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Wyatt Graham

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Gospels

What Are Gospel Issues?

December 17, 2020 by wagraham 5 Comments

People sometimes call something a Gospel issue. Such statements seem to mean that the Gospel implies or perhaps requires adherence to some activity or belief. Probably the most common claim is that social justice is a Gospel issue. 

I know these discussions have a lot of depth to them. So here I do not want to directly engage them but work to define the phrase Gospel issue. In my view, some debates around this slogan become mired in confusion because two sides privilege different senses of the words Gospel and issue.  [Read more…] about What Are Gospel Issues?

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Gospel, Gospels

How Can the Gospel of John Encourage Us Today?

June 18, 2020 by wagraham 1 Comment

One of my pastors Jamie Strickland recently talked with me about the Gospel of John. We tried to focus on ways that the Gospel could help and encourage us during this current pandemic, although the discussion could really apply to any situation. 

If that interests you, then you can watch the embedded Vimeo video here:

 

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Gospels

The Perfection of the Human Being (review of John Behr’s John the Theologian & His Pachal Gospel)

November 30, 2019 by wagraham Leave a Comment

When John connects the Word in John 1 to the words of creation in Genesis 1, John Behr sees the completion of the project of God—the creation of the human being. The perfection of the human being happens not as we might expect but in the Passion of Christ which includes not just the cross but the entire scope of the gospel story.

To reach his conclusion, Behr joins the horizons of history, reception history (later interpretation), and phenomenology (specifically, of Michel Henry). While he may not explicitly state it, Behr throughout synthesizes the various horizons to make a case for the revelation of Jesus, the Word of God, at the cross. And through his life-giving flesh offered at the cross, we become sons of God, living human beings. 

Does he succeed in making his case? In many ways, he does since his goal partly means accurately reporting early Christian interpretation of John (Ignatius, Ireneaus, and so on). However, his interpretation of the Gospel of John is less persuasive. By saying this, I do not mean his entire interpretive project misses the mark (John does portray Christ as the paschal lamb who perfects humanity in the passion). Yet I find a number of his interpretations to be historically improbable.  [Read more…] about The Perfection of the Human Being (review of John Behr’s John the Theologian & His Pachal Gospel)

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Christology, Gospels

What Is the Gospel of John about?

September 27, 2019 by wagraham 2 Comments

The Gospel of John aims to persuade readers that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

The means by which the Gospel communicates its purpose is eye-witness testimony. The evangelist identifies himself as “the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true” (John 21:24). 

Putting the purpose and mode of delivery together, we can say that John as an eyewitness of Jesus Christ carefully selected and organized his Gospel book so that readers would believe and have life in the name of Jesus, the Christ and the Son of God.  [Read more…] about What Is the Gospel of John about?

Filed Under: Hermeneutics, Theology Tagged With: Gospels

Review of Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (2nd edition) by Richard Bauckham

May 31, 2018 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Numerous books

Christianity from its start was a bookish religion. The apostle Paul began writing letters to churches about two decades after the death of Jesus. And Christian communities sprung up across the Empire (and beyond). Yet the disciples of Jesus, although numbered in the hundreds, eventually would die out. How would later generations hear the story of Jesus?

The answer is that eyewitnesses of Jesus would commit their memories to writing to preserve the history of Jesus for future generations. That eyewitness testimony lies behind the Gospels provides a clue not only to the historical transmission of the Gospel traditions about Jesus but also, as Richard Bauckham argues in Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, the theological mode of communication. [Read more…] about Review of Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (2nd edition) by Richard Bauckham

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Gospels, New Testament

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Wyatt is the Executive Director of The Gospel Coalition Canada. He enjoys his family and writing. You'll generally find him hiding away somewhere with his nose in a book.

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