Constitutional Convention The beginnings of the Convention (pre-constitution) began when Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia presented and defended a plan for a new structure of government (called the "Virginia Plan") that had been chiefly drafted by fellow Virginia delegate, James Madison. The Virginia Plan called for a strong national government with both branches of the legislative branch apportioned by population. The plan gave the national government the power to legislate "in all cases in which the separate States are incompetent" and even gave a proposed national Council of Revision a veto power over state legislatures. Delegates from smaller states, and states less sympathetic to broad federal powers, opposed many of the provisions in the Virginia Plan.
In conclusion of reading O’Collins, the subjective nature of our historical knowledge and knowledge of other people, should not be limited to the fact that we are all historically and culturally conditioned. This influences our deepest desires and primal questions that shape our existence, but here and now find incomplete fulfilment and temporary answers. Second, when drawing on the Gospels we can use the widely accepted scheme of three stages in the communication of testimony to Jesus’ deeds and words: 1) The first stage in his earthly life when his disciples and others spoke about
In general, Burridge 's book, “Four Gospels one Jesus? Was and excellent volume to have read, it was definitely an excellent introduction to the theology and literary style of the gospels. It is filled with an extraordinary simplicity as well as profound content. On another note, the lack of Greek syntax and a much contemporary approach was somewhat refreshing. Burridge avoids technical terminology and if a Greek term is used, he carefully explains it thoroughly.
More than any of the other Gospels, Matthew points back to the Old Testament to show the fulfillment of the prophesies of the Jewish prophets through Jesus Christ. Matthew shows in detail, the genealogy of Jesus, dating back forty-one generations. Matthew’s writings highlight Jesus’s lineage, which comes from two of the most important figures in the Bible, Abraham, and David. The Gospel of Mark does not name an author so to speak, nor was he one of the disciples, but Mark was an interpreter for the Apostle Peter which is where most scholars believe Mark got his
As the audience digs deeper and deeper into this fascinating journey to the past before christ or before the common era, the readers of Matthew begin to realize the significant changes and similarities in terms of leadership and values of the many high priests and the king of that time. After reading from the time of Onias III to Herod, the reader can already tell what kind of changes happened to the usual idea of a “high priest” and “king.” The good natured high priest is longer looked at the same way as they were originally. The same can be said about the king of that time as well. His qualifications as a king were not customary.
Bart D. Ehrman. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. New York: Oxford University Press, Fifth edition, 2012 SUMMARY The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings is an 536 page, illustrated, historical guide to early Christianity and many of the early writings of the time—not just those of the New Testament Canon. As the title boasts it is used as an introduction textbook for scholars studying the New Testament.
When it comes to knowing and learning the religions of the world one must approach them with a critical mind. One cannot simply just believe every religion and know have their own view points. David Van Biema presents his ideas about Christianity and Jesus in “The Gospel Truth?”. Van Biema’s main point is about how “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John… is notoriously unreliable,” . Van Biema writes about how one cannot be completely sure about whether to believe if Jesus actually said what is written in the bible, he continues to say that Jesus may even be an “imaginative theological construct” .
Mark, who wrote as a pastor, spoke the gospel to Christians who previously had heard and believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He demonstrated an authentic story of Jesus Christ as Servant of the Lord and Savior and of the world hence strengthening their faith. Mark’s gospel is distinctive because it highlights Jesus’ acts more than His teaching; straightforwardly written, it moves from one part to the next of Christ’s life. Moreover, Mark’s gospel is a thorough written account to validate that Jesus is the Messiah, for Gentiles as well as the Jews.
Based on the assumption that Antioch is the place where the gospel of Matthew was written and relying on the internal and historical evidence that it was probably written after the destruction of the temple, and not later than 117 CE, then it is now possible to investigate how the history of the period might have contributed to the writing. This history is traced as far back to Jerusalem as the cradle of Christianity. The events as presented in the book of Acts gives a glimpse of how the early Christians lived as a group. In any society when people from different backgrounds come together, there is usually friction among the group due to the social dynamics within the group. This is also the case in Jerusalem after Jews of different background who were not originally living in the land returned during the first century.
On the other hand, these documents challenge me to reconsider my approach to presenting the Gospel message in private and corporate settings. In my opinion, believers must include the historical context relating to the disbelief and arguments against the resurrection when presenting the Gospel message to unbelievers. For example, there are five theories that argue against Jesus’ resurrection; according to The Existential Theory: the resurrection of Jesus was the “rising up” of faith in the hearts of the disciples and other believers [5]. Having such information equips me to speak intelligently about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ historically and scripturally
As a core scripture of the biggest world religion, the Gospel of Matthew has been, and still is, a powerful tool of transformations of identity and place. The rhetoric of the Gospel promotes rejection of former identity and transformation into a new Jesus-identity (16:24–25), which is to be shared in every possible place (28:18–20). In two millennia, the ideology of a small Galilean Jesus-movement has influenced on identities of billions of people all around the world. Also in the Middle East and North Africa, Christian and Christian-related (especially Judaism and Islam) ideologies have had strong influence in the people and places of the past and the present. In a global perspective, the popularity of the Gospel of Matthew shows no signs
Introduction The Gospel of Matthew is the second longest of the four canonical gospels, traditionally placed first in the NT canon and hence referred to as “the first gospel” . It highlights the Jewish origin and identity of Jesus, and his first followers more than any other piece of early Christian literature. 1. Ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐξελθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τῆς οἰκίας ἐκάθητο παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν: The opening phrase on that day closely connects the chapter with Matthew 12:15-50.
These twelve disciples became willing learners of the master’s teaching and sought to follow His example by implementing His teachings and passing on what they learned to others (Hollman Bible Publishing). It is beneficial to keep in mind that this task was of utmost importance since there were not media outlets of any sort during this time except word of mouth. There was, and still is, a great cost involved as followers (disciples) of Christ. Some of the costs we find in the book of Mathew include: jobs (9:9), family (10:34-39), economic security (19:16-30), physical comforts (8:18-22 – 23:34-36), social acceptance (10:24-25) and ultimately oneself being totally offered to the Lord (16:24-28) (InterVarsity Press).
It deals with a community marked by external persecution and by certain internal tensions which made its enlightenment necessary from the experience of Jesus: his death and resurrection. This, however, did not impede the missionary spirit of the community, committed to the evangelization of the pagans. This paper will reflect in short about the two main sections of the Gospel of Mark. Mark shows us Jesus acting in his ministry, words and actions, his passion and his death. From all these, we can deduce that Jesus appears before the people as the great prophet of the eschatological time, the messenger of the Kingdom, the one who is so close to the Father that he is able to call Him “Abba” (Mk 14: 36 NAB).
The first stage resulted in the formation and development of the Gospels, in which it demonstrates how Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed the reign of God. The Gospels are the foundations of the teaching of the Catholic Church and it is solely built upon the teachings and parables of Jesus, as shown in Mark 4:2. Jesus travelled all throughout the countryside preaching, performing miracles, healing people and teaching people about God’s word and truths from the parables during 4BC to 30AD. These events were the main reason for how the Gospels would later come about, and it had a major impact on the disciples and the people in society at that time. The second stage of the Oral Period was when the disciples and apostles listened and watched as they
