How to read the Gospels 101

 


When reading the Gospels, remember: The Gospels were written decades after the events and after decades of shared storytelling of the teachings. In an earlier post I noted some nearly required reading. Two of Bart Ehrman's books are listed and are a good place to start. The Gospels are not documentaries or biographies. The stories are there for us to understand what Jesus is teaching.

Also, read the Gospels with an inquiring mind. Have you noticed the classic storytelling format of the Gospels?  

..Jesus is on a quest and mission and journey.

..Jesus forms a 'fellowship" of disciples, and they travel and teach: The mission.

The Gospels are great teaching stories.

The format is also used in these well-known works and many others:

..Homer's "The Iliad and the Odyssey."

..J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings" series, especially, "The Fellowship of The Ring".

..L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of OZ". (More on this one in a future post.)

Here are some examples of "inquiring mind reading":

Two of the top themes of Jesus' teaching are: Love and Spirits.

Love is mentioned over 500 times in the New Testament (NT) and about 300 times in the Old Testament (OT).

Spirits are critical to Jesus' teaching and are mentioned about 70 times in the Gospels. The OT mentions spirits about 300 times; but, mostly in a different focus than Jesus did in the NT.

The Gospels are only about 3.5% of the entire Bible and only about 15% of the NT. And they nearly double the use of the word Love.

In the OT there are about 475 mentions of people talking with God. In the NT: about 2 or 3.

Richard Rohr points out that Jesus never said "Worship Me." He did say "Follow Me."

Jesus' Invitation: Follow Me — Center for Action and Contemplation

What does this mean? Inquiring minds want to know.






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