Mary of Nazareth

What does the name “Mary” mean?

Wise woman

What three images do we have of Mary in our minds?

Mother of Jesus,  virgin, New testament

What percentage of people of Nazareth were peasant farmers?

70%

What religion was Mary?

Jewish

 

List 4 facts about Jewish scriptural stories Mary’s would have followed.

·         Eaten Jewish foods (kosher)

·         Observed holy days

·         Known Jewish laws

What were the three classes which existed in Nazareth and which one did Mary’s family belong to?

Rich, poor, destitute – Mary was poor

What are 2 reasons why the 4 Gospels present the story of Mary differently?

A)     Writing for a particular audience

B)      Conveying ideas about Jesus and God

 

What was the Gospel writer Mark implying when Jesus reset the boundaries of family life by saying – “Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. (Mark 3:33-35)”?

That everyone is his family – (everyone who believes in God is his family)

What did the Gospel writer Luke paint Mary as?

Role model, but also human with normal emotions, failings etc.

 

Why was it difficult for Mary to become pregnant while unmarried?

It was against social normality at the time, could be dangerous for her.

What was a Jewish woman’s responsibility for her children?

Care for her child and educate them in Jewish religion.

What point of view does Matthew’s Gospel paint Jesus’ birth? What does the story preceded by?

Jesus’s birth, Joseph’s point of view followed by Genealogy

What 2 stories does John’s Gospel contain which the other Gospel’s do not?

John’s Gospel includes – wedding of Cana, Mary witnessed the crucifixion of her son

 

 

What does the story of Cana display Mary’s personality as?

Describe what the “Acts of the Apostles” paint Mary’s personality/role as with her Jewish community?

Describe the Palestine’s economic recession at the time Mary lived?

What background or context was the Gospel’s written in?

What placed women in a negative category within the culture of Mary’s time?

How does the retelling Jewish scholar Josephus’ in 94AD demonstrate the discrimination of women of that time?

Describe an ideal Roman Woman in Mary’s time

The Bible as Literature

LESSON 2

Why do Humans like stories?
Humans like stories because its entertainment, and teaches us life lessons and can either teach about the world or even ourselves.

How are Bible Stories different to modern stories?
Bible stories are written with only a few details provided and much information is inferred or even omitted.

What is the significance of location in Adam &Eve and story of Jonah?
The significance of the location in these stories is that it provides symbolic meaning for example; In the garden of eden it symbolises the simplicity and innocence of Adam and Eve's life before they disobeyed God.
when Jonah is trapped inside the belly of a huge fish, the setting symbolises the imprisonment of Jonah’s futile attempt to flee from what God was telling him to do.

What does the term poetic justice mean, why does the bible use it in the stories?     

poetic justice means good will always win over evil in the end. So God will reward those who are good and seek him. The bible uses it as a message of hope and faith.

 

LESSON 3

Why does the Bible have stories about Heroes?

The bibles have stories about heros because it gives an example about how to treat people and how to live your life according to Gods word. And it also gives an example of qualities like humility, courage etc.

 What is an epic story? What are two epic stories in the Bible?

An epic story is built around a hero who does something extraordinary like Moses or David. But it is also a representation of a nation. two examples are;

Exodus:
Exodus 1-20 (pages 79-117), Numbers 10-17 (pages 218-234), Numbers 20-24 (pages 238-249), Deuteronomy 32-34 (pages 318-325)

David:
1 Samuel 16-17 (pages 442-446), 2 Samuel 5-19 (pages 473-498)

What are parables?
Parables are masterful storytelling at its most candid. And traditionally they are oral.

Why are they used by Jesus?
 Jesus used it to teach and  spread the word of the father as it states in the Gospels.

LESSON 4

How much of the Bible is written in Poetry?
Approximately one-third of the bible is written in poetry

What are the main poetic ingredients? Include a brief description of each one?

Imagery.
The use of words to paint pictures, evoking a concrete sensory experience of people, places, and things: “He makes me lie down in green pastures” (Psalm 23:1).

• Simile.
  A comparison between two things that uses “like” or “as” — A is like B: “They are like trees planted by streams of water” (Psalm 1:3).

• Metaphor.
  A comparison between two things that forgoes “like” or “as” to say that A is B: “The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1).

• Apostrophe.
  Addressing someone absent as though the person (or people) were present: “Depart from me, all you workers of evil” (Psalm 6:8).

• Personification.
  Endowing a non-human subject with human attributes or actions: “Let the hills sing together for joy” (Psalm 98:8).

• Hyperbole.
  Conscious exaggeration for emotional effect: “By my God I can leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29).

Read Psalm 23, describe the scene?
The scene is very picturesque and very inspirational.

What is the difference between

Synonymous Parallelism & Antithetic Parallelism

Synonymous Parallelism is  saying the same thing in similar grammatical form:

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. (Psalm 1:5)

Antithetic Parallelism is  saying the same thing in contrasting ways:

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1:6)

LESSON 5
What is a proverb? List one example
Proverbs in the Bible are Words to the Wise
example; A gentle tongue is a tree of life. (proverbs 15.4)

What is satire? list one bible example
Biblical Satire tells it like it is
example;The Book of Jonah


What are letters? what to they consist of? (parts of the letter)
A letter is a form of information and are used to communicate with others.
they consist of opening or salutation, thanksgiving, main body, moral exhortations, closing.

Name one person that wrote letters to deliver a message in the bible?
Paul

Name one part of the Bible letters appear in?
The book of Revelation

LESSON 6
What are Gospels?
The Gospels are eye witness stories from the bible

what are they about?
the Gospels are about the life of Jesus

Who wrote them?
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

List 3 types of stories in them

Nativity stories
Calling or vocation stories
witness stories

 

 

Old Testament Laws

To know worship and love text book page 20

Activity
(a) the preparation of a grain offering; this verse means that when you do something for God, you need to do it with the most divine and purest intentions inorder for  the father to accept it.

(G) the sabbatical year; this means to keep the sabbath holy as God rested on the 7th day.

Definitions of Literary forms in the Old Testament

Humour; a comic, absurd or incongruous quality causing amusement

Irony; The use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning

Fable; a short tale/story  to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as chracters

Genealogies; a record or account of the ancestry and descent of a person, family, group etc.

Laws; the body of rules and principles governing the affairs of a community

Dreams; a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occuring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep

Myth; an attempt to explain how things came to be

Poetry; literary work in metrical form

Proverb; a short popular saying, usually of unknown or ancient origin, that expresses effectively some common place truth or useful thought.

Sermon; a speech/address for the purpose of religious instruction

Prophecy; an utterance or message often given by a prophet about the future

History; the record of past events and times

Legend; a story, which tells about the lives of great and revered ancestors or figures of the past.

List; an itemized series of names, words etc. usually recored in a set order.

Role Play Activity

Creation, Genesis

Script

NARRATOR: In the Beginning, God created everything, he created the heavens and the earth, this was done over a period of 7 days according to the bible.

GOD: "Let there be light"

 

NARRATOR: and light appeared, then God seperated the light from the dark

GOD: "I call the light day, and the darkness, night."

NARRATOR: And there was also evening and morning, and this was the first day. Then he separated the waters from the waters

GOD: "Let there be the sky and let there be the ground filled with water"

NARRATOR: "Then God seperated the land from the water"

 

GOD: "I call the the land, earth and the water, the seas"

 

 

NARRATOR: God decided it looked a bit empty so he created flora

 

GOD:  "Let the earth sprout vegetation,plants yeilding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind on the earth"

 

NARRATOR: Then God created the signs and seasons for the days and years and all the stars. Then God created creatures

 

GOD: "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens"

 

NARRATOR: And God Blessed them

 

GOD:  "Be Fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth".

 

NARRTOR: Then God decided to bring forth living creatures according to their kinds-livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. Then God created MAN

 

GOD: "Let us make man in our image after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the seas and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping that creeps on the earth.

 

NARRATOR: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.

 

Myths

Read Page 13

What is a Myth?
A myth is a particular kind of sacred story or narrative that deals with the mysteries of life.

Is Genesis intended as a Myth or a Literal Story?
Genesis is of Literal stories! An example of a literal event is the creation of Light. God created Light first because everything needs light to thrive. - God is light, his being is Light, he eminates light. For example, scientists have discovered that the main bulding blocks of life is Light: plants need light, we need light etc.

Why did the author use a Myth?
The authors of the bible uses Myths because they were not actually there when the earth was formed.

Different types of Communication

Literary Forms of the Old Testament

Literal-use the true or actual meaning of the word

Figurative lanuage- uses images and comparisons to help a reader visualise the situation. It includes similes and metaphors.

Much of the Old Testament uses Figurative Lanuage.

To Know Whorship and Love Page 11 activity

	Title/Author	The Purpose of the Author
	Travelling Down Under	To educate tourists about Australia. Perhaps includes restaurants, malls, tourist cites etc. And also to provide information
	A collection of the poems of Les Murray	To entertain and possibly educate people about certain subject matters.
	Aboriginal Creation Myths from Arnhem Land	To propose an hypothesis of how the world came to be and also to entertain children by stories.
	The Collected Letters of the Australian Novelist, Patrick White	To educate people on his life, or what emotions he felt at certain points in his life etc. (to create an insight on his life and what he did and how he communicated) and can also be a story or historical document
	The Seven Wives of Henry Eighth, Shakespeare	Either to educate or entertain using non-fictional or fictional literature as a story or play.
	Heroes and Heroines: A collection of short biographies of war heroes and heroines	A secondary source of influential and inspirational people throughout history whom might have contributed to modern society.
	The moral fables of the elders: A collection of Jewish stories for children	To entertain and teach about the Jewish moral ways of life but in a form so that is fun and easy for children to understand

Bible Basics

The Bible is the oldest book.
It is a collection of books.

It was written over a period of thousands of years, by many different writers.

All of the writers agree over the message given and claim that they wrote down the word of God.






BIBLE FACTS
Holy Bible means a "Separate Book"
66 individual books
Old Testament: 39 books
New Testament:27 books







Old Testament
The Law
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
'The Books of Moses'. In the Hebrew Scripture these books are called the Torah.


Historical Books
These books describe the history of Israel from the death of Moses to the establishment of the kingdom under Saul, David and Solomon;


Poetic books
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.

The Prophets

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, The opening verses of these books will usually say at which period of history the prophets preached.



The New Testament

The Gospels
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The Gospel writers tell us about the birth of Jesus, his ministry and teaching, his crucifixion and resurrection.

History
Acts
The full name is 'The Acts of the Apostles' and the book describes the spread of Christianity and the missonary journeys of Paul.


Letters
These were written by Paul to the new churches.