It was really interesting to learn how the New Testament formed around different communities, and why some books were not included in the Bible. I was surprised to learn that Luke was a commissioned work, and that he wrote both the Gospel and the Book of Acts. It was likely written for a community that was educated in the classics and had an appreciation for history. Despite what we were told in Sunday school, Pauls letters are really the oldest gospel of Jesus we have in the Bible, and he writes about traditions that were already in place by the time of his writings, such as the Lords Supper/Eucharist. Its also interesting to read that some books like Luke were pro-Peter (Rome), while books like the Gospel of Thomas, were pro-Thomas and anti-Peter (anti-Rome, pro-ascetic groups). Luke clearly characterizes Thomas as the doubter, but the Gospel of Thomas has him as the leader Jesus preferred. Even in its infancy, Christians had their own preferred leaders and ideas, and they used their writings to cast doubt of those leading other groups deemed as being on the wrong side. It would take the political force of Constantine to sort everything out almost four centuries later, with winners (Peter, Paul, Rome) on one side, and the loser (Thomas, Gnostics, etc.) on the losing side.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:45:40 +0000
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