Reference no: EM133538466
Homework: Gospel Christology Paper
Overview
The Gospels have been described as "biographical sermons" of Jesus. They are biographies in that they aim to inform the audience (whether reading or hearing) about the life and legacy of the protagonist - Jesus of Nazareth. They are sermons in that they aim not merely to inform, but to inspire, persuade, and elicit a response. Where multiple sources of the same presentation exist, inevitably those presentations are both alike and different. Think "remake." For example, the movie, True Grit, was originally released in 1969 with John Wayne as "Rooster" Cogburn. It was remade in 2010 with Jeff Bridges as "Rooster" Cogburn." The story is essentially the same in both movies, but the way the story is interpreted in the two movies, and the way the central character, "Rooster" Cogburn, is portrayed, is different. That is because the directors of the two movies paint a portrait of the central character, "Rooster" Cogburn," so that the audiences see him through the directors', or storytellers', eyes. In much the same way, the four Gospel writers tell the same story of the central character of their biography, Jesus of Nazareth; but because we see Jesus through each Gospel writer's eyes, we see a unique portrait of him in each of the four Gospels. In scholarly parlance, we call this "portrait" of Jesus the Gospel's Christology; that is, its understanding, and presentation, of Jesus the Christ.
Task
Your task in this homework is to experience the Gospel writer's portrayal of Jesus as the story unfolds before you in the biblical text.
What the homework is not:
I. Your homework is not to write a critical introduction of your Gospel, exploring such things as authorship, date, provenance, genre, etc. Your Gospel's Christology is the same, no matter where you come down on these things. Moreover, an introduction to your Gospel is already available in your textbook; there is no need to rehearse that in your Christology paper.
II. Your homework is not to write a theology paper on what "Christology" is. Christology has already been defined for you above. Moreover, this is a class in New Testament, not theology.
III. Your homework is not to write about who you understand Jesus to be in your Gospel. Your homework is to identify and describe who your Gospel writer understood Jesus to be as evidenced in the way he tells his story of Jesus in his Gospel; that is, the homework is analytical, not introspective.