The Gospel and the Gospels

This Sunday, in the Old Library at 12noon, Dr Mary Marshall, a New Testament scholar and a member of our congregation, will be starting a new series of talks on each of the four canonical gospels. Mary will talk about Matthew this Sunday and then Mark the following Sunday. I will then lead two more sessions on Luke and John. It will be a particular delight to work with Mary as we explore these extraordinarily rich texts.

In the first and second centuries, references to the ‘Gospel’ as a particular genre of writing were relatively rare. The Greek word, euangelion, means ‘good news’. The term was originally used to describe the news announced by a herald to speak of the accession of a new emperor or a victory in battle. But there is also a resonance with a phrase in the Greek translation of the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 40.9-10 and 52.7), a phrase that is employed by Handel in Messiah: ‘O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion'. The word ‘Gospel’ was largely understood, as by St Paul and others, in the sense of the living ‘message of salvation’.

It was only later that the term was associated with a particular genre of writing. For some commentators, the ‘gospels’ form a distinctive genre of writing, while for others, they are similar to a form of ancient biography. Each of these gospels is distinctive. They share many common features but there are also some intriguing differences. Are the differences problematic? Do the inconsistencies undermine the authenticity of the gospel message as some early pagan critics suggested? Or do they offer a richer range of perspectives as the first evangelists began to recognise the significance of the events which they described? Do these different accounts contradict or complement each other?

These are the sorts of questions which we will be exploring over the next few weeks. Of course, if New Testament study is all too familiar to you, there is also the chance of doing some Old Testament study this term as well. Esther Brazil, our Ministerial Assistant and a classical singer, is leading a series of Bible studies on Thursday lunchtimes in which she will be exploring Isaiah through the lens of musical excerpts from Handel’s Messiah. This alerts us to the fact that the way we read and interpret these ancient texts depends not simply on looking at their historical background but also at the way in which they continue to shape and inspire our imagination and our lives. How are we drawn to their mystery, their beauty and their truth?