In all four gospel accounts, the evangelists paint a vivid depiction of Jesus’ crucifixion, placing women gazing upon his scourged and fragile body and weeping at the foot of the cross. Jesus not only was a great speaker, miracle worker, healer, and leader who advocated for those in the margins, he was also a son, a cousin, and a dear friend to many. As I reflect on this imagery, I could only imagine what the death of Jesus meant for them and the tremendous pain these characters must have felt. Although within the Catholic Church, his death is understood in light of the Doctrine of Atonement, as his mother, Mary of Nazareth, stood for six hours watching her son die in agony, whether she felt God’s presence in amidst her anger, grief, and powerlessness at his execution is questionable.
Whenever I examine Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection, the implication that salvation requires levels of suffering has always fascinated me, especially when looking at the lives of women belonging to the contemporary Filipino culture residing in the Philippines. Their unique responses to Jesus’ call to “deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” has proven to liberate them from the oppressive society they reside in—as seen in the practices of Payson and Lakbayan.
Throughout the paper, as I explore the Christian notion of what it is meant to “coming to the cross”. First I will examine the historical and socio-political factors which contribute to the spirituality of this
The subject of the book, author’s purpose and intended audience: The history of Christian thought in the modern era was a quest of today’s Christian. Faith in a multi-denominational society decreases a sense of belonging. Since the Enlightenment some
The foundation of the Christian faith is cradled within truth of the virgin birth, life, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As diverse as the world-wide Christian culture is, the truth in the birth and life of Jesus stands without border and language limitations. Just as each individual life story can be adapted to be relevant for a variety of audiences, the birth story of the Messiah was also. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are an example of the well-rounded and diverse narration of the birth story of Jesus—Matthew’s narration spoke to the history of the Jewish people and Luke presented to the citizen of Rome.
It is possible to write on the life of Jesus from the information gathered from the bible. I will be dividing my essay into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will talk about the nature of the gospels, John’s views vs. the Synoptic, discuss if the authors of the gospels are eyewitnesses and how they used written sources. Also I will talk about the Q source. Then I will elaborate on the topic of how Matthew and Luke were similar. Then I will continue on by discussing how the Old Testament uses Moses, Samuel and Elijah to interpret Jesus, and finally whether or not the Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesus’s birth and childhood, his miracles, his resurrection, and what Jesus did to cure people, spirits and how they are interpreted to the prophet, magician and the mad man compared to Saul and Elijah. The final part of the paper I will talk about what Jesus talked about as regards to the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the Romans and what he intended by speaking of the end of the world. I will also speak of the reasons behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible Readers edition as my primary source and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.
When it comes to the crucifixion of Jesus, there are many different arguments that appeal to specific peoples’ beliefs or arguments as to what makes the most sense. What really is the determining factor though when we are deciding how we portray Jesus’ death? Is it our faith? Is it what logically makes the most sense to us? Is it what we are taught growing up by our parents or Sunday school? Could it possibly a mixture of all of those factors? Either way, we all have different beliefs and ideas when it comes to His death. One of the most popular arguments for Jesus’ crucifixion is that the reason he died was purely in place of us due to our sins; he was the ultimate sacrifice. In this paper, I will argue from a logical standpoint that not only does this theory not make sense, but Jesus’ life and choices were related to his crucifixion as well. The most logical circumstance is that, instead, Jesus died as a ransom.
McGrath’s Christianity’s Dangerous Idea attempts to tell the story of Protestantism from its early beginnings up to its present-day form. A similar and parallel story is found in Justo Gonzalez’s The Story of Christianity in which he also gives a narrative of the origin, growth and development of the Protestant movement from the Reformation to the present day. However, Gonzalez not only gives an account of Protestantism but of Christianity as a whole while McGrath concentrates his study on Protestantism alone. In addition, McGrath not only narrates but also gives a prophetic
" This helped to highlight the fact that although his mother went through a hard time, she was still able to find peace through God, and the fact that Jesus had gone through a torture like that of her son. (Cone, 65-66) (Cone,
Charles B. Hodge, Jr., is a prolific writer and a minister of the Church of Christ. He closes each chapter of The Agony & Glory of the Cross with “The Cross…there is no other way!” Thus, I have taken Reverend Hodge’s declaration for the title of this review. He further explains his thesis of the importance of the cross: “Jesus could not save Himself and still be our Savior. There is no way but the cross.” The unique approach to teaching the New Testament – and Christs’ journey to Calvary – requires several readings, analysis, and return to biblical text.
Through Matthew 27:11-66 it is evident that the governor Pontius Pilate plays a crucial role in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Scholars throughout history have provided support to see Pilate as positive, negative, or neutral role in the retelling of the crucifixion. Warren Carter is one of the many scholars who have taken note of Pilate’s role in history and within the source “Pontius Pilate. Portraits of a Roman Governor” Carter argues that Pilate is a negative character. He goes as far to claim that Pilate was one to actively seek conflict. While Carter argues that Pilate’s role is one of negativity, I would argue, that through a socio-culture view, that Pilate is not a negative figure, but an ambivalent one, due to his lack to enforce.
Two thousand years ago, the birth of Jesus, arguably the most influential man the world has ever seen, altered history forever. Christians know him as the Messiah, the son of God who came to save all of mankind, and for others, he may just be a great teacher and person of history. It is the latter that Reza Aslan attempts to shed an unbiased light on by comparing the Jesus that modern Christians believe in to the Jesus that Aslan believes would have fit into first-century Palestine: a violet revolutionary, dedicated to the eradication of the Roman government in Israel and the deposition of the rich priestly class. Aslan paints a portrayal of Jesus using knowledge of the time period, Scripture that has been taken out of context and misinterpreted, and most of all, the author’s imagination and powerful rhetoric to cover up his faulty argumentation. In his book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan recreates an interesting but purely speculative image of the historical Jesus through exploring the political and social history of first-century Palestine, the life and teachings of Jesus, and the development of early Christianity.
Jesus’s death turned him into a martyr, catapulting him into prominence as the saviour of Man in the eyes of God. Jesus’s widely known trial, death, and alleged rising set off a chain that caused him to be thought of as the son of God, and eventually caused his death to be one of the most celebrated events in the western world. The speculations surrounding the night before his death also shed an interesting light upon the way in which he died, emphasizing that, unlike what it may seem, Jesus was actually rather reluctant to embrace his death as a victory. In Mark chapters 14:32-42, Jesus tells his disciples “My soul is
John Dominic Crossan is a well-renowned scholar of the historical Jesus, so one would expect his book to be full of some of the best scholarship on the topic. He provides a way to humanize Jesus and explain whom he was, and what his world looked like at the time. However, despite his ability to bring Jesus to life on the page, he skips over several large ideas, thus leaving much to be desired. While his book, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, does a good job as an introduction to the historical Jesus, it leaves the reader wanting more out of it than what he provided. This book review functions with two parts. In the first part, I discuss how Crossan seems to provide a shallow investigation on women and what they meant to Jesus and his followers.
Conversion in Medieval Iberia can invoke ambivalent feelings. Christians originally wanted to convert Jews and Muslims through kind words and religious teachings from the Bible. This idea, nevertheless, evolved over the centuries and Christians began converting non-believers through violence and compulsion. Also, even after individuals were converted, Christians did not fully trust their motivations, and believed they would remiss into their old religions. While Marian miracles did help alleviate these tensions, a number of vicious acts were committed against Jews and Muslims during this time period. In this essay, I am going to examine the idea of conversion from the Christian perspective, and how Christians were able to tempt Jews and Muslims to convert. I am also going to compare the contradictory nature of converting through peaceful and violent means. This comparison will showcase how the Roman Catholic Church 's stance on peaceful conversion was overcome by local Christian communities.
The hagiography takes the model of the earliest martyr’s narratives, seemingly adjusted for the reading and listening audience by an extensive introduction and ending. In the opening paragraphs, where the history of Salvation is to be found, the influence of local religious and cultural traditions is notably present. The author uses examples of renowned
In the book Jesus Among Other Gods, by Ravi Zacharias, the central theme that stands out is how many of the other major religions don’t truly answers life’s ultimate questions, except for Christianity. The author demonstrates this by his life and experiences as an apologetic, author and Christian. The book explains how the world is full of many gods as well as beliefs. In this book report were exploring the themes of why certain worldviews don’t answer life's ultimate questions. These questions are controversial and difficult in todays society. I will also be covering the book in topic sections . These parts include, coming to Christ, proof, lack of knowledge, satisfaction,
Many people believe that there is only one account of the Passion of Jesus Christ or they believe that each story is the same; whereas there are four separate Gospel accounts of the Passion of Our Lord. Each of these Gospel accounts supplements the others, however each gospel account of the crucifixion of Jesus is unique, not only in how the story is told but also in the events and features themselves. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John clearly present different portrayals of the death of Jesus Christ. By examining each account the reader discovers the evangelist's understanding of the death accounts of the crucifixion and death of Jesus. The reader must examine and compare all of the Gospel accounts to have a full and