QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS



Part One


Chapter One

Evolving Methods of Gospel Interpretation


Chapter Two

Hellenistic Influences on First Century Palestine and the Ambivalent Response of Jewish Writers


1. Recognition by Scholars of Hellenistic Culture in Palestine
2. Palestinian History and the Ambivalent Jewish Response to Hellenism
3. Jewish Writings and the Response to Hellenism
4. A Spectrum of Acceptance of Hellenistic Culture
5. The Environment of Gospel Writers e.g. the Cynics
6. Access to Hellenistic Education e.g. the Jerusalem Library

Chapter Three

Greco-Roman Impacts on Early Church Interpretation


1. Idealised Interpretation of the Law at the Beginning of the Church
2.Mark’s Historical Situation and His Use of Homer’s Extended Chiasmus.
3.Hellenistic Influence on First Century Christian Theology
4. Early Gospel Interpreters e.g. Origen and Augustine the Neo-Platonist
5. The Damaging Effects of Salvation History and a one-sided view of Christianity.

Chapter Four

Two Differing Hellenistic Approaches to Society - Plato and Aristotle

(a) Platonic Approach c/f Plato, St Augustine, Machiavelli, Calvin, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, Religious Orders, Liberation Theology, Work World.

(b) Approach of Aristotle c/f Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Durkheim, Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, Courtney Murray





Workshops - one gospel at a time, on Mark. Matthew, Luke, Luke's Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John