2. From Stories to Canon

Paul's letters precede the creation of the gospels.

7:30 How did the gospels come about?

Paul never saw Jesus except in his visions. He must've gotten this from other disciples of Jesus.
Earliest gospel was that of Mark, around year 70.
- Matthew and Luke use Mark as source.
- Luke says his gospel did some research.
Marcion (-160)
- From Asia Minor (Turkey)
- Said the god that created the father of Jesus Christ isn't the creator of the Earth (which was actually bad)
  - Said Christians didn't need Jewish scripture
  - Took the gospel of Luke
    - Said Paul got it right: You don't have to obey jewish law
  - We just need the ten (actually thirteen) letters of Paul
- First time there's a canon in Christianity
  - People in Rome gave him back the money he had donated and kicked him out of the church
Gospels weren't written by the people they are "by"
- No evidence that they were written by the apostles
- People at the time didn't know
- 22:40 Modern scholars believe that all four of these gospels were anonymously published
  - They didn't have the "by NAME" when they were published
Some people believe that christians invented the codex
- Word "book" in ancient greek actually means a scroll
Early christians didn't read the bible in Greek, not Hebrew
- At the time of Jesus, more jews had Greek as their first language.
- Rabis started using Hebrew more as a resistance to the growth of Christianity

3. Greco-roman world

How did the Jewish respond to Helenization? (after Philip of Macedonia died, his empire was divided in four)

All the earliest followers of Jesus were apocalyptic-minded jews.

They were all reading Daniel.