Sweat
Life of Christ, F2008
Study Guide for Exam #3—PART 1
(WORD TO THE WISE: Studying well the Chapter Summary portion of each chapter will be very helpful to you)
Part IV: THE HISTORICAL JESUS
Ch. 12 The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
1. Is it possible to write or read history without being influenced by presuppositions & a worldview? (384)
-No one reads or writes history without them, but that doesn’t mean all truth is relative.
• How would an antisupernatural worldview affect how you read and understand the Gospels?
-You wouldn’t believe in any miracles Jesus performed.
• How would a view that accepts the supernatural affect your reading & understanding of the Gospels?
-You would believe the miracles and find them of historical value.
2. Do the faith commitments of the Gospel writers negate their claim to write accurate history?
Why or why not? (385)
-No; all writers have a worldview that affects their worldview, but still write the facts.
3. What is some evidence that Luke was an accurate historian? (385-386)
-Uses specific terms (eyewitness) and his sense of the Zeitgeist (spirit of the times).
4. What is the evidence that the Church carefully passed down generally reliable traditions about Jesus?
(Strauss mentions 6 different pieces of evidence on pp. 386-388)
-Testimony of the Eyewitnesses; the Faithful Transmission of the Gospel Tradition; The Church’s Willingness to Preserve Difficult Sayings; the Distinction between the Words of Jesus and of Christian Prophets; the Absence of Discussion on Key Issues in the Later Church; the Ethical Argument: Were the Disciples Deceivers?
5. What is meant by ipsissima verba? What is meant by ipsissima vox? (388)
Exact words authentic voice
• How do those terms relate to the question of the historicity of the Gospels?
-We don’t have exact words, but the true meaning of Jesus.
6. Explain what...
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