If you wanted to read the Gospels, where would you start?

Our weekly Bible Study group has just started a new study on the gospels. We're going to read them, as far as possible, chronologically. But we'll probably find lots of discrepancies in different chronologies. There again, finding stuff is half the fun, and surprises are what make us stop and think.

To start with, we're thinking about where and when all these events took place:

(0) Introducing A Gospel Chronology

Let’s start by making sure we know what the world was like in the time of the Gospels.

1.       Which nation dominated the world? Where was its capital in relation to Judea?

2.       Which nations had previously dominated Judea?

3.       Why had Judea been important to the world?

4.       Was it still important?

5.       Who ruled Judea?

6.       Who ruled Judea’s ruler?

7.       Was the local government stable?

8.       Was the world government stable?

9.       How centralized religion in Judea?

10.   How secular was religious rule in Judea?

11.   How divided were religious people in Judea?

12.   How global was Judean religion?

13.   How was Judea affected by global religious beliefs?

14.   What were Judean towns like – name some?

15.   What were Judean villages like – name some?

16.   What were Judean roads like?

17.   Were there palaces and fortresses in Judea?

18.   What places surrounded Judea and what were they like?

19.   Did people in Judea aspire to be rich?

20.   Did they aspire to be powerful?

21.   Did they aspire to spread their faith?

22.   What factions were there in faith in Judea?

23.   How important was the temple, and how easy was it to get to?

24.   How important were temple sacrifices, and how easy were they to obtain?

25.   Which people were important, influential, powerful in Judea?

26.   Which people were unimportant, downtrodden and powerless in Judea?

27.   What questions have I missed out?

All this might lead us to wonder...

1.       Which nations currently dominate the world?

2.       What makes them important?

3.       How do they relate to Israel?

4.       What do they aspire to?

5.       Where do we find the poor and downtrodden?