Question Sheet for Jesus and the Rise of Early Christianity (REVISED

DUE DATE – the whole lot is due Oct 18, 2010)

 Please type your answers up and submit them as a separate document (i.e. do not
write answers on these question sheets).

 All answers are to be submitted through the assignment drop-box, located next to
reception.

 All assignments are to have a cover sheet on them.

 Some questions will need only a sentence or two, some may require as much as a
paragraph (but probably no more!)

 The exercise is a comprehension exercise which is meant to encourage a close

reading of the Barnett textbook. You are being asked to show you have read and
understood Barnett. Therefore, if you disagree with Barnett, this is not the place to
talk about it.

Chapter 9

1. What are the two options Barnett presents for when Paul received the traditions
concerning the resurrection of Jesus?
2. What is unique about the resurrection appearance of Jesus to Paul?
3. Which Psalm does Barnett regard as key to understanding the ministry of the
ascended Jesus?
4. What is the tangible evidence of Jesus’ coronation in the book of Acts?
5. After the initial outpouring at Pentecost, what is the normal way the Spirit comes in
the book of Acts?
6. Why is it important to draw the link between the historical Jesus and the exalted
Christ?

Chapter 10

1. Which scholar does Barnett cite as making a case for the continuous veneration of the
“upper room” (hint: you will need to check the footnotes?
2. What is the “tongue” that Barnett believes the disciples were speaking on the day of
Pentecost?
3. How were the messianic community different from the Essenes?
4. What examples does Barnett supply for the words of Jesus appearing in the letters of
Paul?
5. Why did there develop a divide between Hellenists and Hebrews?
Chapter 11

1. What were the consequences of the apostles’ decision to appoint seven men from the
Hellenist community as administrators of support for Hellenist widows?
2. What is the significance of the Theodotus inscription?
3. What did Stephen understand about the temple that the Galilean-Hebrew apostles
were slow to learn?
4. What was Saul’s role in the persecution of Christians?
5. What does it mean, within first century context, to be a zealot?
6. What were the evangelistic consequences of the persecution in Jerusalem

Chapter 12

1. Why is Peter’s life somewhat obscured in the book of Acts?

2. What are the three parts to Peter’s ministry between AD 33 and 47?
3. Why did Peter and John travel to Samaria following in Philip’s footsteps?
4. Who was Herod Agrippa, and what reasons might he have had for persecuting the
early Christian movement?
5. Why did James rise to prominence in the Jerusalem leadership, instead of Peter?

Chapter 13

1. Why are the first fourteen years of Paul’s ministry largely passed over by Acts?
2. What other sources do we have, other than Acts, for Paul’s “unknown” years?
3. What did Paul mean by “Arabia”?
4. Which Greek thinker did many Damascus base its grid plan on?
5. Why did Paul have to leave Jerusalem after his meeting with Cephas in AD 36?
6. Why does Barnett believe Paul was educated to an elementary level of Greek
education?
7. What are the differences between a proselyte and a God-fearer?
8. Why are God-fearers important in understanding the development of Paul’s mission?

Chapter 14

1. Why did Paul and Barnabas head inland to evangelise the high country of the
Anatolian plateau?
2. Why did Saul’s name change to Paul?
3. Why does Barnett say that Paul’s initial ministry westward to the Gentiles happened
at an “unpropitious time”?
4. Who are the agitators referred to in Galatians? What was their message?
5. Why did James rise to the leadership in Jerusalem?
6. What is the controversial part of the Jerusalem Decree, and why is it controversial?
7. Why does Barnett call the southern part of Galatia, “Phrygian Galatia”?
Chapter 15

1. What are the possible reasons Barnett identifies for Peter quitting Judea in the late
forties?
2. Where was Peter’s first letter written from?
3. Who are the two colleagues associated with Peter who helped him write? What books
of the New Testament are they to be associated with?
4. How is it that 1 Peter can sound Jewish, and yet be addressed to Gentiles?
5. In which geographical area did John, son of Zebedee, minister after AD 50?
6. How does Barnett resolve the apparent conflict between Paul and James?

Chapter 16

1. What suggestions does Barnett offer for Paul’s preference for Roman cities?
2. Why are we able to date the rule of Gallio in Corinth?
3. Why was Ephesus such an important city?
4. Who Mnason of Cyprus?
5. How do we think that Paul died?
6. Why was the “Jerusalem Collection” so important to Paul?

Chapter 17

1. Why was preaching a Davidic Messiah to Samaritans a problem?

2. Where does Barnett think the Gospel of Matthew was written from and to?
3. Which second-century bishop is associated with Antioch, and what did he say that is
important for the development of early Christianity?
4. Who was Hebrews written to?
5. What were the normal size limitations on a house-church?

Chapter 18 (there are no questions to be completed for Chapter 18)

Chapter 19

1. In what two ways does John’s Apocalypse differ contemporary Jewish expectations?
2. What was the impact of the fiscus Judaicus on Christians in Asia?
3. When was the first temple for the deity of Augustus erected?
4. Who does Barnett think is referred to by the number 666?
5. What does Barnett mean by “polemical parallelism”?