The midterm examination will be administered in class on Wednesday, February 15.

You will need a blue book to write your answers in. The midterm will be closed book (no textbook, no Bible).

You can expect the following kinds of questions:

- short answer (multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank)

- identification of passages (taken from the gospels)

- short identification of simple terms, persons, or things (one or two sentences)

- longer identification of concepts, ideas, or theories (several sentences/a paragraph)

All of the questions will assume your familiarity with the following information:

- historical and religious contexts for the Jesus Movement

- structure and contents of the New Testament

- the primary academic methods for studying the Gospels

- theories on how and when the different Gospels were composed

- theories on how the different Gospels are (or are not) related to each other

- major themes that characterize each of the four gospels, Acts of the Apostles, and the Johannine letters

- general background on noncanonical gospels

- theories on the spread of the early Christian movement

Not sure if you know this information? Start with the textbook: Ehrman provides very helpful outlines at the beginning and ends of the chapters of the texbook. Make sure you know these "basics," and then begin to review the content of the readings from the Bible and from the textbook. Note places where Ehrman gives examples from the Bible (citations from the gospels, Acts, or letters): these are probably significant, important examples that illuminate important themes from that text. Then go over your notes from class (if you have any): what points did the professor repeat? What examples did he draw on from the texts? What terms did he write on the board?

Any form of studying is a negotiation between "big picture" and "little details": your job is to figure out what the "big picture" is in the various written accounts of the life and times of Jesus and his earliest followers, and then figure out which "little details" best help to describe and fill in that big picture.

For example: Ask yourself: "What are the particular themes and ideas in the Gospel of Luke?" Think big picture: general ideas, themes, concepts. Then ask yourself: "What examples can I think of from the Gospel of Luke that demonstrate these themes?"

 

This is the best procedure for working your way down from "big picture" to "little details."

The quotations for identification will be drawn from the four canonical gospels, and will be passages that we have discussed and/or that very clearly illustrate some particular theme of that Gospel and/or that are distinctive and unique to that Gospel (e.g., Mark's healing of the blind man or John's prologue). Quotations will be drawn solely from Gospel selections assigned for class.

Listed below are a list of terms: persons, concepts, ideas, things, some general, some specific, all important to the study of the New Testament as we have engaged in it so far. It is important for the midterm to know what all of these terms mean and how they relate to the historical study of the New Testament documents. In a few cases will you be asked to give a straightforward definition ("What is apocalypticism?"); at other times, you may be asked a question that necessitates knowledge of these terms, but puts them in a different context ("Which gospel is the least apocalyptic?" or "Which of the following ideas could be described as 'apocalyptic'...").

In studying, make use of: the glossary in the textbook; the index in the textbook; the index in your study Bible (if your Bible has index); and your class notes.

There will not be any "trick" questions on the midterm. I promise.

Good luck!

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