Discussion Assignment Instructions
Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, you are to write a blog of 400 words for your church website in which you discuss the Jewish setting & context of the early church as described by Luke in the early chapters of Acts. Provide specific examples from the early chapters of Acts of the church’s “Jewishness.” Explain why you think Luke went to such lengths to depict the early church as authentically Jewish. Why is it important for Christians today to understand the Jewish roots of their faith? You must interact with all assigned materials, including textbooks and presentations. You must document all sources used (including textbooks and presentations) in current Turabian format. The use of Internet sources requires the instructor’s prior approval. Acceptable sources include the Bible (exclusive of study Bible notes), academic biblical commentaries, academic journal articles, textbooks, and course presentations.
Read Acts Chapters 1-7.
Read Elwell & Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey Chapters 13 and 14.
Please follow the guidelines listed below in preparing and writing your blog:
Our Christian faith has its root in God’s eschatological promises to his ancient people, the national Israel, as seen throughout the OT Scriptures. Just to pick a few of them, in the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15) God promised Abraham a “seed” who will be a blessing to the whole world; in the Davidic Covenant (2 Sam 7) God promised David a “seed” who will rule the Davidic kingdom forever; and in the New Covenant (Jer 31:31-34) God promised a once-for-all permanent forgiveness of sin and eternal atonement for the nation of Israel. This forgiveness would ultimately end the recurring ritual animal sacrifices practiced by the levitical priests in the Mosaic Covenant. These, and many other OT promises, are seen and are clearly alluded to at the inception of the Christian faith in the book of Acts, so that elements of Jewishness of OT Israel are seen throughout the 28 chapters of the book of Acts. The Jewishness of the church (seen in several chapters of the early part of the book of Acts) is what needs to be traced and presented in this module’s work.
Now, because there are dozens of acts of Jewishness in the book of Acts and we have a mandate for a limited word count for this assignment
You only need to list (itemize, with bullets, and add a few phrases if you deem it necessary) events that portray the Jewishness of the early church in the early chapters of the book of Acts
No cut/paste of Bible passages into your thread is allowed.
No rehearsals of any stories from the book of Acts in this thread. No pre-thread history or narrative introduction in the blog.
This church blog can take the form of bullet points.
If, for example, you observe ten (a mere random number) events in the book of Acts that portray the Jewishness of the early church, simply list them with bullet points.
With itemization such as this, no thread would need more than 400-450 word count.
Using bullet points gets students to cover larger lists for an excellent score in this module assignment.
Each aspect of this Discussion question could follow this same brief format.
Be concise and scholarly, presenting biblical author’s Jewishness events for your blog.
Watch the following links:
The Jewish Setting in the Early Church in Acts
https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/2167581/uiconf_id/39959791/entry_id/1_0hoah4l1/embed/dynamic
Pentecost & the Eschatological Setting of the Early Church in Acts
https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/2167581/uiconf_id/39959791/entry_id/1_r97o9is5/embed/dynamic
