The Bible
Books of the New testament
Gospels: books telling the story of the death of Jesus, although only Matthew, Luke, John and Mark are canon, other gospels such as Judas, exist.
Acts of the Apostles: shows the spreading of Christianity after the death of Jesus.
Epistles: letters written by Christian leaders to communities and individuals.
The Gospels
Revelation: written by a prophet named John, it talks about the end of the world.
The Apostolic Fathers are lost non-canonical writings that were written by religious leaders in the 2nd century C.E. Some old groups considered them canon.
Although the 27 books of the the New Testament were put together in the first century, only in 367CE that Athanasius of Alexandria made the official version.
The doctrine of the trinity was found in Latin versions of the Bible, but not in the Greek ones.
The Septuaginta (the Greek translation of OT) is quoted in the NT rather than the original Hebrew bible, as most authors did not speak Hebrew.
The Torah/Pentateuch were the first five books of the OT.
Mark (c. 70CE)
The Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke are called synoptic gospels as they contain pretty much the same stories with different wording, unlike the gospel of John.
In Mark, barely anyone acknowledges Jesus and his teachings. Even his apostles are initially skeptical and abandon him in the end.
Markan priority is the term for the idea that Mark's was the first written gospel.
Quelle is the term used for the presumed common source of Matthew and Luke, that was not used by Mark, just like Mark and John seem to have their own sources.
Jesus, however, doesn't want the apostles to reveal his identity, whichi is called the Messianic secret
This is Mark's way of showing that Christianity is not a path to wealth and glory, but rather a struggle.
In his death, Jesus is mocked by the other prisioners and says: My God, why have you forsaken me?
Matthew
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Hebrew history
Isaac and Egypt
In Egypt the Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years, until they were freed by Moses and conquered Palestine, the promised land around 1100BCE
Beginnings
After the great flood, Shem, son of Noah, reestablished ties with God, and his descendent Abraham became the patriarch of the Hebrews and Arabs around 2200BCE
Abraham had his first son, Ishmael, with a servant, thus he was considered illegitimate
Isaac, son of Abraham, had Jacob, who later became Israel, patriarch of the Israelites, would have 12 children who will create the 12 tribes of Israel, with the promised land and the messiah
The descendents of Shem are known as the Semites
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