The Bible in Context Classes

For Gateway March 2010   

THE BIBLE IN CONTEXT

March 7, 2010           Stand Firm                                        Polycarp to Philippi

March 14, 2010       You Call These Things Gods?       Anon to Diognetus

March 21, 2010        Be Specially Wary                           Epistle of Barnabas 1-4     

March 28, 2010        He Allowed Himself to Suffer        Epistle of Barnabas 5-10   

All classes are in Room 350-B at 9:30 a.m., and all are welcome.

Polycarp, who, like Ignatius, was an early Christian martyr, writes to Philippi, quoting extensively from what is now the New Testament.  Some critics have even taken the position that the Pastoral Epistles were written by Polycarp and not by Paul.

The letter to Diognetus is a double mystery.  It is not known who wrote it, and the recipient, Diognetus, is also unknown.  The letter appears to be a very early explanation of Christianity to a pagan.

The New Testament in the famous Codex Sinaiticus is immediately followed by the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas.  Some early fathers quote from the Epistle of Barnabas, but Eusebius opposed it.  Apparently written between the Fall of Jerusalem in70 CE and the destruction of the temple in 135 CE, it makes the case that Jewish ceremonial is irrelevant for the Christian.

Trivia Questions March 2010

1 .  Polycarp says that "to deny that Jesus is come in the flesh is to be --" :

a.  agnostic

b.  Docetist

c.  Aryan

d.  Antichrist

2.  The letter to Diognetus says that Christians behave as if they were -- :

a.  soldiers

b.  aliens

c.  sheep

d.  angels

3.  Barnabas writes that the Jews were deceived by --:

a.  a prophetess

b.  corrupt priests

c.  a wicked angel

d.  clever philosophers.

Answers to previous questions and fuller quizzes can be found at

http://ccpc.petercombes.com

A blog based on previous bible studies is at: http: //blog.petercombes.com

Texts of the letters are at

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/index.html