Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

corpus-paul - Re: gospel

corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Corpus-Paul

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Mark D. Nanos" <nanosmd AT home.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: gospel
  • Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 07:28:07 -0500


on 7/11/01 5:26 PM, Rick S at rick.strelan AT mailbox.uq.edu.au wrote:

> If an EUAGGELION of any
> type [marriage announcement, holy-day declaration etc] was initially a
> written
> text

This is the first problem with the thesis. A euaggelion, Jewish or Roman,
has nothing to do per se with a literary event or result. It could be as
banal as an announcement that the anchovies have arrived (good news indeed),
to the herald bringing to the town the victors are approaching the news of a
victory, to the announcement of Augustus's birthday on the day set aside for
this honor. It can also refer to the reward the messenger of victory
receives in gratitude from the recipients, or to the sacrifice made in
response to the god who caused this good. This word is closely connected
with the sense of promise. It is common in oracles, where it refers to news
before the event itself has been realized for those to whom it is announced.
And then there is Isaiah¹s dramatic announcement of the return of Israel
from exile to the long awaited reign of God witnessed by all of creation
(Isa. 52:7-10 NRSV):
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who
announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says
to Zion, "Your God reigns."
Nothing written is implied, and in most of these cases, including Isaiah, it
is excluded in the examples of usage we have.

"News of good" might be a better way to think of the translation, just to
get away from the sacredness of association for the term with these special
(later) four (and more) written texts about the life and work of Jesus,
called "Gospels." The verbal form has the sense of "proclamation," so
"proclamation of news of good," or proclamation of welcome news" might carry
the meaning better. It is news that brings joy to the recipient.

It seems that researching the elements of Paul's "proclamation of news of
good" from his letters should precede any effort to find correspondence with
the elements of any of the Gospel accounts. Then it could be interesting.

[Rick also wrote in a later post (but before I got around to
finishing/posting the above comments):
>I'm more than happy to abort the whole idea. But I will at least make myself
>clear. I certainly do not think that Paul wrote a Gospel like the canonical
>Gospels, in other words a 'life' of Jesus. I am simply asking whether Paul's
>'gospel' came to his audience first of all in written form [like
>announcements of weddings and holy-days etc did]. The contents were read and
>heard and the message called EUAGGELION.

This is very very unlikely. In addition to the above comments about the
nature of the language, to whom would these announcements have come in
written form to be read? Paul was creating new small household meetings. An
exception like Romans just confirms the nature of what he would write
according to your question would not be a "Gospel." He still writes to them
of longing to come and declare the message of good. More likely the language
of "good news" was fluid, and when Paul or someone else announced something
expected to be welcome news, it was like saying, "I have something great to
tell you."

>Does the verb EUAGGELIZ- 'imply oral communication'?

Yes. But it could be a written announcement to be read aloud, such as was
the case for Augustus's birthday announcement.

>It certainly includes
>oral communication, but there's little doubt that it can also include
>written communication.

>Two things: why did Jerome think Paul referred to a written Gospel when he
>spoke of 'my gospel'? Didn't Jerome know that Paul communicated 'his gospel'
>orally?

Why would Jerome know any more about a topic like this than we do now?
Historical criticism is a modern concern.

Regards,
Mark
--
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
313 NE Landings Dr.
Lee's Summit, MO 64064
USA
nanosmd AT home.com






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page