1. What theology does Jesus present in the two excerpts from the Gospels that are a part of the readings? What aspects of Judaism are strongly represented? What aspects of Judaism are rejected or reinterpreted?
2. The image of Jesus changes radically from the early Roman catacomb paintings to the Byzantine period. Can you make any connections between the change in Christianity’s position in the society and the changes in the images? Do you think there is a larger message in this for today when some see Jesus as one who proclaims a social gospel while others see him as proclaiming a Jesus who gives the faithful material rewards in this world?
3. What general picture of morality emerges from the readings of early Christian writers? How does it fit in with Augustine’s dualistic view of the world, The City of Man vs. The City of God? How does it compare with the ideas of Plato that were a part of the Neo-Platonic thought that had great appeal to many early Christians?