Cultural Backgrounds

Question 1

Common errors (1-4)

Answer 1

Reading 21st century understandings into the background of the NT

Proof-texting

Anachronistic use of cultural materials due to problems of dating

Universalizing beliefs or practices that may have been limited geographically or sociologically

Question 2

Common errors (5-7)

Answer 2

Various forms of parallelomania (misuse of parallels)

Arguments from silence that overlook the general paucity of our information concerning the world of the NT

Using an inadequately reconstructed background to support a revisionist reading of the text that fits modern concerns

Question 3

What are the various forms of parallelomania?

Answer 3

Failure to distinguish between genealogical and analogical parallels.

Failure to properly assess how a new context alters a borrowed concept

Question 4

What are the various forms of parallelomania?

Answer 4

Failure to distinguish between genealogical and analogical parallels.

Failure to properly assess how a new context alters a borrowed concept

Question 5

Define ‘material culture’

Answer 5

Things such as:

Artifacts
Archeological discoveries
Inscriptions

Question 6

List the types of background materials

Answer 6

Jewish
Greco-Roman
Literary
Material