NEW TESTAMENTHISTORY & LITERATURE

Dr. Ted Hildebrandt ted.hildebrandt@gordon.eduBCM 103 Office: MacD 111Tel: Ext. 4412 Spring, 2017Office hours: Usually in 8:00-12:00 MWF Usually in 8:00-12:0 TR

1. COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will introduce the student to the New Testament by examining each book as to its content, major questions and themes. An introduction will be given summarizing the historical and cultural developments that took place between the testaments. This will provide a necessary background for understanding the cultural milieu of the various audiences reflected in the New Testament. The life of Christ as portrayed by the various gospel writers will be developed in detail. The spread of the gospel via the ministries of the apostles will be examined, with emphasis on the work of Peter and Paul in the book of Acts and selected epistles. The course will conclude by developing the themes and structure of the book of Revelation.

2. OBJECTIVES:

1) You will know what happened between the testaments and understand how those cultural developments impacted the New Testament.

2) You will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the chapter content of a large portion of the NT (Matthew, Acts and Revelation).

3) You will understand the nexus between the book of Acts and the epistles of Paul.

4) You will gain a factual knowledge of the major events of Christ's life and the core elements of his teachings.

5) You will be able to communicate an appreciation for the NT and its relevance to spiritual formation, development of a personal values system and worldview. Did Jesus come to promote a worldview?

6) You will delight in exploring the life of Christ and the relevance of His teachings to the existential issues which are faced by all humankind.

7) You will be able to describe the flow of thought and major themes of most of the NT.

8) You will be able to rehearse a detailed knowledge of the life and message of Jesus Christ.

9) You will be able to quote many key passages of the NT by memory. 10) You will understand the development and struggles of the early church.

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3. TENTATIVE CALENDAR:

Week 1: Background: Babylonian, Persian, Greek, the synagogue, Samaritans

Week 2: Background: Hasmoneans, Romans, sects Week 3: Matthew Week 4: Matthew Week 5: Mark, Luke Week 6 Synoptics; Background and Synoptic

Exam Week 7: John Week 8: Acts Week 9: Acts Week 10: Romans Week 11: Corinthians;

Exam: Acts, Romans, Cor Week 12: Pauline Epistles Week 13: Non-Pauline Epistles Week 14: Hebrews Week 15: Revelation; Exam: Epistles,

Revelation

4. Tentative Evaluation Percentages: generally I begin my curve with the following and then curve from there.

100-90 [A/A-]89-80 [B+-B-]79-70 [C+-C-]69-65 [D] 65-0 [F]

Quizzes 30% [Generally quizzes every Thurs.]3 Exams 50%Google Earth Pro Project 10%Class attendance and Participation10%

5. Extra Credit may be received (up to 5 points) by: Extra credit projects may be earned: (up to 5%) email or talk with me to set this up. [Due by May 8]. The filling of all requests for such extra credit will cease on May 4th.

1) This semester we will be working on finishing the transcribing the The Bible in 5 presentations series. What this amounts to is transcribing those lectures (2 presentations = 5% [usually takes 5-7 hours]. There are also full lectures on Apocrypha and Cultural

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Background to the NT by David de Silva. (5%). Talk to me as I’ll need to set it up online for you. These will need to be word perfect and sign at the end affirming that Once the transcription process is completed we can work on putting section titles and timings (10-18 per lecture) for the various lectures online (talk to the prof. about which ones need doing).

If you are into graphic design and would like to do something alongthe lines of crafting a parable visually, etc. (reformatting our website to

make it look more visually and useable) please talk to me early in the semester.

If you’re a Computer Sci. person and want to play with fly thru’s of Israel using Google Earth Pro tells talk. I’m also interested in developing games that teach NT content if you have any ideas and want to pursue development. If you want to explore Unity 3D [C# programming] and VR or Kolor PanoTour Pro (GoPro) or Engage VR by Immersive VR Education. One can also survey the VR space looking at Lecture VR, Altspace VR, ZSpace, InstaVR and Immersive VR Education, Unimers, Kolor, Google VR, and others to see what is going to be the best development platform to use in the future. Let me know as there are several things we can explore in that realm. Another path would be to develop your own fill-in-the-blank questions for Matthew and/or Mark. Or if you are a programmer in Javascript to help modify the present quizzer to include fill-ins. Talk to me if you’d like to pursue this option.

If you speak a foreign language fluently (Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, Japanese) you could work on translation projects translating the class PowerPoints or some of the transcriptions.

If you get in trouble grade-wise in this course use extra to bail yourself out. If you’re willing to work you can get the grade.

Extra credit is due by mid-night Monday May 8—plan ahead – late work on this will not be accepted. Hard deadline. No EC requests will be accepted after May 4.

6. Honors option: If a student receives over a 93 on the first exam and has

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maintained a 90 or better quiz average, s/he may request the honors option. The student will work on a project with the prof. related to the OT Web site, fitted to their interests, skills and possible options. Often 2 lectures are

transcribed and/or titling and timing lectures can be done. This project will replace the final exam hereby easing your finals week preparations. You final exam score will be an average of your first and second exam. Talk to me if you’d like to do this option after you’ve taken the first exam. We also may be developing a series of fill-in the blank question sets for Gen. – Deut. As another option. This option must be requested no later than one week following the second exam.

Required texts:

All your reading materials will be available on Blackboard and/or my web site. The fee for these materials is $20 which saves you at least $50 from having to purchase a textbooks etc. These articles are available in print and audio formats

and a DASV translation/audio of the entire NT is also available. Get Lost in Jerusalem online will be used at various times in the course and will

be available in various computer labs on campus as well as online.

All students taking the course are required to purchase these online course materials for $20 cash. Please pay for them during the first week or so. If payment is received after Friday Feb. 3 the price goes up to $40 and no quizzes or exams will be accepted or make-ups allowed after Friday Feb 3 is passed if payment has not been received. In short, get your $20 in before Feb. 3 as I don’t want to have to chase you down especially when I’m trying to save each of you well over $50 per student [compare how much it is for textbooks in your other classes].

I do not make anything personally from this as the funds are used to develop the more supplemental materials for the OT/NT courses.

Basically everything you need is on the web site. Blackboard will only be used for the gradebook. If something is posted wrong in the gradebook you have two weeks to make request for a change after that there is no changing it.

The web site is: http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/index.cfm then go to BCM 103 NT Lit and everything will be developing there over the semester. It probably would be good to bookmark it. The other way to get there is to simply Google “Ted Hildebrandt” and look for Gordon College usually at the top of the search list of links. The weekly assignments are listed there. The online “syllabus” takes precedence over this printed syllabus as we make our way the course this semester. In short, the printed syllabus which is found both on Blackboard and on the web site may become obsolete so keep your eyes on the web site version of it on a weekly basis.

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Gordon workload statement: For each semester hour of credit, students should expect to spend a minimum of 2-3 hours per week outside of class in engaged academic time. This time includes reading, writing, studying, completing assignments, lab work, or group projects, among other activities.

Cheating Policy: Cheating in any form will result in an automatic failure of the entire course.

Students with Disabilities: Course AccommodationGordon College is committed to assisting students with documented disabilities (See Academic Catalog Appendix C for documentation guidelines). A student with a disability who may need academic accommodations should follow this procedure:

 1.     Meet with a staff person from the Academic Support Center

(Jenks 412, X4746) to:a)     make sure documentation of your disability is on file in the

ASC,b)    discuss the accommodations for which you are eligible,c)     discuss the procedures for obtaining the accommodations, andd)    obtain a Faculty Notification Form.

 2.     Deliver a Faculty Notification Form to each course professor within the first full week of the semester; at that time make an appointment to discuss your needs with each professor.

 Failure to register in time with your professor may compromise ourability to provide the accommodations. Questions or disputes about accommodations should be immediately referred to the Academic

Support Center. See Grievance Procedures available from the ASC.

A. Attendance policy: Students are expected to attend class sessions. The discussions in class are an essential part of your learning (character and habits of life matter). Attendance will be taken. You will be allowed 3 absences, over that points will be deducted from your attendance score unless you have written excused absences (sports, sickness etc.; see form at the end of this syllabus). You are responsible to find the attendance sheet and get your name on it for each class. 4-5 absences deducts 1%; 6-7=2%; 8-9=3%; 10-11=4%; and 11-12=5%. Participation will be built off responses given in class when we summarize and evaluate at the end of each 10 minute

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segment of mini-lectures

B. Quizzes: The quizzes focus on the actual content of the Bible reading, memory verses and supplemental reading (exams will be over the lectures—Use the NT Lit Bible Quizzer as much of the quiz will be pulled from the questions found in that quizzer). All quizzes should be taken on time.

Missed quizzes will be assessed as to whether they are excused or unexcused. Unexcused absences will result in an automatic deduction of 20% for that quiz. Both excused and unexcused absences must be made up within one week from when the quiz was originally given. If a student gets to class late after the quiz has begun, the quiz must be made up within the next week as either excused or unexcused. You are not allowed to use electronic devices of any sort for the quizzes. Open head closed phone, pod, pad, tablet, or laptop etc.

C. EXAMS: All exams must be taken on time. They will be over the lecture material. Exams are not like quizzes. The exams will be builtoff the questions in the interactive video/quiz combos. I am also trying to load these questions on “Quizlet.com” which will offer an alternative way of learning them.

For exams no electronic devices will be permitted in the room so leave your cell phones, ipads, iphones whatever at home for the time of the exam. I will developing two things this year to help this class: 1) NT Bible Quizzer which will

be thousands of questions on the content of the NT books we will be covering; 2) I will be breaking up the video-taped lectures and writing up questions for those lectures which will be on the exams and putting them on www.Quizlet.com.

Ben will be taking notes on our question sessions and that material will also be available and on the exams.

5. Integrity and Classroom Etiquette

This is a large class and because of abuses in the past I am declaring this a digitally free zone (no computers, pads, or phones). If you must have use of these devices for academic purposes the front two rows will be reserved for those special exceptions.            This is a class in biblical studies. Integrity is at the heart of what is being

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learned. Thus any cheating or plagiarism will result in an automatic failure of the whole course. If you are unclear what falls into the category of plagiarism check in the Student Handbook pp 8f. Gaming, surfing, texting, email reading/sending, tweeting, IM, YouTube, Facebook, etc. in the classroom are rude and unacceptable. Be wise. Here are a few comments on classroom etiquette. Class times are learning times for discussion, taking notes and interacting. The following activities are inappropriate inside the classroom context: talking to others outside of the class discussion flow, whispering, sleeping, hand-holding, touching and massaging another, un-civil comments or behaviors not conducive to the learning environment. Basically anything that is disruptive to the classroom instructional environment is not kosher. Students engaged in these activities will be asked to leave the classroom and must talk to the professor in person before being readmitted.

6. RESOURCES BIBLIOGRAPHY: General Introductions:

Achtemeier, Paul, Joel Green, and Marianne Thompson. Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.

Blaiklock. E. M. Cities of the New Testament. London: Pickering and Inglis, 1965.

Brown, Raymond. An Introduction to the New Testament. New York: Doubleday, 1997.

DeSilva, David. An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods &                                              Ministry Formation (InterVarsity Press, 2004). Ferguson, Everett. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. Grand Rapids:

Eerdmans, 1993. Guthrie, D. New Testament Introduction. Downers Grove, IL:

InterVarsity Press, 1971. Pfeiffer, C.F. Between the Testaments. Grand Rapids: Baker Book

House, 1972.Powell, Mark A. Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey (Baker Book House, 2009).Stein, Robert. Jesus the Messiah: A Survey of the Life of Christ.

Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996. Yamauchi, E. Archaeology of the New Testament Cities in Western

Asia Minor. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980.

7. Assignment: Google Earth Pro Historical Fiction Project

1. Form Groups the first week of classDownload and install the free Google Earth Pro Program

https://www.google.com/earth/download/gep/agree.html

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2. What town and biblical story/stories took place at your site in Israel? Select town and story Locate the town in Google Earth Locate the biblical stories that took place at that site [Jacob’s well, Jerusalem-Temple; Jerusalem- Siloam Pool; Jerusalem—Pool of Bethesda, Jerusalem—Gethsemane; Jerusalem—Golgotha; Jerusalem—Potter’s Field, Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Gerasa, Caesarea Philippi, Mount of Beatitudes, Bethlehem, NT. Jericho, Jordan River, etc.]

3. Turn your Google Earth Pro fly over into a video to introduce your story

4. Do background research writing a historical fiction built off one of the biblical stories.Research: Commentaries on your biblical story (use the best ones; vid. Library reference room

“BS” section on the wall across from the Bistro Bible Commentaries: Look up the biblical passage you are building your story off of 1) Word Biblical Commentary [BS 491.2. W66] 2) NIV Application Commentary [BS 491.2 N58 3) New American Commentary [BS 491.2 N43] 4) New Interpreters Bible [BS 491.2 N484] 5) New International Commentary on the Old Testament [BS1143.2. N4W Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedias: good for cities, sites and customs 1) Encyclopedia of the Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land [DS 111. S785] 2) Anchor bible Dictionary [BS 440.A54] 3) The International Standard bible Encyclopedia [BS 440.F6] 4) The Illustrated Bible Dictionary [BS 440. I44] 5) Dictionary of Daily Life by Marv Wilson and Ed Yamauchi [BS440. Y37] 6) Encyclopedia Judaica [DS 102.8 .E496] NT: 1) New International Commentary on the New Testament [BS 2341.2 .N4W] 2) Baker Exegetical Commentary [BS 2346.2. B35]

5. Develop your story: plot, characters, scene, intersection with the biblical narrative, interesting, inspiring, compelling, professional, spiritual formative and integrate the research you did (ca. 400-500 words).

6. Do a fly in tour to your site in Google Earth Pro and pick up pictures of that site on the Internet from Google Earth pictures and especially: Dr. Carl Rasmussen’s site: http://www.holylandphotos.org/ Any of Dr. Rasmussen’s pictures can be used with the citation: "Image(s) courtesy of www.HolyLandPhotos.org" by Dr. Carl Rasmussen

See if you can get 3-10 pictures of your site from the land. Take 6-10 pictures of your own in support of your storyline (use artistry not just snapshots)

6. Use Windows Movie Maker (PC) or iMovie or something like that to put your story together and export it as a movie. Put out the final project as an mp4 video.7. Prepare your project and upload on Youtube.com Schedule for the Historical Fiction and its presentation:  1) Form group, pick a town and biblical text story Jan. 31 (Tues.) 2) Develop a fly into your site using Google Earth Pro Feb 28 (Tues.) 3) Do your research on your site and story [commentaries and dictionaries] Due: March 7 (Tues.). Notes turned in citing sources and ideas 4) Develop the text of your historical fiction: March 21 and get supporting pictures 5) Narrate the audio of your story, synch it with your fly to video and

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pictures into a video using Movie Maker or iMovie April 25 (Tues.).

6) Put it up on Youtube.com for class presentation on May 2 (Tues.).

How to learn: Google Earth Pro Tutorials on Youtube.com

Movie Making with Google Earth Pro : 13:01https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV-6Qn8Um-

I&index=2&list=PLnNXzYjQerJii1DRd4CpE6UGruhy5jnZz&t=47s Producing Google Earth Movies: 8:11 min. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV-6Qn8Um-I&index=2&list=PLnNXzYjQerJii1DRd4CpE6UGruhy5jnZz&t=47sGoogle Earth Tours: Tutorial: 8:25 min.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Ru0xyb-uM&index=3&list=PLnNXzYjQerJii1DRd4CpE6UGruhy5jnZz&t=48sCreating Virtual Tours in Google Earth: 14:55 min. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQvrB5aRV_Q&index=4&list=PLnNXzYjQerJii1DRd4CpE6UGruhy5jnZz&t=38s Google Earth Basics 2016 Tutorial: 15:45 min.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klK27l3unng&index=7&list=PLnNXzYjQerJii1DRd4CpE6UGruhy5jnZz&t=66s Learn Google Earth: Recording a Tour: 3:12 min.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuz6P2ftWB0&index=8&list=PLnNXzYjQerJii1DRd4CpE6UGruhy5jnZz&t=71s

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Group Leader's Project Evaluation Sheet

Site Chosen: _____________________________________ Title of your story: ______________________________

Group Leader: _________________________________

Member Name: ______________________________ Evaluation: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Member Name: ______________________________ Evaluation: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Member Name: ______________________________ Evaluation: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Member Name: ______________________________ Evaluation: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Member Name: ______________________________ Evaluation: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Member Name: ______________________________ Evaluation: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Member Name: ______________________________ Evaluation: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Member Name: ______________________________ Evaluation: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Signature of group leader: ______________________________

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NTS TENTATIVE ASSIGNMENT SHEET (vid. Online schedule)

NOTE: Depending how the semester goes, oral instructions given in class may over-ride this projected written schedule. The syllabus andupdated assignment schedule will also be posted online.

http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/index.cfm or just Google: “Ted Hildebrandt” look for the Gordon College site

and then bookmark it.

Final Exam over Picture Scripture charts [Matthew, Acts, Revelation]; Class lectures/discussions since the last exam and the memory verses since the last exam (May 17 [Weds] 9:00-11:00). The final exam schedule is set by the registrar and is set in stone make your flight

plans accordingly.

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FAMILY TREE FROM MATTAHIAS TO HEROD AGRIPPA (cp. Gromacki p. 16 and Scroggie p. 29)

MATTATHIAS 167 BC

Johanan Simon Judas Eleazar Jonathan died in murdered died in died in murdered battle 134 BC battle battle 142 BC 161 BC 161 BC Diplomat Hasmonean Line Maccabee:hammer HYRCANUS I Alexander Jannaeus

Hyrcanus II Aristobulus II executed 30 BC poisoned 49 BC

Alexandra - - - married - Alexander Antipaterexecuted beheaded

Mariamne - - married to/killed by - Herod the Great [Jesus]

Herod Philip 4BC-34AD Herod Antipas Aristobulus Archaelaus Mk 6:17 4 BC-39 AD 4 BC-6AD first husb- Galilee & Judea & and of Perea, Samaria Herodias Iturea & Trac

Herodias Herod Agrippa I [John Bapt. Killed by] Mk 6:17 AD 37-44Forsook Herod Acts 12:1Philip for Herod Antipas (Jn Bapt killed) SalomeBy Philip Paul’s trials

Bernice Herod Agrippa II Drusilla Acts 25:13 AD 48-70 Acts 24:24 Acts 25:13

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Keeping the characters of 1 Maccabees straight Philip of Macedon (Alexander the Great’s father; Alexander studied under Aristotle)

Persians -- Alexander the Great [Greek, ca. 333 BC]—defeated the Persians [=Iran][Darius] Alexander dies: 1) Ptolemy takes over Egypt 2) Antiochus Ephiphanes over Syria

(ca. 168 BC)—Israel between these 2

The book of Maccabees records the wars between the Syrians under Antiochusand the five sons of the old priest Matthias (Maccabee) from Modin (ca. 168 BC).

Antiochus IV called Epiphanes (tyrant, desecrates temple, persecutor of Jews)—King of Syria

His Generals: Apollonius (minor)Scron (minor)*Lysias [main general] who battles with Judas Mac. while

Antiochus is off to battle in Mesopotamia

Under Lysias are: Ptolemy, Nicanor, and Gorgias (his aids)Lysias fights Judas Maccabeus for Jerusalem and Bethzur

(elephant battle); Judas defeats Gorgias and then LysiasJudas then rededicates the temple (=Hanukkah)

Antiochus Epiphanes dies:

Antiochus Eupater + Lysias make peace with Judas fearing instability backin Antioch where Philip and Demetrius oppose and kill them (Lysias &

Antiochus Eupater). Demetrius becomes King of Syria.Demetrius puts the corrupt Jewish priest Alcimus in the High priesthood

Bacchides is Demetrius’ general who fights the JewsNicanor [diplomat/general] tricks Judas Mac. but is defeated.Bacchides is sent again and Judas is finally killed.Alcimus is killed and Bacchides makes peace with Jonathan Mac.

who is sworn in as High priest)

Demetrius II takes over the Syrian throne in opposition to Alexander Balas. Apollonius fights for Demetrius II and Jonathan Mac. defeats him.

Demetrius II and Ptolemy VI (Egypt) make an alliance.The Maccabees will go to Rome for a treaty to stop the Syrian aggression.Later Ptolemy of Egypt will go up and fight against Syrians (Alexander)Tryphon, pirate type, supports Alexander Balas’ son Antiochus as ruler of

Syria, Tryphon fights and murders Jonathan.

Simon is the only Mac. left. Demetrius II recognizes Simon’s priesthood; underSimon becomes hereditary called the Hasmonaean dynasty. Simon is later murdered and John Hyrcanus his son takes over

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Absence from Class Form: (Due within one week of absence)

Name ___________________________________

Date of Absence: ________________

Reason for Absence:

Signature of RA/RD, Doctor/nurse or coach to verify this: _______________________

Your Signature __________________________ Date: ________________

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