Name __________________________Period # ____ _______/ 20 points
Encountering Jesus in the New Testament
Directed Reading Worksheet: Part 2
Pages 36-39, The Formation of the Gospels
32. The three stages involved in the formation of the Gospels are:
a. ___________________________________
Dates:____________
b. ____________________________________
Dates:____________
c. _____________________________________
Dates:____________
33. Explain what occurred during the 1st stage of Gospel formation.
34. In the 2nd stage of the formation of the Gospels, the disciples’ lives
________________________ . They began to live in light of the
_____________________________ .With the help of the Holy Spirit, they now
knew that Jesus was the ___________________ , the Promised One, the
___________ of God, and the _______________ .
35. Name and explain the three forms of oral preaching during the second Stage.
a.
b.
c.
36. The final stage in the process was the actual ______________ of the gospels and
other books of the ____________________________.
37. T F. (If false, explain why.) The earliest writings of the New Testament are the four
Gospels.
38. But eventually the oral preaching about Jesus and his teaching had to be committed
to writing for three major reasons. Those reasons are:
a.
b.
c.
Pages 39-48, How the Church Interprets the New Testament
39 T F. (If false, explain why.) Today many Protestant and Catholic Biblical
scholars use the historical-literary method of Biblical criticism to study the New
Testament.
40. Criticism here is not a __________________ term; rather, it means looking at the
biblical texts carefully in their ___________________ and_____________________
contexts.
41. Historical research looks to …
42. Literary criticism analyzes the_______________________________________.
43. Source criticism tries to determine____________________________________
________________________________________________________________ .
44. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as the _________________
Gospels.
45. The Greek synoptikos means _______________________________________ .
46. Scholars theorize that the authors of Matthew and Luke drew on a common
source known as ________ , from the German ______________ meaning source.
47. T or F. (If false, explain why.) We have copies of the ancient manuscripts of Q.
48. T or F. (If false, explain why.) It was Matthew who “invented” the Gospel form
of literature.
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49. _________________ criticism first attempts to discover what the evangelists
really wanted to say when they wrote a particular test. This is called the
_______________ sense of the text. Biblical scholars attempt to determine what
the authors intended and conveyed by what they wrote, drawing on knowledge of
ancient dating techniques, _______________ , _______________ ,
_____________________ , and the like. It asks questions related to the
___________________________________ .
50. Like a ________________ , the New Testament also contains different kinds of
writings. There are a variety of literary forms or _____________ found in the
New Testament.
51. _______________ criticism helps us read the Gospels intelligently. It helps to
identify the genre of a particular text because each genre has its own rules for
composition and ways of conveying _____________ .
52. Give an example that explains why knowing the genre is necessary to understand
and identify the intended truth of the Biblical text.
53. _________________________________ focuses on evangelists as editors, and
how and why they arranged their sources the way they did.
53. Redact means ____________________________________________________ .
54. Redaction criticism tries to discover the particular theological ____________ or
________________ of the given writer and how this influenced his
______________ of the material.
55. Matthew wrote for a _____________________________ audience and stressed
how Jesus…
56. Mark wrote for a local church that experienced __________________________ .
The author presented Jesus as the …
57. T or F. (If false, explain why.) We possess all of the original manuscripts of the
New Testament books.
58. ______________ criticism compares the minor changes and mistakes the copyists
made down through the centuries so that the translations we have today are as
accurate as possible.
59. The ancient texts were written on what two materials? (Describe the materials.)
a.
b
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60. St. Jerome’s translation of the entire Bible into Latin is known as the
_____________________ , a word meaning “common”. His work took place in
_____________________ at the request of Pope Damasus who wanted the sacred
scripture to be in Latin, the _________________________________________ .
The ____________________ became the Church’s official translation of the
Bible from original languages.
61. T or F. (If false, explain why.) Today we read the Bible in the vernacular,
meaning our own language.
Chapter Three: The Essential Jesus
Directions: As you are reading through the chapter, fill in the missing information.
Pages 83-91, Mysteries of Christ’s Life
62. T F. (If false, explain why) All three of the Synoptic Gospels tell us about Jesus’
birth and years prior to the beginning of his ministry.
63.___________________ and ____________________ used these vivid birth and
infancy narratives to introduce and summarize the major theological themes of their
Gospels.
64. Scholars believe that the author of Matthew’s Gospel was a ________________
writing for _________________________________________ . His infancy
narrative draws on themes from the ______________________, with which his
audience would be very familiar. His purpose was to show that Jesus fulfilled
_________________________________________ about the Messiah.
65. Each of the four Gospels uses Jesus’ ____________________ as the starting point of
his ministry. The Gospels all mention that Jesus was baptized by __________________
_____________________________ .
66. The English word parable transliterates the Greek word ___________________ ,
meaning ___________________________ . Parables compare something very familiar
to an ____________________ idea about _____________________ .
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67. The famous definition of parables by C.H. Dodd captured the essence of this literary
form. It is:
A _________________ is a metaphor or __________________ drawn from
__________________ or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or
______________________ and leaving the _____________ in sufficient
_______________ about its precise ______________________ to tease it into
active ________________ .
68. T F. (If false, explain why) Through parables, Jesus wants us the change our
perceptions about reality.
69. The _________________ is the seed and beginning of God’s kingdom. Jesus
promised that he would be with us until the end of time. How does he accomplish
this promise?
Pages 97-113, Jesus the Miracle Worker
70. Name and give an example of the four categories of Jesus’ miracles:
a.
b.
c.
d.
71. T F. (If false, explain why) Belief in Jesus’ miracles requires faith that God has
he power to work through an extraordinary person like Jesus.
72. The New Testament uses two different but related words to express the concept of
miracles. The synoptic gospels use the word ___________________(meaning
____________________ ) for “miracle”; John uses the word
_______________________(meaning _______________) .
73. Jesus’ miracles are also signs of the coming of ___________________________ .
Pages 101-103, Jesus’ Obedience to His Father’s Will
74. Explain what is meant by the term “Paschal Mystery”.
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