Guided Reading for The Western Traditions.

Find the answer to each of these questions as it is given in the textbook before moving on to the next question. Some answers, drawn from the textbook alone, will be rather simplistic. They can, and should, be elaborated upon as your knowledge of the subject grows.

The symbol (*) after a question indicates that these might be used for longer essays in your quizzes.

Pages 43 - 71:

  1. What doctrine is notably omitted from the biblical account of the Covenant? (*)

    2.  

  2. What two migrations appear to be involved in the Israelite settlement of Canaan?

    3.  

  3. How are these two migrations depicted in the Bible?

    4.  

  4. How is the name of God represented in Biblical Hebrew?

    5.  

  5. What does "the LORD" or "the Lord GOD" indicate in English translations?

    6.  

  6. Where does the word "Jehovah" come from?

    7.  

  7. What is the "Yam Suf" in the book of Exodus?

    8.  

  8. How did Jewish people take the narrative of the Exodus? (*)

    9.  

  9. How do the books of Joshua and Judges differ in their depiction of the Israelite settlement of Canaan? (*)

    10.  

  10. Who were the Philistines? (*)

    11.  

  11. What did David have in common with the whole Israelite people?

    12.  

  12. When, and following what event, did the Hebrew kingdom break into two?

    13.  

  13. What appears to have been the immediate cause of the Israelite achievement of an independent and united kingdom? (*)

    14.  

  14. What evidence of two independent authors or sources of biblical material was first noticed by Jean Atruc?

    15.  

  15. What are J, E, P, and D in terms of biblical analysis? (*)

    16.  

  16. Why were detailed descriptions of the Jerusalem Temple so important to the authors of P?

    17.  

  17. What Greek notion may have later played a role in the New Testament?

    18.  

  18. Out of what does the prophetic tradition appear to have grown? (*)

    19.  

  19. What is meant by "the literary prophets?" (*)

    20.  

  20. What is communicated in prophetic writing? (*)

    21.  

  21. Upon what do the force of the writing of Hosea depend?

    22.  

  22. What transition is marked by the Exile in Babylon? (*)

    23.  

  23. What institution was born during the Exile? (*)

    24.  

  24. What momentous event occurred in 538BCE?

    25.  

  25. To what earlier event is the return from Exile likened?

    26.  

  26. Zerubbabel was the last of what kind of king?

    27.  

  27. To whom did the term "messiah" refer before the time of Zerubbabel? What did it come to mean later? (*)

    28.  

  28. Why is the term yehudi, "Judean," said to be ambiguous?

    29.  

  29. What notable achievement occurred in the second Commonwealth or post-Exilic period?

    30.  

  30. What is the Hellenistic Period? What does Hellenistic mean?

    31.  

  31. What is the Diaspora?

    32.  

  32. When was the Bible (or parts of it) first translated into Greek?

    33.  

  33. What is the Septuagint or LXX?

    34.  

  34. What change accompanied the translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek?

    35.  

  35. What was the initial reaction of the Greek culture to the Jewish traditions?

    36.  

  36. Who were the Ptolemies and the Seleucids?

    37.  

  37. Who were the Maccabees?

    38.  

  38. What is the focus of the holiday called Hanukkah?

    39.  

  39. After the Maccabean revolt what was the relationship of Hellenic culture and traditional Jewish law?

    40.  

  40. What is pesher?

    41.  

  41. What did the Sadducees believe about life after death? (*)

    42.  

  42. What was the Pharisees’ aim for the commandments entailed by Jewish law?

    43.  

  43. What later group inherited the thought and developed the principles of the Pharisees?

    44.  

  44. What was the most characteristic aspect of Diaspora Judaism?

    45.  

  45. What did Philo of Alexandria understand about biblical narratives?

    46.  

  46. What momentous event occurred in 70 CE? (*)

    47.  

  47. Of what are the high and low points in Jewish history though to be the result?

    48.  

  48. What is the Shema?

    49.  

  49. What does the "chosenness" of Israel involve?

    50.  

  50. What is eschatology?

    51.  

  51. What is Sheol?

    52.  

  52. What does Hebrew though tell us about paradise or resurrection?

    53.  

  53. What references does the Hebrew Bible make to the resurrection of the dead? (*)

    54.  

  54. What did the term "messiah" originally mean? (*)

    55.  

  55. What happened in 132-5 CE?

    56.  

  56. What particular difference between Christianity and other Jewish apocalyptic groups is described?

 

Additional Notes: