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Christianity

Scriptural Sources

The New Testament

The Gospels and other New Testament writings are as much, if not more so, a reflection of the beliefs of the authors as they are a reflection of what Jesus actually said and did. He is "said to have said." The presentation and commentary interspersed with Jesus’ own words tell us more about the early church thinking about Jesus than they tell us about the historical Jesus.

Four types of books (all written during first century):

• The Gospels - the life and teachings of Jesus

• Acts of the Apostles - very early development of the church

• Epistles (letters) of Paul and others to local fledging church communities; earliest writings (even before Gospels)

• Book of Revelations - expectations of future times yet to come

Is it with the writing of these books that a new religion is born?

The Gospels: The "good news" ("good speak") which Jesus preached or was Jesus Christ himself the "good news"? (of or about Jesus?)

• The Synoptics ("same view") Gospels : Matthew (MT), Mark (MK) and Luke (LK)

• All three share similar material, offering a similar view of the life and meaning of Jesus

• Not necessarily written by Jesus’ disciples, could have been passed down orally by them or written by their associates

• Both Matthew and Luke appear to have taken some of their material from Mark (material found in all three Gospels)

• Additional material common to both MT and LK not found in MK presumed to have originated from the same unknown original source(s) called "Q" (Quelle [German] = "source")

• Still remaining material unique to each MT and LK: each is presumed to have had it’s own third source called "M" for Matthew’s source and "L" for Luke’s source

Mark
/\
/   \
V    V

                    "M" ---> Matthew       Luke <--- "L"

/\    /\
\   /
\/
"Q"

Mark focuses on life and death of Jesus esp. miracles and healings; Matthew & Luke add birth and resurrection of Jesus and also add "Q" sayings (teachings) of Jesus

• Mark, 70-80 CE: a simple, straightforward description more of what Jesus did than of what he taught

• written just after the fall of the Temple for Jewish-Christians living outside the Holy Land

• translates Aramaic words (e.g., "Talitha cum") of Jesus into Greek for Greek-only speaking people

• Matthew (c. 85 CE): geared to Hebrews with many references to Old Testament prophecies linking Jesus to these expectations

• written for Jewish-Christians living within the Holy Land, it is the most Jewish of all the Gospels

• Contains genealogy presenting Jesus as a Hebrew (contains ancestral lineage linking Jesus back to King David)

• speaks against scribes and Pharisees who were most prominent opponents of the Jewish-Christians in years after the fall of the Temple

• Luke (c. 90 CE): geared to Gentiles (non-Jewish Greek citizens of the Roman Empire), drawing on imagery and concepts familiar to Greek thinking (contains familiar birth story) thus universalizing the message beyond Judaism

• Luke, a Greek associate of Paul who preached to the Gentiles, was a Gentile writing for a Gentile audience (also wrote Acts)

• shows Jews as hostile to Gentile Christians, also makes first reference to followers of Jesus as "Christians"

• Places Christianity as part of Roman-Greek culture rather than Jewish

• The Gospel according to St. John (JN) (c. 95 CE), the "spiritual" Gospel, is unique, presenting a more mystical or Gnostic (Greek rather than Jewish) understanding of Jesus as the Christ, as an eternally existing divine figure, focuses on miracles and a symbolic presentation to make this point:

• Jesus is the sacrificial lamb (rather than just eats it at the last supper)

• Jesus rather than Torah is seen as the "word" of God

• The Gospels seem to have combined Jewish, Greek and possibly other religious (Zoroastrian? and, later, Pagan) influences in interpreting what Jesus stands for. This enables the new religion to appeal to a wide audience but alienates the mainstream traditional authorized version of first century Judaism (thus it is a "stumbling block" to them); writers of the New Testament, in addition to appealing to Greek and Roman gentiles were, themselves, Gentile and so superimposed their own non-Jewish worldviews upon the events they were concerned with.

• New Testament in its final form not canonized until 4th cent

• Many other Gospels and texts did not "make the cut," were suppressed by the early church authorities (e.g., Gospel of Thomas) not discovered until mid-20th cent at Nag Hammadi, Egypt; these are of a Gnostic view of Jesus representing early "heresies"

For more on the Gospels, read this essay and review the material at this site (from PBS Frontline: "From Jesus To Christ: The First Christians")

Explore the contrasts between the Synoptics and the Gospel of John
Think about it: Why do you think there are these differences? What might they mean? Do you think it significant that there are these differences? Which of the two (synoptics or John) do you think might be more true to fact?

Learn more about how to read and use the Bible: complete this on-line tutorial on Biblical Exegesis
(if you want credit for doing this, reflect upon what you learn as well as the process of learning and how you may have applied it in your own life and thinking)