NT311 The World of Jesus and the Gospels
Overview
Gain clarity in your reading of the Gospels with a study of the intertestamental period. The decline of the Persian Empire, the rise of Alexander the Great, Israel’s military engagements and religious movements—the events between the final book of the Old Testament and the first Gospel are a backdrop for Christ’s appearance and the development of Christianity. Intertestamental history clarifies the context of New Testament writers for a deeper, more robust understanding of Scripture.
Top Highlights
“how Israel was caught in the middle and experienced no fewer than five major wars in a 125-year period of time” (source)
“Herod died we think in 4 bc, and then one of the first to rise up and claim authority is someone called Judas. Josephus tells us he’s the son of Hezekiah, or Ezikias in the Greek, ‘the bandit.’ This is somebody who had fought against Herod himself back in the 30s bc, and Herod had defeated him and executed him, Now, thirty-some years later, his own son rises up in the aftermath of Herod’s death, probably seen as a chance to grab power in the vacuum that was created when Herod died.” (source)
“On his coins, it would note that he was a god, ‘King Antiochus, God, Manifested Conqueror’—and that’s what the word Epiphanes means, ‘manifestation.’ Manifestation of what? Of divinity.” (source)
“Jesus had no problem with the village priests; it’s the aristocratic priests who tended to be oppressive and corrupt and hypocritical, who were in bed with the Romans.” (source)
“Israel’s independence was not long-lived—from the 160s bc until the 60s bc, about a hundred years, before Rome itself stepped in and took over.” (source)
- Title: NT311 The World of Jesus and the Gospels
- Author: Craig A. Evans
- Series: Logos Mobile Education
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Print Publication Date: 2014
- Logos Release Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Courseware
- Subjects: Bible. N.T. Gospels › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Judaism › History--Post-exilic period, 586 B.C.-210 A.D; Education › Bible. N.T. Gospels--Criticism, interpretation, etc; Education › Judaism--History--Post-exilic period, 586 B.C.-210 A.D
- Resource ID: LLS:NT311EVANS
- Resource Type: Courseware Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-12T04:49:56Z
Craig A. Evans earned his PhD in biblical studies at Claremont Graduate University and received his decretum habilitationis from Budapest. He is Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament; Acadia Divinity College Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada; John Bisagno Distinguished Professor of Christian Origins (Houston Theological Seminary); a New Testament scholar; and a prolific author and popular teacher/speaker.
Evans is well-known for his work on the Gospels, the Historical Jesus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the archaeology of the New Testament. His passion for archaeology has him frequently participating in Middle East digs and leading Holy Land tours. He has regularly appeared in television and radio interviews, such as the History Channel, BBC, and Dateline NBC, served as a consultant on the National Geographic Society's Gospel of Judas project and for The Bible television miniseries, and is featured in documentaries like Fragments of Truth and the Archaeology and Jesus series.
He's written hundreds of articles and reviews and published more than 70 books, including Jesus and His Contemporaries, Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies, Mark in the Word Biblical Commentary, Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels, God Speaks, and Jesus and the Remains of His Days: Studies in Jesus and Archaeology. He coauthored Jesus, the Final Days with N. T. Wright.