Part 1

The chapter starts out with Norm comparing Jesus’s questioning of the disciples between the gospels. Norm uses this to question how much Jesus really knew. Norm then wonders if the geographic location of the questioning is the reason for mentioning the gates of Hades. After Norm talks to Levy, a young Jewish boy, about the Jewish idea of the coming of the Messiah, he realizes that the elements (a Messiah, building a holy building upon a rock (Peter or the original foundation of the temple), and certitude) are the same as when Jesus makes Peter head of the church. He learns that Jews are not allowed on Temple Mount because they should not be stepping on holy ground. Could this be a political move? Norm realizes (after sending an email to professor Guilder) that both John and Jesus believed that the Kingdom of Heaven would come in their lifetimes. Norm then has a dream that explains all the views on Jesus’s prophecy on the end times. Could Jesus have prophesied a certain time (in the near to Him future) because the future was not really a possibility?

Part 2

Throughout this chapter Norm is questioning Jesus’s abilities to understand the future. Some of the questions Norm asks are;

Does this wordage (gates of Hades) mean that pagan religions will not prevail against Christianity?

Could Jesus clearing the temple also have been a political move, along with a religious one?

Did he believe that the apocalypse was happening now (in his time)?

Norm no longer sees the Jesus of his Sunday school days, but as a man who did not know everything. It is possible that Jesus was wrong about the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven because he was living in a world where the time frames for events were on a day to day basis.

Part I

    This chapter of the book focuses on Norm's further investigation into Jesus's life as a prophet and supposed Messiah.  He questions if Jesus truly knew that he was the Messiah and if he knew the purpose of his life.  While he expected suffering and death, in the Gospels he doesn't seem to expect anything to result from it.  He never says that he is dying for a specific cause or that they will achieve something through his death.  He simply says that he will suffer, die, and rise again on the third day.  This is a bit odd - for the savior of his people he doesn't seem to know much.  Norm also questions what Jesus's view of the future were.  While attempting to portray him as the one who will die for all our sins and save us, the Gospel authors also paint a portrait of him as someone who doesn't know everything and is trying to learn.

Part II

    I hate to be repetitive, but I have had the same basic question throughout the whole book so far.  Who was Jesus, really?  And why are so many people accepting of him and ready to follow him without question?  He doesn't seem to know all and he barely seems to know what the purpose of his own life was.  On top of that, it is extremely hard to prove anything to be truth in the Gospels.  The authors exaggerated, fabricated, and embellished stories in order to turn Jesus into a sort of superhero.  How is the reader supposed to know what is real and what isn't?  I would love to somehow get inside Jesus's head and figure out what he was thinking.  I want to know if Christianity, as it is today, is what he expected to result from his life and, ulltimately, his death.

Part 1

Norm begins the chapter off heading to northern Galilee. He is following the footsteps of Jesus’ travel. He heads up to Mount Hermon and to Pan’s cave, a sacred place in the older Roman religion dedicated to the God Pan. Norm makes reference to the landscape of Pan’s cave, noting the pool, large opening, and rocky terrain. He draws a parallel to Matthew 16 when Jesus said “On this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death will not prevail against it.” Norm believes Jesus could have possibly been at Pan’s cave when he said that. He then travels to Herod the Great’s theater, and then back to Jerusalem.

Part 2

This was probably the most boring of the chapter I have read so far. The others were pretty interesting, this one, not so much. It focuses heavily on Jesus’ travels, his prediction of his death, Peter’s role, Jesus as a second Solomon, and the importance of the Dome of the Rock. One thing that grabbed my attention was the idea some people have regarding Jesus’ prediction of his death. Some claim these sayings were composed after Jesus’ death to persuade people to believe it was part of the plan. Others say Jesus started to get the feeling his name was getting too big, and he would likely face the same fate of John the Baptist. Norm poses a good question to this idea: If Jesus did sense a call to suffer and die for his people, what did he think that death would accomplish? If these sayings were made up after Jesus’ death, you would think the author would have Jesus say why he was dying, or that his death would save the world. It simply never says why Jesus had to die. This reasoning makes me believe these sayings were not made up after Jesus’ death.

Part I

            In the fifth chapter to A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus, Norm digs deeper into Jesus as a human, into how Jesus does not know everything, going to learn in the temples or asking questions when preforming a miracle (152-157). He visits Pan’s Cave where he analyzes Matthew 16, where Jesus talks about building a church that withstands the gates of Hades (159). After talking with locals, Norm realizes that Jesus was the Messiah who will be building the temple, which Norm speculates to be “living stones” or humans (162). Norm becomes curious about the temple and the way rabbi’s treat the Jews; Norm also took interest in the prophet’s role in the temple (165, 168). In a dream, Norm argues three different men about the prediction of the coming of the Son of Man (172), the kingdom coming (174) and Jesus’s treatment as a Jewish Prophet (177). He then thinks about Jesus’s knowledge on earth and how the Bible can be deceiving (180).

Part II

            In chapter five, Norm looks into interactions Jesus had during his life time. It was interesting to find the differences in the gospels and how the wording changes according to the writer, as we have discussed in class. I think the section talking about why Jesus had to die (156) creates an interesting discussion topic. Jesus died for the sin of humans, the fact of giving up his life shows his love for the people and determination to help humans in the long run. Although this still does not explain why Jesus had to die, it would seem as though Christian’s could have been forgiven for their sins without killing the Son of God. On the contrary, maybe the event would have had a negative affect if the Christians had not known their savior died for them.

Part I

In chapter 5 of A Hitchhikers Guide to Jesus, Norm seeks answers about Jesus’ resurrection.  The question that he seemed to want answered was how Jesus knew about his death.  Norm notes that the Gospels show Jesus having supernatural knowledge.  He gives examples from both John and Mark of how Jesus was all knowing (154-155).  Although many thought that Jesus did in fact have supernatural knowledge, there are many examples in the bible where his knowledge appears to be limited (155).  Norm then heads to Mount Hermon where he finds compares the metaphors about the building, rock, and endurance (159).  The chapter then concludes with Norm stating that Jesus may have not known about how his death would occur. 

Part II

The fifth chapter about resurrection seemed to be very challenging for Norm.  It is very hard to believe that Jesus didn’t know his actual fate since he was the perfect being.  Norm’s dream made the challenge even more difficult for him.  This chapter was very challenging because I always believed Jesus to be all knowing and now I’m questioning if he actually was or if he was just keeping information to himself. 

Part I
            Chapter five of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus starts off with Norm traveling to Caesarea Philippi. That particular location is where Jesus also took his disciples not long before his arrest. This is also where Norm has a question about whether or not Jesus chose to announce the end of his ministry at the Jordan because it was where it all began and where the baptism took place (153). Even though Jesus had insight about what was to come we learn that he was just like anyone else and he still shed tears, suffers hunger, etc. (156).  This chapter dealt with Jesus’ death as well as the second coming. Towards the end of the chapter Norm has a pretty significant dream where he encounters three doors.

Part II
            When Jesus is talking with the disciples and is explaining to them that the end is near and that the Son of Man will appear during their lifetime is it possible that he expected the drastic finale to happen immediately and if so was he disappointed (170). In Matthew 10 we have proof that Jesus was disappointed. It’s also interesting that with each prediction that Jesus makes he keeps moving closer to Jerusalem. If he knew what was going to happen then why would he want to move closer to Jerusalem? Something that really got my attention was when at the end of the chapter Salah tells Norm that when he gives guides to the Temple Mount he tells different stories depending on who he is talking to. That refers back to chapter 4 when we read about how one boat can lead to two totally different stories. Salah tells the people what they want to hear and we learn that there is no “neutral” view point.

Part I

In chapter five of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus Norm travels to Caesarea Philippi, the site where Jesus announced his immanent death to his disciples (152).  Norm is there to try and learn how Jesus knew so much about his own death but so little about everything else.  Mt. Hermon is next on Norm’s trek, and then he returns to Jerusalem.  Norm thinks about how Jesus prophesized the second coming but could not give a definite answer to when it would happen.  He has a dream at the end of the chapter where he sees three scenarios.  The first is Jesus never announcing a prophecy.  Second, Jesus announcing the prophecy and it being fulfilled. The last scenario was Jesus announcing the prophecy and it not happening.

Part II

Norm was in a state of confusion over Jesus’ abilities in this chapter.  The struggle between knowing if Jesus knew his fate or didn’t was mind-boggling.  The dream sequence opened some new doors in Norm’s head and challenged him to really take a philosophers point of view on the issue at hand.  

Part  I

At the beginning of chapter 5 in A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus Norm travels to Caesarea Philippi, the location that Jesus took his disciples to tell them the news of his inevitable death. (152) Norm wonders about whether or not Jesus really did have supernatural powers or if he wasn’t all-knowing. He then takes a trip to Mount Hermon and ponders a metaphor written by Matthew concerning Jesus, the building, rock and endurance. (159) Towards the end of the chapter, Norm has a dream in which he comes across 3 doors. Each one expressing a different opinion on the amount of knowledge and information Jesus really had. (170-178)

Part II

Chapter 5 focuses mainly on whether or not Jesus had supernatural powers and more specifically if he truly did know everything. The first example of Jesus being supernatural and all-powerful is when he predicted his death 3 times, each time getting closer to the actual place of his death. (156) Was this really a coincidence? On the other hand, according to Mark, Jesus was said to have many questions for the people and did not know when God would come again, and that ONLY the father knows. Does that mean he was not as powerful as God? During Norm’s dream this idea is questioned even more.  What is challenging about this chapter is that Jesus is so mysterious and complex it is hard to say whether or not he is purposely holding back some information. Is there a reason that God doesn’t let us know everything that is going to happen and when it will happen? Maybe that’s why Jesus held back some information from us during his time on earth. 

Part I
    Chapter five focuses on the prediction of Jesus’ death and of the second coming. Norm describes the thoughts of scholars on this subject and contemplates whether Jesus was an all-knowing being or someone with a lot left to learn (155). Norm explains that the Gospels depict Jesus as having supernatural knowledge but also that Jesus was still limited in his wisdom (155). The chapter ends with Norm in a dream where he speaks to scholars found behind three doors of different perspectives. One door’s “idea” stated that Jesus did not predict his death or resurrection, the second said that he did in fact make this prediction and it has already occurred, and the third takes the perspective that Jesus did predict it although it has not happened (171-176). Another interesting topic throughout this chapter is the confusion over the timeline of Jesus’ predictions; whether the second coming was to happen shortly (within a few years) or over thousands of years.

Part II
     Jesus predicts his death three times throughout the Gospels and Norm points out that upon each prediction Jesus has progressed closer to Jerusalem (156). Norm reports that some believe that Christian followers came up with these predictions in order to convince others that Jesus’ death was part of a bigger plan (156). Towards the end of the chapter Norm talks about the second coming of Christ and whether this was intended to be a physical or spiritual concept. I found it interesting that the “final temple” could have meant new believers rather than a physical building. This idea held true to me personally after reading the passage repeated on page 162 where Jesus tells Peter he is the rock on which he will build his church. 

_ Part I

Norm continues his journey to the northernmost points of Jesus’s travels in order to help determine how Jesus seemed to know about his upcoming death.  One of this first issues Norm faces is determining how Jesus could seem so knowledgeable about his imminent death, yet be so limited in knowing about other events (152-157).  Norm then continued his trek to the foot of Mt. Hermon where he discovered a parallel between the location and Jesus’s foreshadowing (157-160).  On his return to Jerusalem, Norm discusses with a man he met on the bus, Levy, about how Jews have been forbidden to enter the Temple Mount which leads Norm to question Jesus’s political views in accordance to his religious zeal (165).  The last portion of the chapter deals with Norm’s quest to find out how Jesus knew about the new kingdom, but nothing of the time in which it would take to happen (166-181).

Part II

One portion of Norm’s studies that sticks out to me is how Jesus is portrayed often in the Gospels as superhuman with supernatural knowledge, however this knowledge is limited at other points (154-155).  It makes sense to me that early Christian writers would want to portray Jesus as more than human to legitimize him; however it is also apparent that his human characteristics come through as well.  The dream also struck me as interesting in the fact that Jesus knew he would die but needed his followers to remain loyal afterwards (156, 168).  When the second kingdom would take place was seemingly unknown to Jesus but he may have implied that it was much sooner than modern scholars initially thought.  The idea that the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans was indeed the arrival of the kingdom of God (174) is an interesting perspective and one I had never even considered beforehand.