Who is Jesus?

{ What are the Gospels?

Do Christians believe
in Jesus because of the
Gospels?
{ Or the Gospels
because of Jesus?
  Written documents?
 Written by men of a certain time &
place?

 Historical fact?
 Verifiable by multiple pieces of
evidence?

 Remembrances?
 Biased or faulty?
 Revealing truth through unverifiable
experiences?

 Word of God?
 Message of truth not limited by time &
place?
 Not susceptible to bias or error?
 God’s very words, not human words?

What are the Gospels?

  As historical man, like Judas
Maccabee, Josephus, or
Emperor Augustus?

 Do you agree with Allison (p.

45) that we can never know
the actual human man?

 If we know Jesus through

written texts, how is that
different?

 If we know Jesus from the

historical judgements of
scholars, how is that
different?

How shall we seek Jesus?

  As full revelation of God on
earth? As divine?

 Are views that associate Jesus

more closely with God’s divine
nature later interpretations?
 Should they be “stripped
away” to get back to an
“original” historical basis?

 Are interpretations of events or

experiences necessarily wrong?
 Could such interpretations
reveal truth?

How shall we seek Jesus?

 C.S. Lewis believed
that our search for an
“historical” Jesus will

{ weaken the truth of

Jesus the Christ as
revealed through
Christian scripture and
tradition. Why?

The Screwtape Letters

  Read slowly and carefully – DO NOT SKIM!

 Pay close attention to how the story begins. When does the
reader first see Jesus?

 How would you describe the Jesus that emerges from Mark’s
Gospel?
 Make a list of adjectives that describe him
 Can you get a sense of Jesus’ personality?

 What activities or sayings of Jesus surprised you or seemed

unlike Jesus as you usually think of him?

 Note the people and groups that Jesus interacts with

regularly. How would you describe his relationship with
them?

Reading the Gospel of Mark