The Six Symbols Of The Gospel

IF THE GOSPEL IS THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, THEN WHY DON'T CHRISTIANS TELL THE WHOLE STORY?It's all too prevalent in the 21st century American church to find a Gospel that begins and ends with the cross. And with it, God's whole story is forgotten among Christians who have lost the context of their faith in Jesus. This same one-dimensional Gospel has kept the Church from embracing its full calling and finding hope in its future. This book lays out the whole Gospel in six easy-to-remember symbols. Each symbol reveals part of the whole narrative of God''s love for His creation.

The earliest of the four Gospels, the book portrays Jesus as an enigmatic figure, struggling with enemies, his inner and external demons, and with his devoted but disconcerted disciples. Unlike other gospels, his parables are obscure, to be explained secretly to his followers. With an introduction by Nick Cave

The book examines six long narratives of the Fourth Gospel, arguing that they are best understood as 'symbolic narrative'. They display a unique cohesion of symbol and narrative: the narrative unfolds the symbol and the symbol draws out the narrative. This process occurs as the character struggles to understand the symbolic meaning. The structure develops in five Stages: the establishing of a 'sign', image or feast (Stage 1); misunderstood in materialistic terms (Stage 2); the struggle to understand the symbolic meaning (Stage 3); the acceptance or rejection of that meaning (Stage 4); a confession of faith or statement of rejection (Stage 5). The symbolic narratives reveal how material reality becomes symbolic of the divine. Just as the flesh of Jesus is the symbol of divine glory, so material reality now has the potential for symbolizing God. Flesh has no independent existence; its value lies in its symbolic role. This parallels the cohesion between form and meaning. Just as the flesh is given value in symbolizing the divine, so narrative form is of value in disclosing theological meaning. The implied reader is drawn into the drama of the symbolic narratives to make the authentic response of faith.

This volume examines Johannine symbolism within the lens of Jesus' relationship with the Father. After demonstrating that the Gospel narrative symbolically portrays Jesus as the Son of God who is relationally inseparable from his Father, the study shows how the Son-Father Relationship (SFR) is at the center of the network of Christological symbols in the Gospel of John. Using an innovative narrative framework, this book unveils the creative and symbolic introduction of the SFR in the Prologue (Jn. 1. 1-18), its development through the words and actions of Jesus' teaching ministry within the Johannine narrative, and its culmination in the Prayer (Jn. 17); the SFR motif then concludes in the remainder of the Gospel. This narrative framework reveals how the SFR shapes the literary style and theological strategy of the Gospel, and acts as an integrative force by giving structure and cohesion to the Gospel's symbolic system. Two key features presented in this book are a theory of symbolism and a network of symbols. The specially formulated 'Theory of Johannine Symbolism' explains the theoretical and theological underpinnings of the Gospel's symbolic network, called 'John's Christological Symbology'. Through the symbolic network, the author of the Gospel fulfills the theological purpose stated in Jn. 20:31-that hearer-readers believe in Jesus the Christ, as the Son of God, and thereby experience eternal life.

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time The Gnostic Gospels is a landmark study of the long-buried roots of Christianity, a work of luminous scholarship and wide popular appeal. First published in 1979 to critical acclaim, winning the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Gnostic Gospels has continued to grow in reputation and influence over the past two decades. It is now widely recognized as one of the most brilliant and accessible histories of early Christian spirituality published in our time. In 1945 an Egyptian peasant unearthed what proved to be the Gnostic Gospels, thirteen papyrus volumes that expounded a radically different view of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ from that of the New Testament. In this spellbinding book, renowned religious scholar Elaine Pagels elucidates the mysteries and meanings of these sacred texts both in the world of the first Christians and in the context of Christianity today. With insight and passion, Pagels explores a remarkable range of recently discovered gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, to show how a variety of “Christianities” emerged at a time of extraordinary spiritual upheaval. Some Christians questioned the need for clergy and church doctrine, and taught that the divine could be discovered through spiritual search. Many others, like Buddhists and Hindus, sought enlightenment—and access to God—within. Such explorations raised questions: Was the resurrection to be understood symbolically and not literally? Was God to be envisioned only in masculine form, or feminine as well? Was martyrdom a necessary—or worthy—expression of faith? These early Christians dared to ask questions that orthodox Christians later suppressed—and their explorations led to profoundly different visions of Jesus and his message. Brilliant, provocative, and stunning in its implications, The Gnostic Gospels is a radical, eloquent reconsideration of the origins of the Christian faith.

The Zondervan Dictionary of Bible Themes contains over 2,000 thematic articles with an explanation of the theme, key Bible references, and cross-references to related themes. --From publisher's description.