Blog Post #3: The Four Gospel Writers

The Four Gospel Writers

1. What are specific things that you learned about the Gospel Writers from the group presentations?

This is an image of the four gospel writers.  Each one different,
but all writing about the events of Jesus's life and proclaiming
their belief in Jesus through their writings.

I learned many things about the Gospel Writers from the group presentations.  I learned that all of the Gospel Writers wrote their original Gospels in the Greek language.  From the presentations about Matthew, Mark, and Luke, I learned that they all were not eyewitnesses to any of the events of Jesus's life.  I always thought that all the Gospel Writers were followers of Jesus and had a chance to witness all the events of Jesus's life.  I also learned that John was an eyewitness and follower of Christ, and he also traveled with Christ.  From the presentations, I learned that all of the Gospel Writers had symbols.  The symbol of Matthew's Gospel is a winged man, Mark's symbol is a winged lion, Luke's symbol is a winged ox, and John's symbol is an eagle.  Lastly, I learned that all the Gospels were written after Jesus's death.

2. Based on class discussion, what were similarities you saw within the 4 Gospel readings?

This a picture of Greek writing in a book.  A similarity
between the 4 Gospels is that all of them were originally written
in Greek.

I was surprised to see that there were many similarities between the 4 Gospel books.  All of the Gospels were originally written in the Greek language.  All of the symbols of the 4 Gospels are creatures with wings.  These symbols include a winged man, winged lion, winged ox, and eagle which has wings.  All of the gospels were written at least 50 years after Jesus's death.  The authors of three of the four gospels were not eyewitnesses to the events of Jesus's life.  All of the gospels were also written to Jews or Christians.  Lastly, all of the Gospels portrayed the importance to Jesus for the church and all Christians. 

3.  Based on class discussion, what were differences you saw within the 4 Gospel readings?

These are the different symbols for each Gospel.  As you can
see each symbol is a different winged animal.  Matthew a
winged man, Mark a winged lion, Luke a winged ox, and John's
an eagle.

The main differences I saw between the 4 Gospels were who the writer was writing to, the different symbols of each Gospel, the purpose of each Gospel, and each historical background.  One of the Gospels were written for solely Jews, two were written for everyone, and another was written to Theophilus, the Gentiles, and the Christians.  There were similarities between the symbols for each Gospel, but each symbol is also different.  Each symbol was a different winged animal; Matthew a man, Mark a lion, Luke an ox, and John an eagle.  The purpose of Matthew's writing was to give Jews an understanding of Jesus, Mark's purpose was to proclaim Jesus's good works from his last weeks of living, Luke's purpose was to give a better understanding of four faith and its origins, and John's purpose was to reveal a more theological and reflective truth of Jesus's message and teachings.  Each Gospel also has a different historical background.  The Gospel of Matthew was written before the destruction of the Temple, Mark's Gospel was written when the leader of Judea sent troops into Jerusalem, Luke's Gospel was written when Romans destroyed the temple and the city of Jerusalem, and John's Gospel was written 20 years after the destruction of the Jewish Temple.

4. From information you gathered from the presentations and class discussions, which Gospel would you prefer to read and why? (Think about time period, first or second hand account, purpose, etc.)

This is an image of John.  John was an eyewtiness
to most of the events in Jesus's life and he had
a very close relationship with Jesus.

I would prefer to read John's Gospel for multiple reasons.  First, John wrote his Gospel to everyone which means that everyone could understand it and even people who weren't Christian could understand his writings and what he was trying to convey.  I like how his symbol, the eagle, represents Jesus's resurrection and ascension into heaven.  It shows how Jesus, like a brave eagle, soared into Heaven freely.  It helps that John was an eyewitness and follower of Jesus and that he also traveled with Jesus.  This makes the information more reliable because John was present for most of the events he explained in his Gospel, and wrote his account of what each event was like.  Lastly, John's purpose was to reveal a more deep theological and reflective truth of Jesus's message and teachings.  This will provide me with a deeper understanding of Jesus as the Son of God and a more spiritual aspect of his life.

Bacon, Lena. "Gospel of Luke." Gospel Writers Presentations, 29 September 2017, Notre Dame 

        High school, Room 250, Belmont, CA.  Google Slides Presentation.

“Christian Symbols | Four Gospels.” PreachingSymbols, www.preachingsymbols.com/the-four-

        evangelists.html.

Coppenger, Mark. “Why These Four Gospel Writers?” The BibleMesh Blog, BibleMesh,

        biblemesh.com/blog/why-these-four-gospel-writers/.

Gellner, Leilani.  "Gospel of Mark." Gospel Writers Presentations, 29 September 2017, Notre Dame

        High school, Room 250, Belmont, CA.  Google Slides Presentation.

“Reapproaching the Gospel of John.” TaborBlog, 13 Feb. 2017, jamestabor.com/reapproaching-the
        gospel-of-john/.

Ragusa, Kate.  "John." Gospel Writers Presentations, 29 September 2017, Notre Dame High school, 

        Room 250, Belmont, CA.  Google Slides Presentation.

Smith, Brandon D. “What the ‘Gospel of Jesus's Wife’ Teaches Us about Manuscript 

        Evidence.” Brandon D. Smith, 19 June 2016, 

        www.patheos.com/blogs/brandondsmith/2016/06/what-the-gospel-of-jesuss-wife-teaches-us-

        about-manuscript-evidence/.

Stump, Avery.  "Gospel of Matthew."  Gospel Writers Presentations, 29 September 2017, Notre

        Dame High school, Room 250, Belmont, CA.  Google Slides Presentation.