"The prologue is the key which unlocks the meaning of the fourth gospel." Examine and evaluate this claim.
"The prologue is the key which unlocks the meaning of the fourth gospel." Examine and evaluate this claim. All of the evangelists try and use an effective way to introduce their gospel, Matthew and Luke begin with the birth narrative, which establishes Jesus' divine identity from his point of birth and foreshadows events and themes that will be later encountered in the text. Mark instead begins with Jesus' earthly ministry as introduced by John the Baptist, and also has important Christological interests which are established by events in 1:1-13. John's gospel differs in that the first 18 verses are not solely rooted in human history but take a more cosmological approach. John takes the reader on a journey which begins before creation. He begins by establishing Jesus as the divine son of God, before conception and for eternity, a programmatic theme for the gospel. The prologue is believed to be distinctive in 3 ways, firstly it puts forward the idea of Jesus' pre existence. Stating his existence at the side of God at the point of creation, John takes us before the start of Jesus' earthly ministry and starts from the beginning of all things, unlike Matthew and Luke who focus on his existence at his birth in the world. The prologue takes a poetic form with occasional prose interruptions about John the Baptist. Finally in the prologue there is a strong focus on the idea of
According to mark why did various different groups want Jesus dead?
To enable the question 'According to mark why did various different groups want Jesus dead' to be answered comprehensively, it is important that every aspect of Jesus' life is looked upon in whole. Starting with his aim and actions on earth to his death. Jesus was placed upon this earth to save people from their sins and to spread the word of God. God felt it would be compliant if people could identify and relate with him, as a result he sent Jesus. Jesus understood that he would endure inhumane suffering and pain but he continued his assignment regardless. The Sadducees, Zealots and Pharisees were the three dominant Jewish groups at the time. All three acted for what they believed was best for themselves and the Jewish population. There actions varied the majority of the epoch but they were all united in their abhor for Jesus Christ. Jesus was an indubitable contrast to how people believed him to be. Many believed he would be a powerful almighty being who would relieve them from their oppression. Therefore it was a big shock when the Jewish population observed Jesus someone who appeared to be a feeble civilian, who claimed he was the Son of God. Could it have been the vicious disbelief of Jesus in contrast with of the will power of Jesus, which led to people, wanting him dead? Marks gospel indicated various situations, which could have fired this apparent hatred of Jesus
Titles of jesus A02
Titles of Jesus Skill AO2- Explain how a belief in the two titles you have chosen might make a difference in the everyday lives of Christian believers today. The Son of Man is rarely used by Christians today, but what does it really mean to call Jesus Son of Man? Christians believe that a person who responds to Jesus' teachings, and accepts the death and resurrection as a way of which they can be united with God, will be saved from their sins. This is what it means to call Jesus 'Son of Man'. The Son of Man is a sharp contrast to other messianic titles, and is the title Jesus seemed to prefer. Maybe Christians today do not use this name as much as other titles because the Gospel never says that the Christ is the Son of Man. However Jesus prefers this term because he wanted to keep the Messianic secret. But on the other hand, the people who do use the title may do so to show their belief in Jesus, and that: "The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. He will be put to death, but three days later he will rise to life." (Mk 8:31) Some Christians don't really know a lot about the background to the title, so do not truly understand it. Others understand the 'Son of Man' exactly as Mark says he is; he is someone from heaven and he must suffer, die and rise again, to then return at the end of time. Some Christians
Attitudes to Wealth – RS Coursework
Attitudes to Wealth - RS Coursework a) The Bible teaches that wealth is a servant and not a master. Jesus, Paul and the Prophets all seem to agree with this. Matthew says that you should not buy possessions for yourself that could be destroyed or stolen, but gain treasures in heaven, which couldn't be destroyed or taken "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I think that Jesus thought that the wealthy people should give generously give to the poor, often he has complaints that were selfish and the person often though more of material possession than spiritual value. An example of someone like this called out from the crowd to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Jesus then told them a parable. It was about a man who had more money than sense. He had no where to store his crops so he pulled down his barns and built bigger ones, and there he stored all his corn and thought to himself that he wouldn't be short of corn in the next couple of years so he was going to take life easy and eat, drink and be merry. Then God tells him he is a fool, which was a very harsh word to use then, God then took his life and
The death of Jesus
I. II. Coursework assignment in "The death of Jesus" The Sanhedrin was basically the high courts in the time of the Romans. This extract from 'Dimensions in Christianity' sums up pretty well what the roles of the Sanhedrin were: 'the high priest and seventy elders led the council of the Sanhedrin. Members of the council included Pharisees and Sadducees.' The Sadducees were the priestly aristocracy. The high priest was at their head, and they performed the daily sacrifices in the temple, situated in Jerusalem. This sect of people was virtually a 'closed shop' restricted to certain families. It appears that they were more accurately designated as a religious, rather than political party. The Sadducees also had different beliefs from the Pharisees: they denied the resurrection of the dead and the existence of angels and spirits. Whereas the Pharisees were remote from the Jewish people as a whole. The Pharisees were more correctly best described as a Jewish school, probably dating as a distinct body or party from the 2nd century BC. Their chief tendency was to resist all Greek or other foreign influences that threatened to undermine the sacred religion of their fathers and they took their stand most emphatically upon Divine law. The Sadducees differed from them in political and to some extent religious matters. The Pharisees wished the state and all public and
Holy Week And Easter
RE Coursework WJEC GCSE Religious Studies Option C Celebration Holy Week and Easter Lent is one of the most important and sacred times in the year for Christians. During this penitential forty day period, Christians everywhere reflect upon their lives and their sins, and ask God for forgiveness. The final and most significant week of Lent, is called Holy Week which contains several very important days, ending with Easter Sunday, the most important date in the Christian calendar, even more so than Christmas. Easter celebrates Jesus rising from the dead, and through this he saved all of human kind from sin. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, sometimes known as 'Passion Sunday'. On this day Christians remember when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and was welcomed as a King. He was not a King in relation to the amount of riches he had, but he was a King of peace, and the King of the Jews. On this day Christians attend church, and are given palms usually folded into crosses, similar to those that were waved about on the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem. The palms are folded into crosses to remind people of the crucifixion that Jesus is going to suffer. These palms are blessed by the priest, and are kept by the congregation in their homes. Left over and returned palms are burnt the following year, to create the ashes used on Ash Wednesday. The liturgy during the Palm
Describe a Mass in a Roman Catholic Church.
R.E Coursework .Describe a Mass in a Roman Catholic Church. Going to Mass, joining the prayer of Mass is the most important thing that Catholics do. In the past Catholics risked their own lives just in order to attend Mass. This was when a person was persecuted for going to Mass. Every Mass begins with the people present, acting out the Sign of the Cross, "In the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit. Amen", When we do this we are saying in whose name gather. This is also a sign that we belong to God - we are God's people. We all are a family and when we come to Mass the Church is our home because this is also is our Father's house. After the Sign of the Cross we ask for forgiveness and healing for any sin that separates us from each other and from God. Can you truly say that you have loved God and everyone you have ever come in contact with? Frequently we fail to live up to this great commandment of Jesus. Thirdly we all recite the Gloria. This is where we rejoice in the goodness of God. It can be either said or sung. The readings follow the Gloria. The readings are from the Old Testament, the letters of the New Testament and from the Gospels. The response to many of these readings is, "This is the word of the Lord", And not, "This was the word of the Lord". God is speaking to us now and not was speaking to us. We must listen with our hearts because God
Explain what a study of marks gospel can tell Christians about the nature of Disciple?
Religion Coursework A01 Explain what a study of marks gospel can tell Christians about the nature of Disciple? Disciples were followers of Jesus. The first disciples that Jesus called were fishermen, Simon, who later became Peter, and Andrew. He told them to leave their nets. He said: "Come with me and I will teach you to catch people." (Mark 1:16-20) Next, he called two brothers, James and John, who left a lucrative family business straight away, to follow Jesus, a stranger that they had heard of. Then, soon after, when a crowd was following Jesus, he saw a tax- collector named Levi. He said: "Follow me." (Mark 2:13-17) And Levi got up and followed him. The Israeli people hated tax collectors. They were rich and had certain privileges, but Levi chose Jesus rather than keep working for the Romans Jesus needed disciples because he knew he didn't have much time before his death, so he had to have people to spread his word after he had gone, to preach and to cast out demons. He told them: "I have chosen you to be with me." And he said to them: "I will also send you out to preach, and you will have the authority to drive out demons." (Mark 3:13-19) This is significant because these were the twelve men who were going to carry out his work after he died, and Peter became the first Pope and the rock that the church was built on. The disciples were far from perfect. The
Mark’s gospel
In Mark's gospel Jesus is referred to by many different titles which can be divided into major and minor titles. The major titles include- Jesus of Nazareth, Christ/messiah, Son of God, Son of Man and Son of David. Minor titles - King of the Jews, teacher, Master and Lord. These titles represent Jesus in different ways. These titles are used by the Disciples, Mark, evil spirits and his opponents. These titles where important for early Christians and Christians today as they portray Jesus as great and worthy which is what he should be portrayed as, titles such as Son of David and Christ/messiah do have meanings behind them which I will explain further when doing each title. The titles Jesus originates from the name Joshua which means 'God is Salvation'. This title shows Jesus' humanity. 'Jesus' was a very common Jewish name at the time. Jesus came from a normal Jewish family his mother Mary was a housewife and his father Joseph was a carpenter which Jesus later became as well. He had a childhood like most others and never considered himself superior to anyone. He was superior to people in the way that he was superhuman and had supernatural powers but he was still human and still felt human emotions and thoughts in his life. These emotions are portrayed in stories like 'The calming of the Storm' where he vents his anger at the disciples for not having faith, 'Why are you
Discipleship was the vocation of the disciples:
Religion Coursework Discipleship was the vocation of the disciples: their call from God. Christians today also have vocations. It all begins with Baptism, the time when we are first called (often through our parents) to join Gods growing community. Just like Jesus at the start of his ministry, we are baptised at the start of our mission in life. Vocation can mean different things for different people. Whether it is as a doctor or a bin-man, or as a brother or sister; we all have vocations. For me, my vocations are being a son, a brother, an uncle, and a friend, a pupil and a GAY club member. These look like a waste of time if you see Jesus' vocations: Messiah, Christ, Son of Man, Saviour, Son of God and all the rest. But most Christians today would have a similar set of vocations as me. However, some Christians today follow the path and example of the first disciples and become priests, missionaries, monks or nuns. The work done by Missionaries nowadays has changed considerably since the time of Jesus, but the principal still remains the same. As with the Christian Churches, they still work throughout the world, helping the sick, the poor and anybody who needs help. There are many organisations in the world today which help make it easier for Christians to help others in a more involved way. For example Trocaíre allow people to raise money by doing a sponsored Twenty-Four