The two-volume set of Luke-Acts was an ancient scholar's attempt at defending Christianity as not only a religion, but also as a way of life.
The Speeches Of Acts The two-volume set of Luke-Acts was an ancient scholar's attempt at defending Christianity as not only a religion, but also as a way of life. While the first volume focused on the life of Jesus, the second volume, focused on the origins of the Christian Church. The speeches found within the book of Acts are ordered in such a way to plainly demonstrate how Christianity progressed from one man's idea into the dominant religion of the time period in which Acts was written. Each speech given is representative of a theme found in the book of Acts. When studying the speeches from Acts, it is important to keep the broader context in mind. The book of Acts itself is about the spread of Christianity and it's church throughout the Roman world. It was the story of a spiritual conquest that eventually spread throughout the entire known world. And as with any epic story, it was made up of many smaller stories. Most of these stories found in the book of Acts revolved around a singular speech or occasionally, a group of speeches. In the second volume of Luke-Acts, these speeches make up about one quarter of the entire text. By inserting these unbroken speeches into the book of Acts, the author was able to convey a sense of immediacy that did not normally exist to the reader. When these speeches are observed in their larger context however, they begin to take on an
What do we learn about Luke's intentions from the birth and infancy narratives?
What do we learn about Luke's intentions from the birth and infancy narratives? Before answering this question, we need to find out what this question actually means. To do this, I feel that we need to find out why the birth and infancy narratives are important. First of all, theses narratives can only be found in the Gospels written by Mathew and Luke. They do not feature in Mark and John's accounts, or Paul's letters to different people. Mark's Gospel and Paul's letters were written much earlier than the gospels in question. This seems to suggest that the birth and infancy narratives are a late addition to the accounts. The evidence that we can find to support this, is by cross-referencing the first chapter in Luke, with the third one. In the latter, the chapter looks like the introduction to the orderly account promised in the prologue, found in the first chapter of the gospel. When looking at this Gospel, and particularly these narratives, I think that it is helpful to keep in mind the following Quote from Morna Hooker, which tells us the narratives 'are the keys to the gospels'. In the essay, I will also look to how we can understand Luke's intentions, and to understand them, we need to understand the man that the author was. To help do this, it would be helpful to look at the author's background and what the cultural setting of this particular gospel. During
The Synoptic Problem
The Synoptic Problem The synoptic problem is that of considering which of the 3 synoptic gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke was written first and perhaps which gospel was written aided via the other and/or which writer used the questionable Q source. It is believed that there is a literary connection between the gospels as there is an obvious verbal agreement that suggests some kind of interdependence between them all. It is believed that these similarities have arisen because i. All the gospel writers were inspired by the power of the holy spirit ii. They are all an account of the Jesus. Therefore as they are all about the same person there will be similarities between their writings if they are historically accurate. iii. They all share a common oral tradition Looking at the content of the gospels in turn it is obvious that there are links between the gospels. If you have faith then it is quite easy to believe that these accounts are supposed to be the word or god and through him they would write similar accounts. And this would provide as evidence for their links. However, if you do not believe in god the second point can be an accurate answer to the gospels interdependence. As reporting on the same events people are always going to have ties. Just as different people are touched by different thing, this is an example of the similarities and differences. For
Introduction to Narrative
Matthew Peet Introduction to Narrative Question: Choose three of the following concepts. For each of the three, examine in the light of that concept a passage from a text studied on the unit. You should choose three different passages from the three different texts. - beginning - point of view - allegory - showing and telling My essay will analyse:- Allegory - 'The Pilgrim's Progress' by John Bunyan Beginning - 'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe Point of view - 'Pamela' by Samuel Richardson 'The Pilgrim's Progress' by John Bunyan is the most famous allegory in the history of English literature. Lodge describes allegory as 'A specialised form of symbolic narrative, which does not merely suggest something beyond its literal meaning, but insists on being decoded.' Bunyan employs several linguistic techniques to convey the spiritual message of his narrative. The names of the characters blatantly represent their religious beliefs with names such as 'Christian' and 'Mr Worldly- Wiseman.' This simple personification of the characters conveys that Bunyan's aim is to produce a simple narrative that portrays his own Christian beliefs. The novel sees 'Christian' on a journey towards salvation as he overcomes the many obstacles he encounters. When 'Christian' meets 'Mr Worldly- Wiseman' he attempts to convince him that a man is weak if they listen to the teachings of the
About St Mark.
About St Mark The book of Acts mentions a Mark, or John Mark, a kinsman of Barnabas (Col 4:10). The house of his mother Mary was a meeting place for Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). When Paul and Barnabas, who had been in Antioch, came to Jerusalem, they brought Mark back to Antioch with them (12:25), and he accompanied them on their first missionary journey (13:5), but left them prematurely and returned to Jerusalem (13:13). When Paul and Barnabas were about to set out on a second missionary journey, Barnabas proposed to take Mark, but Paul thought him unreliable, so that eventually Barnabas made one journey taking Mark, and Paul another journey taking Silas (15:36-40). Mark is not mentioned again in Acts. However, it appears that he became more reliable, for Paul mentions him as a trusted assistant in Colossians 4:10 and again in 2 Timothy 4:11. The Apostle Peter had a co-worker whom he refers to as "my son Mark" (1 Peter 5:13). Papias, an early second century writer, in describing the origins of the Gospels, tells us that Mark was the "interpreter" of Peter, and that he wrote down ("but not in order") the stories that he had heard Peter tell in his preaching about the life and teachings of Jesus. The Gospel of Mark, in describing the arrest of Jesus (14:51f), speaks of a young man who followed the arresting party, wearing only a linen cloth wrapped around his
Discuss the extracts from 'The Power and the Glory' and 'The Pilgrims Progress'
Discuss the extracts from 'The Power and the Glory' and 'The Pilgrims Progress' The extract from 'The Power and the Glory' is about the priest's last night in prison before his execution. Greene writes about how the priest felt like he had accomplished nothing during his life and feels that through death he will still be a nobody. The extract from 'The Pilgrims Progress' is about the end to Christian's journey to heaven. When he gets to the gates Christian and his fellow pilgrim were surrounded by heavenly hosts and accepted into the Kingdom of God for eternity. Greene shows the dark and gloomy side to the life of a priest who has no self worth or any belief in his own spirituality. The priest believes in salvation by works, and he does not think he has done anything in the way of good works to earn his salvation. His dream of becoming a saint is not going to happen as he believes that eternal hell is being prepared for him, rather than eternal life in heaven. The priest is a Catholic priest and they believe that they have to earn their salvation, where as in 'The Pilgrims Progress' Christian receives his salvation right at the begging of the book, at the cross. Then from that point he just has to hold onto it by making right choices and battling through everything the devil throws at him. This is a totally different way of seeing things, and also can have two very
The Worldview of Catholicism reflects upon the core beliefs of Christianity through various beliefs
Religion Essay The Worldview of Catholicism reflects upon the core beliefs of Christianity through various beliefs. Through the beliefs of; the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Nature of God and the Trinity, the Revelation and the Salvation, we gain an insight of how the Diocese of Broken Bay follows the Catholic worldview and its relation to Christianity. These beliefs are ones followed not only by Catholics, but also by many other Christian denominations. A key principle belief of Christianity is the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ. This has been explained through the Council of Nicea, where this issue was addressed. It was explained through the Holy Trinity; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who in the catholic worldview love us and invite us to divine life for eternity. Jesus is proven to be the second person of the trinity; God the son who took upon himself a complete human nature. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us" (John 1:14). The fact that he was once among us and endured the same human limitations (slept, ate, felt emotions) helped Christians to appreciate the pain and suffering that he endured for the sake of an eternal life for us. His divinity shows us the close, unique relationship that exists between himself and God, expressed through the quote, "if you know me, you will know
Explain how God is shown in the Bible as a Creator
EXPLAIN HOW GOD IS SHOWN IN THE BIBLE AS A CREATOR To Christians, and many other members of the Abrahamic faiths, God is the sole creator of everything in existence, ex nihilo. They believe he created all that there ever was, is, and will be. To them, he was the only thing to exist before he "created the Heavens and the Earth" and everything therein, and is the only thing, or being, to transcend our realm of existence. This opinion stems from the stories of creation found in the Old Testament of the Bible. The most obvious and popular of these stories is the very first few chapters of Genesis, but even later on in the same Book, a different contradictory creation story is told, and even more later on in the Bible, such as in the Book of Job. How can a coherent view of creation, never mind view of God as the creator, be formed out of so many differing versions of the story which are all presented as fact? Perhaps the answer is not to take the stories literally, and try to extract morals or meanings from what may be metaphorical stories, as opposed to historical accounts. For example, God did not create all life, but neither did we, so we should still treat it as someone else's property. The very first account of Creation is told in Genesis 1:1-3. In this 7-Day story, God creates all of the heavens and the earth, the land and the seas, the fish and the birds and man and
Outline and examine Jesus attitudes concerning wealth and the poor. To what extent do these teachings depart from Judaism?
Outline and examine Jesus' attitudes concerning wealth and the poor (21) Throughout Luke's Gospel, one of Jesus' main teachings is about wealth and poverty, and he expresses this in various ways, with the most common being in parables and meetings with the rich. Firstly, one of Jesus' attitudes is that he warns the wealthy that their attitude to life prevents them from knowing their need for God, so that they should not think that they have everything they need. An example of this would be in the Parable of the Rich fool, in which the rich man thinks he has everything and will relax, however God reprimands him saying "...with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God" (Luke 12:21). Jesus is saying that the rich might think they have everything, but in fact, they are lacking something much richer than their possessions; and that is God. Morris says that Jesus came to bring people to God, instead of property to people because at the time most of the rich focused on their possessions instead. Another example would be the Rich man and Lazarus, in which the rich man has everything such as food, while Lazarus was poor and had nothing; and the rich went to Hell while Lazarus went to Heaven. What the morale of this tale is that even though the rich might have everything, they have no idea how much they will need God, so in the afterlife God will
DISCUSS THE ARGUMENT THAT 'THIS LETTER IS A PLEA FOR THE RESPONSIBLE USE OF FREEDOM'
Galatians A) DISCUSS THE ARGUMENT THAT 'THIS LETTER IS A PLEA FOR THE RESPONSIBLE USE OF FREEDOM' It is undeniably clear that Paul had the Galatians' freedom on his mind whilst writing this epistle, and as Paul was given the accolade the "Apostle of Christian freedom" such an epistle warrants attention in hope that we are enlightened to his treatment of the subject. Thus in order to comprehend whether we can align ourselves with the given assertion we ought to look at the context, recipients, gospel regarding freedom, and in particular chapter five which may be labelled the chapter of Christian freedom. The context of Galatians reflects a group of Gentiles who Paul possibly evangelised on his missionary journeys thus saw Christ as Paul had portrayed Him. However Paul shows that a miscomprehension of the freedom which the gospel brings, and thus in Paul's pastoral heart he sees a need to defend it to his utmost in the hope he may bring restoration. It may be that the Galatians saw the freedom as a motive for indulgence, they were free from the Law, so they saw it obliquely as freedom to sin, it may be that these were antinomialists. However J. Knox stresses Paul does not advocate such a stance; "He stands for freedom from the Law but he wants to make clear that he does not stand for moral license" Such scholarship reflects that the line of Paul's argument may be