Introduction to Gospels
-Written over the course of almost a century after Jesus's death, the four gospels of the New Testament, though they tell the same story, reflect very different ideas and concerns.
-Before written documents, people were passing on the tradition of what happened to Jesus, what he stood for and what he did orally. Oral tradition included stories of Jesus' miracles and healing, his parables and teachings and his death
-the gospels are very peculiar types of literature; they are not biographies. what they do is proclaim their individual authors' interpretation of the Christian message through the device of using Jesus as a spokesperson for the evangelists' position.
-Each of the four gospels depicts Jesus in a different way. these characterizations reflect the past experiences and the particular circumstances of their authors' communities as well as the growing tensions between Christians and Jews.
-Despite these differences, all four gospels contain the passion narrative: the central story of Jesus' suffering and death
The Gospel of Mark
-It was the first attempt to tell the story of the life and the death of Jesus and this narrative began the gospel tradition.
-He probably composed his work in or about the year 70 CE, after the failure of the First Jewish Revolt and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple at the hands of the Romans. That destruction shapes how Mark tells his story.
-The gospel of mark is really about the death of Jesus and the hope of his return when God brings an end to the present evil age.
-In Mark's story, the High Priest dispatches Jesus to Pilate who sentences him to death. It is the death that reveals his true identity. With deliberate irony, the figure who recognizes that identity is a Roman soldier
-In Mark's story, jesus is buried in a tomb. His original ending of the gospel does not contain an account of the resurrection, but it's added by a later author
The Gospel of Matthew
-Writing for a jewish Christian Audience, Matthew's main concern is to present Jesus as a teacher even greater than Moses.
-the Evangelist who composed the gospel of Matthew was probably a Jewish Christian and he addressed his work to a community in conflict with Pharisees who pushed Jewish Christians out of the larger communities. It's very important for Matthew that Jesus is the son of Abraham to resolve the conflict.
-Matthew grounds his entire work in the traditions of Judaism so that he can present Jesus as a teacher even greater Moses. Accordingly, Matthew uses his sources to create a somewhat different narrative.
-In Matthew's gospel, Jesus delivers five major speeches, which parallel the five great books of Moses known as the Pentateuch. the First and most important is the Sermon on the Mount.
-Matthew makes the Pharisees the hypocrites. Matthew's attitude toward the Pharisees is reflected in the way he tells the story of the death of Jesus. Pontius Pilate is portrayed as a sympathetic figure and the blame is placed on the Jewish leaders.
The Gospel of Luke
-The author of Luke wrote for a community which also awaited the arrival of God's kingdom, but which was concerned about its life in another kingdom, the Kingdom of Caesar. It is learning to live and to flourish in the Roman world, becoming absorbed into its surrounding society and clture. Luke wants to assure that there is no conflict between faith in Jesus and loyalty to the Emperor
-According to Luke, the birth of Jesus occurred in Bethlehem because bethlehem is the city of King David; Luke is drawing a direct parallel between the first king of Israel and the new king, Jesus Christ.
-Jesus of Luke is a powerful figure and he offers advice on how to live a good life besides doing a series of blessings addressing the peoples' physical needs.
-the most notable difference between Luke's gospel and others is its sense of joy. the gospel begins with the joyous account of Jesus' birth and ends on the victorious note of Jesus' resurrection and ascension into heaven
-Luke's Jesus is not only a king, he also resembles a Greek philosopher or a semi-divine hero portrayed in Greek stories.
Gospel of John
-the so-called spiritual gospel which presents Jesus as the stranger from heaven stands apart from the other three.
-If Matthew's Jesus resembles Moses and Luke's Jesus resembles a Greek Philosopher, John's Jesus resembles the Jewish ideal of heavenly wisdom
-Another feature of John's gospel is that Jesus speaks in long monologues, rather than pithy statements or parables.
-He openly proclaims his divinity and insists that the only way to the Father is through him. The central them of this work is ascent/descent. He knows the Father; belief in him is the only way to reach the Father, the only way to salvation, whereas Jews didn't recognized it.
-The gospel itself suggests that its members were in conflict with the followers of John the baptist and were undergoing a painful separation from Judaism.
The Emergence of the Canon
-The New Testament, published in Christian bibles used around the world, contains 27 manuscripts or texts. the most prominent of these are the four gospels known as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
-As the number of Christian communities grew, so did the number of gospels. Irenaeus felt the need to limit the number of gospels to four.
-The choice of these four gospels reflects the preferences and practices of a growing majority of early Christian communities.
[I believe that the article is incomplete. Therefore I end with only three points]
