Thesis 5.

In understanding how and why the gospels were written, it is helpful to distinguish between the
three stages of tradition in the formation of the Gospels.
What is a gospel? It came from the greek word c=ovciov meaning good message anglo saxon
gods spell - ovcoo messanger. The meaning of the evangelists is the proclamer of the gospel and the
proclaimer of the good news.
The gospel as literary form: from being the message, the more gospel has come to a written form.
The proclamation of the good news. What is a gospel? It is not a piece of literature, not a biography patterned
in history. It is not also a simple memoirs but it is a collection of sayings, narrative sections, a lot of stories
sprung together. It does not belong to the genra of miracle stories.
It is important to look at the gospel in different approach analytically and systematically. We must
understand and know the historical context and the political context in which the gospel were form and
written. From the stages of tradition we may come to know the formation of the gospel.
1. The period of Jesus and his disciples
2. The period of disciples
3. The period of the early church
In the first stage, the period of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus is the original source. He did something to reflect
upon the gospels. Through the many discourses of the gospels, they manifest the huge amount of information
that may describe Jesus as a man in the 1
st
century Jew. These were the acts of healing, forgiving and the
finality is that he died for us and rose from the dead. The original source is Jesus who is born in 6-4 B.C.E. He
died at 33 in the basis of Luke. And he began his ministry. In John, it appeared that he attended the annual
feast of the Passover. It was a year and a half when his ministry was accomplished. Before his death, he
prepared his disciples for the mission of preaching and evangelizing. Through the disciples, the memories were
being preserved because they are the living witness of Christ ministry of service. And as a continuation of the
mission of Jesus, the disciples have the role of spreading continuously what they have begun with Jesus Christ.
In the second stage, it is the period of the disciples. The disciples translated the experience of the aftermath.
After the Easter event, the disciples began to look the Easter experiences. And after the event, they began to
carry out the missionary activity, transmitting the memories of Jesus orally. From then on, they began to put it
in writing. In order to carry out the missionary activity the memories are preserved. How they were
preserved? They were preserved, First, by proclamation, and secondly by oral tradition. It is preserve also in
the kerygma.
In the third stage, the period of the early church is a life of community. They received direct witnesses in oral
way particularly in bits and pieces. During those times, most of the witnesses began to die without even
writing the accounts because they know that the parousia will come there is no need to write because the
apostles were there preaching. Why the gospels were written? In order to preserve the memory of Jesus