gospel

The stakes are fightingly high for monotheism. All three traditions have recently come under mounting critical attack in the West by the fashionable publishing successes of evolutionary biologists and atheists…….Yet the greater threat to ‘tradition’ is else where.

Drawn to some of the recent discussion on another thread, I have also in recent times been exploring the meaning of ‘the gospel’ as understood by Paul in Romans, and the NT generally. I owe a great deal to N.T. Wright, who has pioneered a historical/narrative understanding of the N.T., though building on the work of theologians over the past half-century and more. Wright draws attention to the popular understanding of the gospel, which owes its present shape to the reformers of the 16th and 17th centuries and beyond, through to the present day.

The question of the nature of Paul’s gospel has been raised in a lengthy comment by samlcar. This seems important enough to deal with in a separate post. The suggestion is made that the word is used in two distinct ways: i) as referring to the ‘actual traditions of Jesus’; and ii) as a summary of what is ‘believed’ in order to become part of the Jesus community. Neither of these appears to be ‘apocalyptic’ or temporally delimited. Rather than attempt a full survey at this point we’ll begin by looking at the use of the word in Romans, which by any reckoning must have central relevance for Paul’s thought as a whole. I think we will find that the term ‘gospel’ has a distinctly eschatological (rather than apocalyptic) meaning.

Andrew, I certainly agree with you regarding the poverty of our popular narratives!

I wonder whether there is not in Jesus’s teaching and action a greater incorporation of fulfilment and ‘covenantal perspective’ themes than perhaps your summary of the “Son of Man” theme allows for. Certainly the breadth of usage of this self designation is not only apocalyptic in scope. Perhaps by concentrating on the more Danielic aspect of the Son of Man, there is too much of a gap being placed between the ‘kingdom’ teachings that straddle both a present ethic as well as future consequences?

Recently, a Christian friend who is working in East Asia, and with whom I correspond, has been asking timely, for him, questions about how to talk about Jesus to people who have no religious background. In our dialogue, and spurred on by much that I have been reading at this site, I spent a day re-reading Acts with particular emphasis on what Luke recorded was actually said during ‘proclamation events.’ I have added below the summary I sent my friend. Some of the formatting is awkward, and someday when i have time i will come back and make it better!

Proclamation in Acts

The following is an attempt to summarize the core of each of the different proclamation events in Acts. The idea is that perhaps we can understand better what we should be saying to people by looking at the little bit of information we have of what the early church was saying to their contemporaries.