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gospels The four canonical gospels of the New Testament were written in the last 30 years of the first century, a generation or two after Jesus died. Each stands alone as an account of Jesus’ miraculous ministry, death, and resurrection. The first three gospels, Mark, Matthew, and Luke, are called the synoptic gospels because they have a shared view of Jesus’ story. They include a lot of good historical information about Jesus’ life and ministry. The gospel of John, on the other hand, is quite different from the first three and has little new information to offer about Jesus. The titles of the gospels are 2nd-centry invention. Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John didn’t write Mark, Matthew, Luke, or John. Christian tradition acclaims the gospels, along with the rest of scripture, as inerrant (at least in some sense). Originally, there was only one gospel, one “good news,” one “kerygma.” This gospel spread by word of mouth, and Jesus’ words and deeds circulated as oral accounts. The first four books in the New Testament offer connected accounts of this gospel: they are the gospel according to Mark, the same gospel but according to Matthew, the same gospel but this time according to Luke, and finally a startlingly original account of the gospel according to John. Soon enough, however, each book was considered a gospel, rather than an account of the the gospel. The gospels include a lot of stuff that wasn’t on Jesus’ mind, the sorts of things that Christians early in the tradition needed to hear. For example, the gospels deal with the issue of kicking people out of the congregation. Jesus died without a clean hand-off to any sort of church administration. Christian congregations formed, but there were no clear rules on what one needed to do to belong, what it took to get kicked out, or how such decisions would get made. Matthew pitches in by providing a private scene in which Jesus endows the apostles, particularly Peter, with divine authority, including the authority to exclude difficult congregants. Another early Christian concern was persecution, so Jesus is shown bolstering his followers against the persecution they were bound to suffer. Each gospel was meant to stand on its own as a record of Jesus’ life and teachings, and each is internally consistent. When they’re compared to each other, however, the differences and contradictions are clear. Helpful Christians scribes and translators have worked over the centuries, editing them so that they appear to me more similar in style and content. While textual historians examine the gospels for what’s unique about them, Christian scribes have been more concerned with developing each gospel with a mind toward helping it fit with the others. In addition to the four canonical gospels, there were other gospels that didn’t make the cut one way or another. The lost sayings gospel Q was an early, written collection of Jesus’ sayings. Matthew and Luke incorporated this material into their gospels. The semi-gnostic gospel of Thomas was also a sayings gospel, possible first published before the canonical gospels. It focuses on Jesus’ teachings, with little to no reference to his miracles, death, resurrection, or divine titles. It records plenty of authentic teachings of Jesus, most of them found independently in Q. Numerous later gospels also popped up as everybody and their brother got in the act of inventing things for Jesus to have said and done.
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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