New Testament Studies | Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies (9RS0)

New Testament Studies

164 questions
13 subtopics
Paper 3: New Testament Studies
Paper 3

Paper 3.

The world into which the New Testament was written, the person of Jesus as the Fourth Gospel presents him, the methods scholars use to interpret the texts, and the accounts of the kingdom, the crucifixion and the resurrection.

Sample questions from New Testament Studies

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

The 13 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Messianic Prophecy and Expectation	Recall questions on the Suffering Servant and Davidic descent, first-century messianic expectation, Wrede and the messianic secret, Matthew's formula quotations in the birth narratives, Brown and Hooker, and the problem of a crucified Messiah.	12
The World of First-Century Palestine	Recall questions on Roman rule and the Herods, the Temple and its place in Jewish life, how Greek culture and Jewish tradition pulled against one another, and the Pharisees, Sadducees and Zealots.	12
The Prologue of John's Gospel	Recall questions on the Word made flesh, life, light and darkness, belief and becoming children of God, flesh and spirit, law, grace and truth, the Jewish and Hellenistic background, Dodd and Hooker, and the Prologue's influence.	13
The Titles of Jesus and the I am Sayings	Recall questions on Messiah, Son of God and Son of Man, the bread, light, shepherd and vine sayings, the absolute and predicate uses of I am, Brown and Dodd on the sayings, and why their scriptural background matters.	13
Miracles and Signs in the Fourth Gospel	Recall questions on why the Fourth Gospel calls miracles signs, Cana, the official's son, the pool, the five thousand, Jesus coming across the water, the man born blind and Lazarus, and Brown and Dodd on sign and discourse.	14
The Synoptic Problem and Biblical Criticism	Recall questions on Markan priority and the Q hypothesis, and on source, form and redaction criticism.	12
Authorship and Purpose of the Fourth Gospel	Recall questions on the Gospel's stated purpose, the spiritual gospel, Jewish and Gentile readerships, fulfilment of scripture, the traditional attribution and its difficulties, and Brown and Dodd on its origin and aim.	11
Ways of Interpreting Scripture	Recall questions on inspiration, the literal, allegorical and moral senses of scripture, Barth on the Word of God, Bultmann's demythologising, the rational, historical, sociological and literary approaches and their weaknesses, and the value of historical-critical study.	13
The Kingdom of God	Recall questions on the kingdom of God as present and future in Luke, the parables and the great banquet, realised eschatology, Schweitzer's interim ethic, Marshall on Luke's kingdom, and whether the two strands can be reconciled.	12
Conflict and the Death of Jesus	Recall questions on the Fourth Gospel's conflict with the authorities, the Temple incident, the Sabbath controversies and the Law of Moses, the sequence from arrest to sentence, political expediency, and Rivkin and Culpepper on responsibility for Jesus' death.	12
The Crucifixion and Resurrection Narratives	Recall questions on Luke's crucifixion account, its use of scripture and symbolic details, the death as God's saving plan, the resurrection narrative and Emmaus, sacrifice, atonement and salvation, and Marshall and Matera on Luke's passion.	12
Faith, History and the Resurrection	Recall questions on scientific and Enlightenment challenges to the resurrection, Hume on miracles, fictional, mythical and experiential interpretations, alternative explanations of the empty tomb, Morison and Wilson on the historical evidence, and the strengths of each case.	14
The Ethical Teaching of Jesus	Recall questions on Luke's Sermon on the Plain and love of enemies, the poor and outcasts, the parables of the Lost, the Good Samaritan and the Rich Man and Lazarus, Marshall and Matera on Luke's ethics, and the teaching's impact today.	14

New Testament Studies is 164 of the 1,694 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.