important, but when seen as a group of people "Beloved by God" it becomes more important. Luke shows the shift between Jewish and Christian, so if Theophilus is a group of God's Beloved it erases the boundaries between Jewish and Christian when it comes to God's love.

Jimena, Maggie, Gaby

Luke was written by a greek speaking christian around 80-85 C.E. Luke's author probably used the sources of Mark,Q, and L. Luke's author probably dedicated Luke to Theophilus who might have been an unknown person in the New Testament. Historians say that Theophilus may have been a Roman administrative official. The importance of the Jerusalem temple is revealed in Luke's birth narrative, because the Jerusalem temple is the place were God's salvation came. one of Luke's main concerns is to show that God's salvation was rejected by the Jewish people and therefore was sent to the Gentiles. Luke shows Jesus as a born prophet being preacher, as a healer being a prophet, and his death as a prophet. Luke shows that everything that happens to Jesus is according to the divine plan.

boys

In Matthew 5:1-12 and Luke 6:20-36 there are many differences. For example, Luke is longer and it talks more about love for enemies. But Matthew talks more about being a good person and not being a person who loves to fight. They are the same in that they both talk about people being nice to people that are not as fortunate as you. They both talk about being not quick to fights.

redaction/criticism by Ana & Tamara

The Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Plain are very similar except for a few slight differences.
In Luke Jesus talks about the woes of the poor, how blessed are the persecuted, woe to those who are content and conformed with what they have and the world around them. In Matthew it goes on to add blessed are the meek, and the poor, and those who make peace. In Luke it seems to refer more to the immediate followers of Christ while in Matthew it praises those who are building a just society which goes more in line with a Jewish worldview

Mr. Mac: Redaction Criticism

Using redaction criticism compare Matthew 5:1-12 & 43-48 and Luke 6:20-36.

Comparison between Matthew and Luke - Jessica, Maggie, Jimena, Carmen, Gaby

Matthew 5:1-12 says:

The Beatitudes

1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:43-48 says:

Love for Enemies

43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies[b] and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.



Luke 6:20-36 says:

20Looking at his disciples, he said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

23"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
24"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

Love for Enemies

27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.


We can see there are two similar parts in the verses, one for the beatitudes and one for love for enemies. In Matthew we can see that the beatitudes are written in prose form, when in Luke we can see that the beatitudes are written in a form easier to understand and to appeal the audience. In any form, we can see Matthew was more detailed that Luke ever was, because Matthew cites perfectly where Jesus started talking beatitudes and what types of people came along to listen to him, meanwhile Luke uses "Looking at his disciples, he said," form. We can see that Luke used a simplified form to write these verses.
And there comes another similar part, Jesus' sayings concerning the love for enemies. In this part Luke uses a much more detailed writing than Matthew explaining throughly about the love for enemies. So we can't really say which book was more detailed or what type of writing they used because they talked about similar issues and there form of writing varies.

In Matthew 5:1-12 and Luke 6:20-36 there are many differences. For example, Luke is longer and it talks more about love for enemies. But Matthew talks more about being a good person and not being a person who loves to fight. They are the same in that they both talk about people being nice to people that are not as fortunate as you. They both talk about being not quick to fights.