A Gospel Reading: Believing Jesus of Nazareth

There's a general assumption that the Christian Gospel can be taken as read, taken for granted. Looking at the four gospels afresh, A Gospel Reading finds that Jesus himself is not only the subject, which was Paul's emphasis, but also the author of the Gospel. He himself interprets the events that make up his own story, for example with his period in the desert when disciples were not present, or when a woman anoints him with perfume. As well as performing miracles as confirmatory signs, he is God's prophet and Messiah; and the Gospel is in fact enacted by him, most notably in the resurrection following the death to which he succumbed in anguished willingness. Jesus' message was 'good news' from the beginning, yet for some time his disciples failed to understand it. The four gospels reveal a mystery long foretold, and hold out an answer to the profoundest needs and questions of humankind. Jesus shifts the emphasis from a religious tradition whose twin pillars were Torah and Temple to the issue of participation in events unfolding in fulfilment of ancient tradition, and to be completed as a Kingdom that would stand in and beyond the final Judgement. Yet what Jesus announced was not the same at the end of the New Testament documents as at the beginning. There was a progressive disclosure which can be identified as occurring over seven stages of proclamation - summarised in the last chapter. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Secretary of the Christian Literary Studies Group, Oxford, Roger Kojecký studied literature at Oxford where his doctoral research led to the discovery and publication of new writing by T. S. Eliot. He has recently been a visiting lecturer at various universities including at Krakow, Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Toronto. As secretary of the CLSG he has responsibility for a journal, The Glass, and for organising conferences at Corpus Christi College.