Life of Christ Paper

I have decided to do my paper on two passages that are found in only Mark. Most of the passages that are being used in Mark are also used in Matthew and inLuke. I wanted to go and kind of define what the synoptic Gospels are and how they are used. Then go into the two passages that are only found in Mark. I would also like to come to a better understanding of why they are only found in Mark also.
The passages that are only found in Mark are of the deaf and mute and also the healing of the blind at Bethsaida. I think that all the healing miricles are very interesting but these two really stand out because they are only mentioned once in the Gospels.

I have decided to do my paper over the function of miracles in the book of Mark. More precisely, I have narrowed those miracles down to two demon exorcisms; two of which can both be found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke.

In this paper, I hope to accomplish an in-depth study of these two passages. By using all three accounts, I hope to identify the difference in the accounts and possibly determine how the accounts functions differently between each other. Also, by looking at the passages, in chronological terms, I will be able to identify just exactly the purposes of the exorcisms.

Paper

Well, I tried this once before. I hope it works this time. Wish I were better with computers. The question I chose to address was what does the death of Christ mean in Mark's Gospel. I have chosen to narrow that whole theme down to the passage of Scripture that deals with the trials of Jesus. As the class already knows, Jesus was tried before the Jews and then before the Roman official, Pilate, in Mark's gospel. I believe that Mark recounts this portion of Jesus' life not only to retail a portion of history but also to point out a few significant theological truths of who Jesus is.

In my paper, I hope to address the issue of why the Jews react to Jesus' statement as an act of blasphemy. I have already learned that the Misnah explicitly says that one is not guilty of blasphemy unless he utters the divine name. I will argue that Jesus does this by saying the words "I am." Mark really points to Jesus' divinity within Jesus' trials. I will also deal with the irony of Jesus being tried as "King of the Jews" by Pilate. Certainly, as we have seen, Mark presents a low Christology of Christ, but make no mistake, he also displays a high Christology of Christ. Glory to Jesus, my Lord and my God.

Paper

The question I chose to address in my paper is what does the death of Christ mean in Mark's gospel. I have chosen to narrow that whole theme down to one portion of the death theme in Mark: the trials of Jesus. As the class has probably read already, Jesus is tried both before the Jews and then also the Roman official Pilate. I believe that Mark not only recounts these trails of Jesus simply to retail a part of history but also to reveal certain theological truths about Jesus.

In my paper, I intend to show why the Jews reacted to Jesus's statement as an act of blasphemy. I have learned already that the Misnah explicitly states that one is not guilty of blasphemy without uttering the divine name of God. My paper will show that Jesus does this by uttering the words "I am." I will also emphasize the theological significance of Jesus' being tried as the "King of the Jews" before Pilate. Truly in most of Mark, the class has learned what low Christology is about, but make no mistake that there is some high Christology in Mark as well. Praise be to Jesus, my Lord and my God!

The Causes of The First Jewish Revolt

There are many causes of the First Jewish Revolt or also known as the Jewish War of 66-70AD/CE. I am going cover the growing philosophies and rebellious movements that occured between the fall of the Hasmonean Dynasty all the way up to the actual beginning of the war. These philosophies caused many small revolts throughout the region of Judea that were put down easily by the Roman government, but the real effects that these events would have were in the growing ideaology that they produced in the minds of young Jewish men. Jewish leaders such as Judas the son of Sepphoraeus, Matthias the son of Margalus, Judas the Galilean and his cohert Saduc were some examples of men who flamed the rebellious attitude. The ideas of liberty, the continuing idea of a People chosen and ruled by God, the teaching of a coming messiah, different interpretations of the law (Torah), and the idea of fighting and dying for the law of God (martydom). I will explore each of these areas and show how the events that take place because of the promotion of these different ideas would lead to an inevitable environment of rebellion and war.
I will also cover events that were instigated by the Roman Empire and its leadership in comparison with these growing Jewish philosophies. Roman appointed leaders and such as Nero, Felix, Gessius Florus, and Albinus are a few examples of leaders that abused their powers and lead to a heightened rebellious attitude of the Jewish people. I will discuss how these men spit in the face of Jewish religous practices, desecrated the Jewish synagoges and the Temple, assassinated High Priest, heavily taxed the Jews, and persecuted anyone who resisted them. These acts combined with the growing attitude of the Jewish people led to an inevitable clash which would be the downfall of the Jewish Capitol and its inhabitants.

The Causes of The First Jewish Revolt

There are many causes of the First Jewish Revolt or also known as the Jewish War of 66-70AD/CE. I am going cover the growing philosophies and rebellious movements that occured between the fall of the Hasmonean Dynasty all the way up to the actual beginning of the war. These philosophies caused many small revolts throughout the region of Judea that were put down easily by the Roman government, but the real effects that these events would have were in the growing ideaology that they produced in the minds of young Jewish men. Jewish leaders such as Judas the son of Sepphoraeus, Matthias the son of Margalus, Judas the Galilean and his cohert Saduc were some examples of men who flamed the rebellious attitude. The ideas of liberty, the continuing idea of a People chosen and ruled by God, the teaching of a coming messiah, different interpretations of the law (Torah), and the idea of fighting and dying for the law of God (martydom). I will explore each of these areas and show how the events that take place because of the promotion of these different ideas would lead to an inevitable environment of rebellion and war.
I will also cover events that were instigated by the Roman Empire and its leadership in comparison with these growing Jewish philosophies. Roman appointed leaders and such as Nero, Felix, Gessius Florus, and Albinus are a few examples of leaders that abused their powers and lead to a heightened rebellious attitude of the Jewish people. I will discuss how these men spit in the face of Jewish religous practices, desecrated the Jewish synagoges and the Temple, assassinated High Priest, heavily taxed the Jews, and persecuted anyone who resisted them. These acts combined with the growing attitude of the Jewish people led to an inevitable clash which would be the downfall of the Jewish Capitol and its inhabitants.

The Causes of The First Jewish Revolt

There are many causes of the First Jewish Revolt or also known as the Jewish War of 66-70AD/CE. I am going cover the growing philosophies and rebellious movements that occured between the fall of the Hasmonean Dynasty all the way up to the actual beginning of the war. These philosophies caused many small revolts throughout the region of Judea that were put down easily by the Roman government, but the real effects that these events would have were in the growing ideaology that they produced in the minds of young Jewish men. Jewish leaders such as Judas the son of Sepphoraeus, Matthias the son of Margalus, Judas the Galilean and his cohert Saduc were some examples of men who flamed the rebellious attitude. The ideas of liberty, the continuing idea of a People chosen and ruled by God, the teaching of a coming messiah, different interpretations of the law (Torah), and the idea of fighting and dying for the law of God (martydom). I will explore each of these areas and show how the events that take place because of the promotion of these different ideas would lead to an inevitable environment of rebellion and war.
I will also cover events that were instigated by the Roman Empire and its leadership in comparison with these growing Jewish philosophies. Roman appointed leaders and such as Nero, Felix, Gessius Florus, and Albinus are a few examples of leaders that abused their powers and lead to a heightened rebellious attitude of the Jewish people. I will discuss how these men spit in the face of Jewish religous practices, desecrated the Jewish synagoges and the Temple, assassinated High Priest, heavily taxed the Jews, and persecuted anyone who resisted them. These acts combined with the growing attitude of the Jewish people led to an inevitable clash which would be the downfall of the Jewish Capitol and its inhabitants.

An Analysis of The Maccabean Revolt

I chose to attempt to answer the qeustion "what problems did the Jews face being ruled over by the Romans?" After examing the big picture, I decided to write about the Maccabean Revolt. One of the more prominent issues between the Jews and Romans was the religious one. The Jews displayed a monotheistic belief system which was a rare thought at this time. The Romans' polytheistic religion was completely contrictary to that of the Jews.

It was the religious persecution of Antiochus Epiphenes that led to the Maccabean Revolt. A bold and brave Mattathias refused to abandon his ancestral worship. Along with his family, Mattathias started a revolt which caused several Jews to step up and openly rebel against the tyrant Antiochus.

There are several aspects of the Jewish Revolt which I could discuss. In my paper, I will be discussing the causes of the revolt, the different personalities involved, and a brief history of events. There are also some analysis to be made of certain Scripture in Mark and Daniel.

Causes of The First Jewish Revolt

There are many causes of the First Jewish Revolt or also known as the Jewish War of 66-70AD/CE. I am going cover the growing philosophies and rebellious movements that occured between the fall of the Hasmonean Dynasty all the way up to the actual beginning of the war. These philosophies caused many small revolts throughout the region of Judea that were put down easily by the Roman government, but the real effects that these events would have were in the growing ideaology that they produced in the minds of young Jewish men. Jewish leaders such as Judas the son of Sepphoraeus, Matthias the son of Margalus, Judas the Galilean and his cohert Saduc were some examples of men who flamed the rebellious attitude. The ideas of liberty, the continuing idea of a People chosen and ruled by God, the teaching of a coming messiah, different interpretations of the law (Torah), and the idea of fighting and dying for the law of God (martydom). I will explore each of these areas and show how the events that take place because of the promotion of these different ideas would lead to an inevitable environment of rebellion and war.
I will also cover events that were instigated by the Roman Empire and its leadership in comparison with these growing Jewish philosophies. Roman appointed leaders and such as Nero, Felix, Gessius Florus, and Albinus are a few examples of leaders that abused their powers and lead to a heightened rebellious attitude of the Jewish people. I will discuss how these men spit in the face of Jewish religous practices, desecrated the Jewish synagoges and the Temple, assassinated High Priest, heavily taxed the Jews, and persecuted anyone who resisted them. These acts combined with the growing attitude of the Jewish people led to an inevitable clash which would be the downfall of the Jewish Capitol and its inhabitants.

I'm going to write about the Maccabein Revolt and what led up to it. I want to cover things like how The Jews were feeling, why they felt this way, and how it led up to the revolt. I will start off talking about Antiochus IV. How he treated the Jews bad and tried to Hellinse them, how he made Jason a high preist even though he wasn't a Jew. Antiochus also made the temple a worship place for Zues and offerd sacrafices for him in the temple.

A priest named Mattathias became upset with what was going on and killed a commisner for the king then him and other families fled to the mountians and from there started their revolt. When Mattathias died his sons conntinued the revolt. This is a very brief summery of what my paper is about. This is just kind of where I'm going with this.

The Politics of Jesus Day

I would like to examine the political aspect of the trials and curcifiction of Jesus. It will be interesting to find out why the Jewish leaders and scholars didn't have the power or authorty to deal with Jesus on their own. Plus, it will be amazing to find out just how they tricked the Romans into doing harm to Jesus for them. Why did they have to hide what they were doing? Were they doing their job as they believed it to be or were they just scared and jealous? Were they ignoring what they were suppost to be doing? Who was this Pilate and why did the Jews have to bring Jesus to him? Was Pilate in his legal rights to curcify Jesus? Why was the rebel released? Who tricked the crowd and why could Pilate not stop this farcity.

These are a few things I am working on. I don't know if I will be able to answer all of these questions but I am working to that end. Some of these questions I have asked myself over and over since childhood, now I have a chance to answer them. To me the trials and crucifiction seem to be rigged. I want to know why and how and I believe that chapters 14-15 of Mark hold the keys.

Causes of the First Jewish Revolt

The First Jewish Revolt of Jewish War of 66-70AD/CE originated from several areas. The first area that would lead to an inevitable rebellion of the Jewish people against an indestructible Roman Empire was the lingering bitterness left over from the Maccabean Revolt. An attitude of resentment and desire for liberty combined caused a number of young Jewish men to form different philosophies that led to a rebellious attitude toward Roman occupation. The ideal of the Jewish people living under the rule and laws of God had been around since the time of Moses never really left the hearts of the Jewish people. The view of God being the ruler of the Jews led to different groups promoting philosophies of rebellious acts and the martydom for the sake of God's laws as acceptable and necessary. Jewish leaders such as Judas the son of Sepphoraeus, Matthias the son of Margalus, Judas the Galilean, and Sadduc the Pharisee were instigators of this view. These men would lead groups of young followers into rebellious acts and their philosophies became widespread among the Jewish people. The growing idea of a messiah coming to rescue the Jewish people from the Romans and conflict among the Jewish Groups (Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Essenes) themselves would create a hostile environment as well, which was a brewing for war.

The second area that could be considered a major cause of the war when combined with the philosophies proposed by the men aforementioned is the countless ruthless rulers that were appointed by the Roman Empire over the Jewish populations. The Romans began appointing direct rule over specific areas after the failures of Herod the Great's sons to keep peace and order. Procurators such as Felix, Nero, Albinus and Gessius Florus created an environment of intolerable living conditions for the Jewish people. The abomination acts of these men led the restriction of Jewish rights in certain areas, reduction in religious practices, assassinations of High Priest, and eventual taking of the treasures from the temples. These acts became intolerable to the Jewish leadership, which eventually declare that war was inevitable.

Causes of the First Jewish Revolt

The First Jewish Revolt of Jewish War of 66-70AD/CE originated from several areas. The first area that would lead to an inevitable rebellion of the Jewish people against an indestructible Roman Empire was the lingering bitterness left over from the Maccabean Revolt. An attitude of resentment and desire for liberty combined caused a number of young Jewish men to form different philosophies that led to a rebellious attitude toward Roman occupation. The ideal of the Jewish people living under the rule and laws of God had been around since the time of Moses never really left the hearts of the Jewish people. The view of God being the ruler of the Jews led to different groups promoting philosophies of rebellious acts and the martydom for the sake of God's laws as acceptable and necessary. Jewish leaders such as Judas the son of Sepphoraeus, Matthias the son of Margalus, Judas the Galilean, and Sadduc the Pharisee were instigators of this view. These men would lead groups of young followers into rebellious acts and their philosophies became widespread among the Jewish people. The growing idea of a messiah coming to rescue the Jewish people from the Romans and conflict among the Jewish Groups (Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Essenes) themselves would create a hostile environment as well, which was a brewing for war.

The second area that could be considered a major cause of the war when combined with the philosophies proposed by the men aforementioned is the countless ruthless rulers that were appointed by the Roman Empire over the Jewish populations. The Romans began appointing direct rule over specific areas after the failures of Herod the Great's sons to keep peace and order. Procurators such as Felix, Nero, Albinus and Gessius Florus created an environment of intolerable living conditions for the Jewish people. The abomination acts of these men led the restriction of Jewish rights in certain areas, reduction in religious practices, assassinations of High Priest, and eventual taking of the treasures from the temples. These acts became intolerable to the Jewish leadership, which eventually declare that war was inevitable.

The Two Blind men

After narrowing my paper down I have decided to write my paper over the two blind miracles. They are recorded in Mark chapters eight and ten. They are the healings of the man at Bethsaida and the healing of Bartimaeus. So, knowing the miracles I want to write about how am I going to approach these miracles? My main purpose is to really get a full overview of how these two miracles function in Mark.

So, my first objective is to see why Mark put these miracles into his gospel. Knowing the audience, what was going on at this time that he would put them into the story. Then I want to see how they would have understood the stories. My next objective is to see how the miracles ineract with the other miracles and how they interact with Jesus's teachings. Then my final objective is to see how the blind miracles tell us who Jesus is.

The Two Blind men

"Blindness"

I have decided to take Dr. Foster's advise and instead of researching every one of Jesus' healing miracles in the gospel of Mark, i'll discuss Jesus' miracles for the blind. Through this study, I'll use chapters eight and ten to base my material on, since these are the chapters dealing with the topic. These passages are about the (blind) man at Bethsaida and Bartimaeus. Research will help me put together all the pieces as I attempt to explain why and how Jesus performed these.

Redaction Criticism

I have chosen the topic of redaction criticism in the book of Mark. Redaction criticism is basically exploring the authors’ emphasis in certain passages by examining literary style and comparing them to other passages in the Synoptics. The comparison technique is primarily used for the books Matthew and Luke, since Mark serves as a groundwork that they probably built upon.
In the book of Mark, redaction criticism is done in a number of ways. I have chosen to focus on several of the summary statements, since there are so many to work with. It is my goal to discover Mark's ideas of importance in the life and character of Christ by examining how these summary statements differ from each other and the rest of the text.

Death and Discipleship

I am going to write on the meaning of the death of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. I plan to show how the death of Jesus is a reflection of the meaning of discipleship; and, I will focus primarily on the first passion prediction.

I will define "discipleship". In addition, the first main point that I will cover is the call of discipleship. The subpoints of "instant response" and the "unconditional call" will be mentioned and discussed. The second main point will be the meaning of discipleship. During this time, I will emphasize the importance of "denying self", "the way", and "servanthood". The third main point will be the demands of discipleship. Finally, with the demands of discipleship, I will elaborate on what it means to "follow Jesus", "obey Jesus", and "take up the cross".

Got Problems?

My paper will cover some of the various problems that the Jews had being ruled over by the Romans in Judea. The particular time period that I will be discussing in this paper is from 6 AD through 65 AD.
The problems that I am focussing on are those dealing with: taxes, temple violations, and the problems concerning Roman soldiers in Jerusalem. I will make use of some of the key rulers, such as Pilate and Herod, and discuss the roles each played in these problems.

Healing

I am going to try and not get the weak e-mail again. So there will be no mention of bodily gunk coming out of people's noses. My paper discusses the two of the pericope mentioned in Mark that have to do with healing and that is the Healing of the Paralytic and Healing on the Sabbath. These two passages go together real well. There are a few main areas of focus that I will be discussing in this paper.

One main area is the Jewish belief of healing in general. I will see what there feelings were and try to grasp a good understading of why this was so contriversial. Sabbath law will also be discussed in order to take into account the main controversy of working on the sabbath. I think it will be amazing to see the two controversies analyzed at the same time when it comes to dealing with healing on the Sabbath. But that's my paper in a nutshell. Let me know what you think and what areas of discussion you might would want to see in a paper dealing with this.

Who then is this?

I am writing my paper on the calming of the sea and the Gerasene demoniac. Those two passages go together well and complement each other. My paper will be about how the demons recognized Jesus as the Son of God shortly after the disciples asked who he was. I plan to write about the different components of each miracle and what makes them a miracle.

I would also like to spend some time on the calming of the sea and discuss some different things about the time period and how Jesus shows his authority over the sea monster(Lyaphin-forgive the spelling). I am open to all comments.

Those Pesky Demons

My paper will focus on demon possession. I will mainly do a study of the history of exorcism, and how different cultures dealt with demon possession. Then I will compare that to how Jesus dealt with the demons he encountered. I will also take a look at how the people around Jesus (both those who followed Jesus and despised Jesus) reacted to the exorcisms. The two main focus passages concerning this will be taken from Jesus casting out a demon in the synogogue and the Gerasene Demoniac. This seemed like a fun paper to write, and it is a topic which greatly interests me. Today I'm sure there are demon possessed people around us, but I can't help but wonder how many of them we have written off as mentally ill or pyschos.

Jesus and His Disciples

Dr. Foster talked about a Christian's role and duty is help save the unsaved AND to disciple those who are saved. To prepare them for a life of a servant. I had never really thought about that aspect of it, but wasn't that one of Jesus' commands for us. Jesus' reason for having the 12 was for them to be WITH Him and to go out and teach His teachings. One of Jesus' teachings was on discipleship. I think that will be one of the questions God asks us is "How many people did you turn to Christ and then send out to do His work?" I think we are responsible for this.

Death/Discipleship

My paper will look at who Jesus was, and why he did not want the people to know. Then I will cover his disciples, why it was hard for them to understand Jesus, if they truly understood who he was, and what causes them to reject him. Finally it will cover the warning of Jesus' death in chapter eight. I will cover Peter's reaction to his prediction and why he was called Satan. From all of this I plan to go into my main point which is to tell how discipleship ties into the death of Jesus.

Faith and Healing

Paper Topic

My paper topic is focusing on Jesus' support of the torah in Mark chapter seven verses one through twenty-three. My research should show that Jesus upholds the torah and rejects the oral law of the pharisees. Jesus also asserts himself as the diffinitive interpreter concerning hallakah (practical) torah law. Jesus reveals that touching unclean objects or eating unclean objects does not make one unclean, rather, it is one's actions that come from a wicked mind that make one unclean before God.

I do admit, however, that there are some things I need to iron out concerning torah interpretation in Lev 11 and others but I believe study of the Hebrew and context might help me coincide Jesus' teachings with the law.

Torah, Torah, Torah!

My paper is on the topic of Jesus and the Torah. I am going to argue through my paper that Jesus both used and rejected the letter of the Torah in order to appeal to the spirit thereof. My main text will be from Mark 7, which is Jesus' dispute with the Pharisees over the issue of what is clean and what is unclean. The main thrust of my paper will derive from this text.

Additionally, I plan to compare Jesus' approach in this dispute to his attitude toward Sabbath laws as recorded in Jesus' disputes over healing and plucking grain on the Sabbath. These passages, however, I will only reference in comparison to my original text. By doing this, I will present Jesus as not merely a Torah-rejecting rebel but as the Torah-amending Son of God.

Passing the torch

For my research paper I am going to answer the question of what Christ death meant in the gospel of Mark. I will be taking the standpoint that the death was a passing of the torch from Jesus to the disciples. This is clearly seen in the three passion predictions. Three time Jesus predicts his death, each time he is misunderstood, and each time he teaches them on discipleship. Jesus was preparing his disciples to take over once he was gone.

First, I will give some background as to what has happened leading up to the prediction. Then I will break down each prediction examining them individually and compared to each other. Also, I will analyze the teaching of Jesus and show how the disciples could apply this to their lives. The disciples had to be ready to take over once Christ died and this is why he was training them.

Miracles on the Sea

For my paper I am focusing on the the miracle of Jesus walking on the water and Jesus calming the storm. I want to look at the setting of these stories, what takes place, the disciples reaction to Jesus' display of power, and what it really means. I also want to take a look at why these events matter, why they are in the text and what we are to learn from them.

Secrecy motif

During my first reading of Mark for class, my interest peaked at Jesus' commands to people and to demons to be silent. I began researching the Messianic Secret and discovered a vast topic to research. As I continued to read on the topic, I was interested in specifically Jesus' demands to the demons to not tell who he was.

From my reading, the general consensus of scholars seems to be that these commands are Markan additions, but there are different ideas as to what purpose these commands serve. As I continue to read, I believe that the secrecy motif is important to Mark's christology and therefore answers the question "How do the miracles function in the book of Mark?"

My Research Paper so far...

I, as well as most of the class, have completed Stages 1 and 2 of our research paper. I am now currently working on Stage 3. I am still gathering together information from different sources that I might want to use. My paper is addressing the question, What is the meaning of death in the Gospel of Mark? For my Stage 1, I chose to do my paper on the Lord's Supper in Mark 14 and it's relation to the death of Christ.

As I was researching information on this topic, (and listening one day in church) I felt the need to do the paper on the covenantal aspect of the death of Jesus. This aspect of the paper focused mostly on the same passage but Jesus' words saying "This is the new covenant..." I am researching this "New covenant" that Christ is speaking of and what all it could mean. I am researching what is the need for this "new covenant" to see if the old covenant is not relevant anymore.

Stage 3

Exploring the relationship between faith and Jesus' miracles in Mark has already proven to be a challenge. The biggest challenge has been finding resources. Hopefully, this will change soon. At this point I have found a great deal of enjoyment categorizing these miracles. To date I have created two families of categories. The first is my Faith Categories. These categories seperate the miracles according to whose faith is referred to by Jesus in the miracle story or if no faith is mentioned or alluded to. The second is my Iniation Categories. These categories seperate the miracles according to how the miracle event or situation was started. Cross referencing these two family of categories has already proven to be revealing.
My current great task is searching the commentaries for evidence to support or reject my findings. I have begun this process and found it to be frustrating, as many of the commentators haven't had much to say about the relationship faith plays in the individual miracles. A few will address it in the few where Jesus specifically says, "Your faith has made you well." However, in Mark this only happens twice. The vast majority of the miracle stories do not make direct mention of anyone's faith, belief, trust, confidence, etc. Indirectly, many of these are implied on a few occasions, but implication can be thin ice on which to trod!