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E8: Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 8: The Synoptic Problem and Its Solutions

The Great Courses Presents: Jesus and the Gospels | Lectures

Three of the canonical Gospels are alike and different in striking and puzzling ways. This lecture exposes what is known as the synoptic problem and offers solutions, including a discussion of the hypothetical source of sayings known as "Q."

Speakers:Luke Timothy Johnson

Writers:Luke Timothy Johnson

Topics:New Testament Jesus

Source:The Great Courses

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Lectures

Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 1: Why Not "The Historical Jesus"?

This opening lecture shows how history is and is not helpful in learning about Jesus and why a comparative literary analysis of the Gospels is at once a more re...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 2: The Resurrection Experience

Virtually everything we know about Jesus comes from Christian sources. This lecture takes up the starting point for engaging Jesus: the distinctive Christian un...

Luke Timothy Johnson | 16 views | 1 month ago updated

Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 3: Symbolic World of Greek and Jew

This lecture introduces the complex 1st-century mixture from which Jesus and the Gospels arose, including Mediterranean culture, Greek ideals and realities, Rom...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 4: Stories of Greek and Jewish Heroes

This lecture provides a context for approaching the distinctive character of the Christian Gospels through a survey of stories told about other significant figu...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 5: Jesus in the Memory of the Church

The Gospels are compositions from the communal memory of the earliest Christian movement. This lecture sketches the first stages of that movement and the social...

Luke Timothy Johnson | 1 month ago updated

Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 6: Paul and the Oral Tradition

Over a period of some 40 years, the memory of Jesus was shaped by the continuing experience of believers in communities. We consider the basic patterns of memor...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 7: Why Compose Gospels?

The writings of Gospels represented a real shift in the understanding of "good news." The answer to the question "Why compose Gospels?" leads to a consideration...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 8: The Synoptic Problem and Its Solutions

Three of the canonical Gospels are alike and different in striking and puzzling ways. This lecture exposes what is known as the synoptic problem and offers solu...

Luke Timothy Johnson | 1 month ago updated

Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 9: Gospel of Mark - Apocalyptic and Ironic

This lecture deals with the literary aspects of Mark, particularly the creation of dramatic tension, the apocalyptic outlook of the Gospel, and the ironic way t...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 10: Gospel of Mark - Good News in Mystery

This lecture examines the powerful and paradoxical Jesus created by Mark. For humans, it is a mystery that both attracts and repels.

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 11: Gospel of Mark - Teacher and Disciples

The drama of discipleship in Mark's narrative instructs readers concerning their allegiance to Jesus. Readers are to imitate him, not his first followers.

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 12: Gospel of Mark - Passion and Death

Mark has prepared his readers for Jesus' suffering and death by a series of prophetic statements, but the importance of Jesus' death—and the way he died—is ...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 13: Gospel of Matthew - Synagogue Down the Street

Because Matthew uses Mark's Gospel in constructing his own version of the good news, it is possible to deduce with considerable confidence his own interests, wh...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 14: Gospel of Matthew - Messiah of Israel

Matthew's concern with proving that Jesus is the Messiah spoken of by the prophets is shown by the genealogy with which his Gospel opens, his infancy account, a...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 15: Gospel of Matthew - Jesus and Torah

Matthew's Gospel not only shows that Jesus' life fulfills messianic expectations as expressed in Torah, but also shows Jesus as the definitive interpreter and v...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 16: Gospel of Matthew - Teacher and Lord

Matthew's careful redaction of Mark's use of "Teacher" and "Lord" shows that Jesus is understood as the risen Lord who teaches the church. No other Gospel gives...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 17: Luke-Acts - The Prophetic Gospel

The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles form a single literary composition in two volumes that can properly be called "Luke's Gospel."

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 18: Gospel of Luke - God's Prophet

In Luke's Gospel, Jesus is presented as a prophet, delivering a radical message of reversal of human norms in the name of God's visitation.

Luke Timothy Johnson | 1 month ago updated

Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 19: Gospel of Luke - The Prophet and The People

This lecture examines Luke's portrayal of Jesus' call for a real conversion, along with the distinctive passion account that shifts blame toward Jewish leaders ...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 20: Acts of the Apostles - The Prophet's Movement

Jesus' followers prove themselves to be prophetic and radical successors, including extending Jesus' understanding of God's people by an even more radical inclu...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 21: Gospel of John - Context of Conflict

Asking about the relationship between the Synoptics and the very different Gospel of John leads to the consideration of John's style, structure, and symbolism, ...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 22: Gospel of John - Jesus as The Man from Heaven

John's powerful portrait of Jesus combines a constant insistence on his full humanity, while also portraying him as the revelation of God.

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 23: Gospel of John - Jesus as Obedient Son

John's Gospel has sometimes been considered the most anti-Semitic New Testament composition. This lecture considers the complex ways it engages the world of Jud...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 24: Gospel of John - Witness to The Truth

In John's Gospel, the most extensive teaching of his followers takes place after the close of Jesus' public ministry. John portrays Jesus' death and resurrectio...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 25: Canonical and Apocryphal Gospels

This lecture sketches the historical process of canonization in early Christianity, touches on some of the implications of the distinction between canonical and...

Luke Timothy Johnson | 1 month ago updated

Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 26: The Infancy Gospel of James

The Protevangelium of James is an excellent example of how apocryphal Gospels sought to fill the gaps in the story of Jesus and is the source of many of the art...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 27: The Infancy Gospel of Thomas

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas illustrates how, in some Christian circles, convictions concerning the divinity of Christ tended to obscure his full humanity.

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 28: Jewish Christian Narrative Gospels

Here Dr. Johnson examines what is known about the narratives ascribed to followers of Jesus who also remained faithful to the Jewish heritage of Torah observanc...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 29: Gospel of Peter

This lecture looks at a Gospel mentioned in ancient canonical lists; nothing more was known about it until the late 19th century with the discovery of a single ...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 30: New Revelations - Gnostic Witnesses

This lecture introduces Gnosticism and discusses two of the "Gospels" that were known before the discovery of the Gnostic library at Nag Hammadi, the Gospel of ...

Luke Timothy Johnson | 1 month ago updated

Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 31: The Coptic Gospel of Thomas

Even more than the Gospel of Peter, the Coptic composition discovered at Nag Hammadi in 1947 has generated interest and controversy, especially concerning the f...

Luke Timothy Johnson | 1 month ago updated

Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 32: Two Gnostic Gospels

This lecture looks at two compositions from the Gnostic library at Nag Hammadi, one showing Jesus in dialogue with some of his followers and the other containin...

Luke Timothy Johnson | 1 month ago updated

Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 33: The Gnostic Good News - The Gospel of Truth

One of the most impressive and original compositions in the Nag Hammadi library is a composition identified in antiquity as The Gospel of Truth, a theological r...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 34: The Gospel of Philip

This lecture examines another "Gospel" that bears little resemblance to the narrative versions found in the New Testament, a strange and beautiful set of reflec...

Luke Timothy Johnson | 1 month ago updated

Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 35: Jesus in and Through the Gospels

This lecture addresses some of the implications of the Gospels, wonders at the mysterious figure who inspired them, and marvels at the movement that encompassed...

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Jesus and the Gospels Lecture 36: Learning Jesus in Past and Present

This final lecture takes up some of the ways Jesus continues to excite the imagination, both through the work of historians, theologians, and artists, and throu...

Luke Timothy Johnson | 1 month ago updated