Blog Post #3: The 4 Gospel Writers

1. Throughout the presentations, I learned a lot about the four different writers of the Gospel. First off, each writer wrote to a different group of people (Mark-Gentiles, Matthew- Jewish and Christian communities, Luke- Jesus' followers, John-Christians/Disciples). The original language of all four Gospels is Greek. In addition, the Gospels were written in different time periods, each time period reflected the writer's knowledge about Jesus. Mark and John wrote their Gospels before 70 AD, they both were considered eye witnesses of Jesus. On the other hand, Luke and Matthew wrote around the 80/90s, making them second hand sources. Luke and Mark's Gospels have inspiration from the other two writers since they were not their to witness Jesus themselves. The writers each had a purpose in their writing as well. Mark and Luke chronicled the order of events in Jesus' lifetime. Overall, each presentation taught me a lot about the Gospels.

2.  The Gospel readings from class showed the same story written by different authors (Mark, Matthew, Luke, John). Each Gospel followed the same basic story and ended with a closing line about Jesus. Although the closing messages weren't the same in every story, they showed how the Jesus appeared to the author. Matthews Gospel is heavily inspired by Mark's Gospel. The two men agreed that the revolutionaries mocked and abused Jesus. Luke and John's Gospels were very detailed oriented and both with with the closing line "it is finished." The Gospel's all hold similar stories within them. 

3. Although in the readings, the Gospel are telling the same story, each author interpreted the story differently. Luke's Gospel mentions the blood and water that flowed out of Jesus' body, none of the other Gospels mention this. In addition, Luke's Gospel mentions Jesus is the Son of God by mentioning the Old Testament. The other Gospels do this is a more direct manner. In Matthew's Gospel he mentions that during Jesus' crucifixion, the tombs were open. The other Gospel do not go in depth on this topic. Being that the Gospels weren't all written in the same time period with the same background knowledge, it makes sense that the writing's each follow a slightly different storyline. 

4. I would prefer to read Mark's Gospel. I would most likely believe a first hand source, rather than a second hand source that gathered information from other places. This left me with two options, Mark or John. The reason I chose John's Gospel is because is most closely aligns with the other Gospel's, making it believable. Where as, John's story has many details not stated in the other Gospels, making it possible that these details were made up. In addition, his purpose was to order the events from Jesus' life which I would want to know more about. The one reason Mark's Gospel would be hard for me to read, is because it is meant for people who are unfamiliar with the Jewish religion. I have grown up learning a lot about Judiasim. In total, Mark's Gospel would be the best option for me.

Multimedia Source: 

This video explains the reasoning behind each of the Gospels. It explains why we have four, instead of just one. In addition, it is very information about each of the authors. Overall, this video is a good source to learn about the Gospel and it's writers.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggIXPM8syhI