Here are the notes for tonight's session on John's gospel.

My apologies for the late uploads of the files from the last two sessions. I've had some trouble with my file transfer program, but have figured out a way around that at last.

Notes about Matthew

Notes about other virgin births

Notes about Luke

I'll upload the notes about John's gospel tonight.

Thanks!

The second week of the "Reading the Gospels as Literature" course was this evening. We discussed the gospel of Mark.

My notes are available for download here.

For next week, we will read all of Matthew's gospel.

Some things to consider:

1. Notice where Matthew is similar to Mark.
2. Matthew knows Mark's gospel. What does he want his hearers to know that Mark doesn't tell them?
3. Where is his gospel different from Mark? How do you account for the differences?
4. Who is Jesus for Matthew?

--Ann

Stages of a Project

In one of the Bibles I use, there's a note attached to the first page of Mark's gospel. Most of my books I have notes, sticky arrows and marginal jottings in them. It's rare for me not to refer to sources of ideas, but in this case, there's nothing to indicate where I got the contents of the note. That's annoying. I don't remember why or when I wrote it: it could have been anytime in the last ten years. Even so, while I can't cite the source of the material, it's worth repeating here. I've been thinking about it for the last two days as I read Mark and started to make notes for our session on Thursday night.

Most projects go through six stages:
1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Panic
4. Search for the guilty
5. Punishment of the innocent
6. Praise and reward for the non-participants

In what ways does Jesus' project follow these stages?


--Ann

This powerful statement by Peter Rollins about belief and doubt, "I have met the stranger, and he is me," echoes the gospel reading from last Sunday--the story of Thomas.



The text of Peter's blog is available here.

Parker Palmer posted this on his Facebook page today. It's not summer yet, but Mary Oliver's question is for all seasons.

Reading the Gospels as Literature--Introduction

The first session of the "Reading the Gospels as Literature" program was this evening from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

A copy of the course outline is available here.

A copy of my lecture notes is also available.