The Gospels

Goal: You will familiarize yourself with the Four Canonical Gospels (those found in the Bible) and how they compare. This activity is designed for you to be able to do this without reading every word on the four gospels. Once you have done that you will take a quick look at a few of the gospels not found in the Bible. Ultimately, you will be trying to answer two questions. What is in the Gospels and how do they differ? How can we assess their accuracy? To do this assignment you will asked to take some notes and answer some questions IN YOUR OWN WORDS. You may do this electronically and print it out, or by hand—but regardless you will turn it in, FYI.

  1. Read pages 124-129 in your class reader. This is a background on the life of Jesus of Nazareth, from an historical point of view, compiled from the canonical gospels. Many of you may already know this, in which case you can read quickly (you should read though to see what is historically accepted vs. accepted by faith); but, for those of you that don’t, jot a few notes down. (These are your notes to keep, you do not have turn these in like the other parts of the assignment.) You are responsible for the background knowledge in these pages. They are necessary to understand the rest of the assignment.
  1. Start your sheet of paper (electronically or by hand) to take notes on. Choose ONE Canonical Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) to “read.” Do this in the following manner.

● Google “Cliff Notes New Testament” and pick your gospel from the links on the right side. Read the summary and analysis, taking notes. You should now know what the Gospel is about.

● Read part of the actual text: Go to theonlineeditions here. Go down to the English translations and chose the King James Version (KJV) or the Revised Standard Version (RSV). Start reading. Set a timer. Read the Gospel for at least 20 minutes. While reading:

  • Take notes of words or phrases that strike you (because they are persuasive, because they are profound, because you believe them, because you do not believe them, etc.).
  • Write down questions you have about the passages.
  • Explain, as best you can, what the passages you read were about.
  1. Look at a comparison between the Gospels. Go to this page. Read over the page and find the chart that shows which stories appear in which Gospels. Pick two stories that appear in all four Gospels, click on the link, and read the segments associated with them. Answer these questions:
  • How are the passages similar and different? What key characteristics do you see? Be specific.
  • Which ones seems the most historically legitimate and why?
  • Which one do you personally like best and why?
  1. Check out some of the Gospels that were not included in the Bible. Go to this page and pick 1-2 Noncanonical Gospels to read. Start reading. Set a timer. Read for 10 minutes. Then google the Gospel(s) you chose and try to figure out why it/they was not included in the Bible. While doing this:
  • Takes notes on what you read. Its words, phrases and styles and how it is similar and different to the Canonical texts.
  • Explain, as best you can, what the passages you read were about.
  • Explain, as best you can, why this Gospel was excluded from the Bible.
  1. Finally, we can now try to answer the question. “How do you know what we read in these sources can be trusted from an historical perspective?” To do this we will examine both sides. First go to this site, which is associated with the United Methodist Church. Read it and then read pp. 132-136 in your reader.Then go to this site, which is associated with the Campus Crusade for Christ. Read it. Using specifics, respond to the following question in a paragraph:
  • Can everything in the Gospel be trusted as historical fact? Why or why not? Be specific in your response.

YOU WILL TURN IN A HARD COPY OF #S 2-5 ON THE DUE DATE.