Summary Of The Lost Letters Of Pergamum

The Gospel according to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The story explains how the Messiah, Jesus, was refused by Israel and finally sent the disciples to preach the gospel around the whole world. As Matthew wrote for his fellow Jews, he wrote his Gospel in the language Jesus spoke, Aramaic, which led early Church Fathers to believe Matthew’s was the first Gospel. On the other hand, the Gospel of Mark teaches that Jesus is the Son of God who assumed human nature. Mark wrote the gospel in Greek for a Gentile-Christian audience, which was undergoing persecution, perhaps in Rome. A central theme is that following Jesus often means that a Christian must suffer like Jesus did. Mark’s Gospel points out that Jesus accepted this important title, but that he was reluctant to let people know his identity. (Matthew 26:26-30 and Mark 14:22-26 )

Antipas, a quite wealthy nobleman, began his letters in a bragging type of tone sharing that not only did he come from the house of Philip but he was in fact a benefactor to two very large cities in Rome. In the beginning of the book he boasted about his standing with little to no sense of restraint. But the more his relationship with Luke grew his manner became that of a much humbler person, and opened one of his letters in such a way, “Antipas, a nobleman of Caesarea; To Luke and the noble Calpurnius” (pg.157). By writing it in this fashion he was not only seeing both Luke and Calpurnius on the same level of standing as he but we wanted them to know he thought of them this way as well. Antipas’ show of humility stood to be quite significant as we see him slowly grow more and more humble while he is going through the process of being redeemed. In the beginning we could see that he thought of Christians and Jesus as a danger to the city of Rome, he also saw Jesus as a disruptive force to the way society should be. Yet the letters continued to be exchanged and through this exchange he grew more and more curious of the personage of Jesus Christ. And we start to see a change in his attitude and opinions as well as that of his grasp of the concept.

The Roman Empire, in which the early Church rises in the wake of Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, is complex cultural melting pot. Rife with hedonism, the honor/shame structure of the Roman Empire encourage the worship of the Emperor as God and the Empire as his Holy Empire. Against this narrative, the early Church was a counterculture to the ways of the empire and it is against this backdrop that Bruce Longenecker’s The Lost Letters of Pergamum takes place. The Lost Letters of Pergamum is a historical narrative following Antipas and encounters with Luke through an associate in a neighboring town. Antipas, named after his relative Herod Antipas, has come to great wealth and influence in the Roman empire. Antipas is introduced to

“You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city--where Satan lives.” (Revelations 2:13). In “The Lost Letters of Pergamum”, by Bruce Longenecker, he takes the name found in Revelations and creates a fictional character in a world based two thousand years ago. Antipas is a Roman Civic leader who learns much about Christianity through Luke’s Gospel writings. He learns in Luke’s writings that Jesus is “the answer” for both him, and for the first century Greco-Roman world. In many ways the world Longenecker created is similar to that of the 21st century and in many ways

The Lost Letters of Pergamum is a book by Professor Bruce W. Longenecker, is a fictional book of letters that are exchanged between the fictional characters Antipas, a benefactor of Rome, and Luke, a physician and writer of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. This book is artfully written to give the modern reader a glimpse into the context and culture of the first century church. Longenecker presents a stunning display of Christ’s life through these letters and also the effects of his life in his culture.

Logeneckers “ Lost letters of Pergamum” is written as a fictional account of a series of letters that were written by a few prominent men in the year 92 AD. These men include Antipas who is known as a proclaimed benefactor of the cities that include Tyre and Caesarea of Rome and also a worshipper of Jupiter, Calpurnius a nobleman of Ephesus, as well as Luke a scholar and the writer of the third gospel and a very good friend of Calpurnius. The letters exchanged between the three men contain information and thoughts about events and other prominent men such as Nero, Pharisees, Josephus, Domitian and many other as well as the gladiatorial games. Antipas also has a vested interest in learning about the Christian faith.

Readers of the Gospel of Luke often try to identify Luke’s intended audience. Understanding Luke’s intended audience can provide insight into how Luke used current culture to strategically spread the word of God. Specifically, we can look at the period of Hellenization, along passages, to interpret Luke’s Gospel as intended for a Greco-Roman audience.

The genre of this specific pericope is best described as a narrative (Mann 398). This narrative is seen not only here in Mark but also in Luke 18:18-30 and Matthew 19:16-30. Thus, though the Markan story is written by Mark, it does not stand alone. The Book

The books of Matthew and John though have many similarities, also have many differences due to the goals that they are trying to achieve and the importance of points/events they are trying to get across. The reason behind the initial portrayals of Jesus helps achieve the goals of each book; whereas Matthew’s book tries to ‘convince’ the educated readers and quarrelers (Pharisees), John’s book does not care much about reputation per se. For example, Jesus turns on the Jews who believe in him to generate a readers response to him as the definitive expression of God 's will or revelation as opposed to Matthew’s intentional readers response to God 's will as expressed in the Mosaic Law. While there are many qualities I could delve into regarding the difference in characters of Jesus, my essay in particular will look at what each book views is especially important with regard to Jesus and his intentions. Specifically, my main focus will be on the presentation of Jesus and reasons for doing so; setting in context what the book is basically about.

The two books of the Bible, Matthew and Mark are alike in many ways, they do tell some of the same stories. On the other hand, if one takes a closer look there are small changes to the stories that bring a whole new meaning to the way that the story is told. I will focus on the stories of Jesus walking on water and the transfiguration of Jesus. In this paper, I will review the changes that Matthew made to the Gospel according to Mark. I will also explain the reasons why he may have made those changes and to what purpose those changes served.

In this paper, I am writing about the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest Gospel, but is a really cool one. It covers a lot of key events that happened during Jesus’ lifetime. After reading the chapters, we pointed out things that stood out to us, which we thought were strange or interesting. We also pointed out spiritual lessons that taught us about our faith. We also wrote down questions that we had about the material.

The Jesus that is portrayed in the Gospel of Mark has the lowest Christology out of the three books being analyzed. The Gospel of Mark has a low Christology because of the human nature that it applies to Jesus’ character(class notes).

The gospel according to mark is a prolific story which takes look at people's view of Jesus, and critiques of several aspects of religion, and a further critiques humanity and human nature. The story does this by making Espinosa imitate the role of Jesus Christ, as well as by making the Gutres his followers and making them a symbol of human nature as well. Finally paints a view of how humanity will continue to react to the unknown.

This research assignment aims to analyse and interpret an influential part of the New Testament – Mark’s Gospel. An analysis of Mark and his community will be discussed as well as interpreting Jesus’ teachings and his significant theme of Discipleship as it was then and in present society.

Mark: The Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus Christ’s life from when he was baptized by John the Baptist until the days of his death, and his resurrection. Mark was the second of four Gospels although some Scholars argue and insist Mark was the first Gospel written 1. Mark was written by John Mark in AD 65, with a target audience of Roman Christian beleivers 2. Mark was written in a unique manner in regards to literary genre, as it contains figures of speech, and portray life situations in a passionate story like setting that can make the reader feel as if he is there 3. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, however it is written in a manner that emphasizes more so on Jesus’s works than Jesus’s words 4. The key theme in Mark is to portray the life of Jesus Christ as the son of God 5, and the purpose was to show the human qualities and emotions that Jesus displayed from anger (Mark 3:5), and compassion (Mark 1:41). Some of the key events of Jesus Christ’s life in the Gospel Mark include his miracles, his entrance into Jerusalem, the last supper, his arrest and trial, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his ascension 6. The Gospel of Mark ends with his instruction to the eleven Apostles “And he said unto them “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:16), and his ascension into Heaven (Mark 16:19).