Chapter 1
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1. Tacitus
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2. Suetonius
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3. Pliny the Younger
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4. Josephus
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1. COVENANT (a.k.a. “Testament”)
 A. Definition: the open-ended contract of
love between God and human beings.
 B. Hebrew Scripture
▪ Central focus of Hebrew Scripture = God’s love
for the Jewish people
▪ Fill in the worksheet to recall the major events in Hebrew Scripture
▪ HW assignment
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1. COVENANT (continued)
 C. New Testament
▪ Jesus IS the new testament
▪ God’s promise of love for all humanity
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2. INSPIRATION
 Definition: The guidance given by the Holy Spirit
to the human authors of Sacred Scripture so they
wrote what God wanted written for our benefit.
 Human authors of Scripture use their unique
talents and insights to address a particular
audience
▪ Different authors highlight different theological themes
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3. CANON
 A. Definition: The official list of the inspired
books of the Bible.
 B. Number of Books in the Catholic canon
▪ Hebrew Scripture = 46
▪ New Testament = 27
▪ TOTAL = 73
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3. CANON (continued)
 C. Criteria for inclusion in the canon
▪ 1. Apostolic Origin
▪ Writings were inspired by apostolic witnesses
▪ 2. Widespread Acceptance
▪ Writings were circulated and well-received by
various parts of the church
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3. CANON (continued)
 C. Criteria for inclusion in the canon (continued)
▪ 3. Conformity to the Rule of Faith
▪ Writings reflect the truth about Jesus and his
teachings
▪ Consistent with one another
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3. CANON (continued)
 D. New Testament Canon Background
▪ 27 books
▪ Written over the course of 50 years
▪ 50 C.E. – 100 C.E.
▪ Written in Greek
▪ Written by many different authors
▪ Contains many different types of writing
▪ Gospels , personal letters, homilies/sermons,
symbolic writings
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3. CANON (continued)
 E. Parts of the New Testament Canon
▪ 1. Gospel = Good News
▪ Jesus himself is the Gospel of God’s love and
salvation for all humanity
▪ Preaching about Jesus is also the Gospel
▪ 4 written versions of the Gospel
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3. CANON (continued)
 E. Parts of the New Testament Canon (continued)
▪ Gospels (4)
▪ The only books of the NT that narrate Jesus’
life, preaching, works, death, and
Resurrection.
▪ Evangelist – a person who proclaims the Good
News of Jesus Christ. “The four Evangelists”
refers to the authors of the 4 Gospels:
Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John.
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3. CANON (continued)
 E. Parts of the New Testament Canon (continued)
▪ 2. Acts of the Apostles (1)
▪ Narrates the spread of the Gospel after Jesus’
Resurrection
▪ Written by same author as Luke’s Gospel
 “Luke volume 2”
▪ Focus on Peter & Paul
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3. CANON (continued)
 E. Parts of the New Testament Canon (continued)
▪ 3. Pauline Epistles (13)
▪ Letters written to support and educate
Christian communities or individuals
▪ Some written by Paul himself, some written by
his disciples
▪ Examples: 1&2 Corinthians, Romans, Galatians
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3. CANON (continued)
 E. Parts of the New Testament Canon (continued)
▪ 4. Hebrews (1)
▪ Called a letter, but more like a sermon/homily
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3. CANON (continued)
 E. Parts of the New Testament Canon (continued)
▪ 5. Catholic Epistles (7)
▪ “catholic” = universal
▪ Letters written for all believers/the entire
church
▪ Examples: James, 1 & 2 Peter, Jude
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3. CANON (continued)
 E. Parts of the New Testament Canon (continued)
▪ 6. Revelation (1)
▪ Highly symbolic work
▪ Apocalyptic style
▪ Written to encourage persecuted Christians
3. CANON (continued)
Create a graphic organizer or outline of the
New Testament canon.

For each of the 6 sections include:
The section title
A brief description (think: bullet point) of the section
A drawing that illustrates a characteristic or the content
of the section
A list of the books in that section (in the order they
appear in the NT)
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Stage 1- Jesus –Life , Death, Resurrection
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Stage 2 -Oral Tradition
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Stage 3-Writing the Gospels
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
Summary of each stage in notes
Timeline of 3 stages
 Label each of the 3 stages on the timeline and
color-code each stage
“0”
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
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Agree or Disagree?
 Scripture means whatever we personally
think it means.
 Some things in Scripture aren’t true.
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1. Catholic Perspective
 The Bible should be read both prayerfully
and critically.
▪ Looking at the literary and historical
context of the Scripture texts
 2. Key Questions:
 What religious, social, cultural, and historical
realities influenced the Scripture writer?
 For whom was the text being written? How
might the author have adapted his material to
help this particular audience understand the
message?
 What literary device is used? How should we
interpret the passage in light of that device?
 Example: Luke 3:7-9
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3. 2 Senses of Scripture
 1. Literal Sense
▪ What does the text actually mean?
 2. Spiritual Sense
▪ What does the text mean for believers?
 Example: Matthew 15:10-11
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1. Source Criticism
 Tries to determine what source(s) the writer
used to compose his work
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2. The Synoptic Gospels
 “synoptic” = seen together
 Synoptic Gospels = Matthew, Mark, & Luke
♥ = encyclopedia ☼= article ◘ = website ∞ = interview
Student 1
♥♥♥♥
♥♥♥♥
♥♥♥♥
Student 2
☼☼♥♥
☼♥♥☼
◘♥◘◘
Student 3
∞∞∞ ♥
☼☼♥♥
∞∞☼♥


How many sources did each student use?
How many total sources are there?

What do all 3 have in common? What is common to 2 out of the 3?

What is unique about any student’s work?
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3. The Four Source Theory
 Mark was written first
 Luke & Matthew used Mark as a source (♥)
 Luke & Matthew also used “Q” as a source (☼)
 Luke & Matthew each had their own unique
source
▪ Special Luke – “L” (◘)
▪ Special Matthew – “M” (∞)

Draw a diagram to illustrate the 4 source
theory.
 Include: Mark, Matthew, Luke, Q, M, L
 Take into account:
- Mark was the first Gospel written
- Matthew and Luke used Mark
- Matthew and Luke used the “Q” source
- Matthew used a unique source “M”
- Luke used a unique source “L”
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4. The Q Source
 From the German word “quelle” which means
“source”
 Lost source that contained many of Jesus’ sayings