Week 3: New Testament Parables Assignments - Reading - Resources - Images

Background Reading (3): Terms and Definitions

Depending on the week's assignment, you may have several pages of Background Reading. This week, you have THREE PAGES of Background reading.

1. Parables and the Synoptic Gospels
2. The Gospel of Thomas
3. Terms and Definitions

Terms and Definitions

There are some references to proper names and places in the readings for this week that may or may not be familiar to you. Please check over this list and make sure you are familiar with these terms before you begin the readings.

People:

• Abraham, Isaac, Jacob: Abraham was one of the great Jewish patriarchs; Isaac was the son of Abraham, and Jacob was the son of Isaac (the Gospels of Matthew and Luke provide a "family tree" for Jesus which makes him a direct descendent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)
• Isaiah: Isaiah was Jewish prophet who had lived in Jerusalem in the 8th century B.C.E.
• John the Baptist: John the Baptist was a Jewish teacher, a contemporary of Jesus, who was executed by Herod (according to the Gospel of Luke, John's mother was a close relative of Jesus's mother)
• Mary: the reference to Mary in the Gospel of Thomas is probably a reference to Mary, one of the disciples of Jesus (there is a non-canonical Gospel of Mary which has some themes in common with the Gospel of Thomas)
• Moses: Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt into the "promised land," and he was also the considered to be the author of the first five books of the Bible, often referred to by the Greek word "Pentateuch"
• Peter: Peter was one of the most prominent among the disciples of Jesus
• Pilate: Pontius Pilate was the Roman procurator of Judea from 26 C.E. to 36 C.E.

Places:

• Galilee: a region in northern Palestine, the home territory of Jesus, including the towns of Nazareth and Cana, and the Sea of Galilee
• Jericho: the city of Jericho is located in the West Bank, about twenty miles northeast of Jerusalem
• Jerusalem: Jerusalem was the sacred city of the Jewish religion, where the Temple was located, before its destruction by the Romans in 70 C.E.
• Judea: a region in southern Palestine

Cultural Context:

• Levites: male members of the tribe of Levi served as assistants to the priests in the Temple at Jerusalem
• Pharisees: the Pharisees were a Jewish movement which emphasized synagogue worship, rather than worship centered on the Temple in Jerusalem; as such, they were the forerunners of rabbinic Judaism which emerged after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans
• publicans: this is the term used for "tax collectors" in the Roman empire
• Sabbath: the Jewish holy day, beginning at sunset on Friday and continuing throughout Saturday, during which no work is to be performed
• Samaritans: Samaritans (from the city of Samaria, in central Palestine), recognized the Pentateuch and followed many Jewish practices, but there was a bitter rivalry between the Jews and the Samaritans; the Samaritan center of worship was Mount Gerizim, not the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
• Satan: Satan appears in the New Testament as the tempter of Jesus and a doer of evil; the Hebrew word "Satan" means "adversary," which is translated in Greek as "diabolos," hence the English word "devil"

Modern Languages MLLL-2003. World Literature: Frametales. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. Page last updated: October 9, 2004 12:48 PM