series of 36 lectures by Professor Luke Timothy Johnson to be very informative. He approaches the Gospels and Luke's Acts of the Apostles as literature and not as strictly historical documents in the modern sense. He reveals the each Gospel's organizational complexity below the surface of narrative simplicity.He carefully lays out the rational for the Gospel of Mark providing source material for both the synoptic gospels of Matthew and Luke. It is interesting to understand how each Gospel characterizes the disciples. In Mark, they are just don't seem to understand what Jesus is teaching. In the other Gospels they exhibit a much better understanding.
I gained a deeper understanding of some of the parables. In particular the prodigal son can also represent Jews being the responsible son who worked with the father and the gentile Christians being the prodigal son. As the chosen people, the Jews may have felt neglected when Jesus arrived and preached to gentiles who were not following Torah.
In addition to covering the canonical gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, Professor Johnson offers an overview of the Gnostic Gospels. These typically focus on the spirituality of Jesus and attempt to fill in the gaps within the existing Gospels. An example is the heretical Infancy Gospel of Thomas. It offers a likely fictitious account of the young Jesus attempting to understand his super powers while his harried father attempts to placate the families victimized by an impulsive and powerful child learning that his word creates action.
This book is an excellent complement to Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman.
Learning Jesus in the Life of the Church - 54 min.
Paganism and the New Testament - 4 min.
Why good works matter - 8 min.
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