In our next series, we look at “The Gospel according to the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
- The Four Evangelists and their symbols (oil on canvas)
Lastman, Pieter (1583-1633)
The Gospel according to St.Matthew
September 11, 2007
Rev’d Dr. Daniel Harrington
After a brief general introduction to the Gospels, Dr. Harrington will focus on Matthew’s Gospel as both a Jewish book and a Christian Gospel. Particular attention will be paid to the Gospel’s context in first-century Judaism and its signficance for people today.
Rev. Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., is professor of New Testament at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, editor of New Testament Abstracts, and author of many books including a large commentary on Matthew’s Gospel.
The Gospel according to St. Mark
September 18, 2007
Dr. David Urion
In our time together, we will consider the vision of Jesus and the Jesus movement presented in the Gospel of Mark. Considered by scholars the oldest of the canonical gospels, it is also one of the main sources for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Recent Markan scholarship has suggested that this Gospel was written during the upheavals of the Jewish War, and so the destruction of the Temple looms in the background as large presence. It appears to have been written for marginalized communities in the rural areas, north of Jerusalem; these communities had been attacked by both Roman forces as well as insurgent Jewish forces. It is a gospel of struggle—for justice, for peace, for the coming of the Kingdom of God. It is a Gospel without post-resurrection appearances; indeed, its earliest forms end with an empty tomb and a message, but no manifestly risen Jesus. It is a gospel that describes the last week of Jesus’ life with great temporal precision, organized like the military watches of the Roman occupiers. It is a gospel that wrestles with the place of women and gentiles in the kingdom of God. Across these centuries, what does Mark have to tell us, who live in a time of perpetual imperial war, gross economic inequality, ethnic conflict, and shifting gender roles? What kind of companion can Mark be for our lives as the people of God?
David K. Urion, M.D. received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, with majors in French and Chemistry, in 1976. He graduated from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1980. After an internship in internal medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, he came to Children’s Hospital in 1981, and has been there since then. He trained in pediatrics there, and in child neurology in the Longwood Area Neurology Training Program. He was chief resident in child neurology at Children’s from 1984—1985. Since 1985, he has been director of the Learning Disabilities/Behavioral Neurology Program, and since 1998 has served as director of Network Services for the department of neurology, organizing the department’s presence at the various off-Longwood clinical sites. He has a large outpatient practice, focusing on behavioral neurology. He serves as an outpatient teaching supervisor and attends on the neurology inpatient and critical care services several months each year. He has been awarded the department’s teacher of the year by the residents on two occasions. He is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and member of the faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He serves as the first faculty director of the Office of Enrichment Programs/Division of Service Learning at HMS. In addition to his work at the South End Community Health Center, he was a founding board member of the Epiphany School, a tuition-free middle school for children in the city of Boston. He is author of “Compassion as Subversive Activity: Illness, Community and the Gospel of Mark”, published by Cowley Publications in 2006. He is married to Dr. Deborah Choate, a psychiatrist, and they have two children, Kara age 23 and Rufus age 18.
The Gospel according to St. Luke
September 25, 2007
Dr. Steven Hunt
In this session Dr. Hunt shall look at the way Luke uses his sources to show Jesus’ interest in the marginalized (e.g., women, the poor, etc.).
Dr. Hunt came to Gordon College in 2001. Specializing in the New Testament, he very much appreciates narrative approaches to the Gospel of John and socio-rhetorical approaches to the letters of Paul. His current research projects center on John’s characterization of Nicodemus, Lazarus, the Woman at the well and the Man born blind. He enjoys camping in the White Mountains and boating on Lake Winnipesaukee with his wife and four kids.
The Gospel according to St. John
October 2, 2007
Bishop Thomas Shaw
Bishop Shaw will speak to how the community that St. John wrote his Gospel for were impacted by John’s understanding of the cross and resurrection, and what John’s Gospel says to us today.
The Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE., was consecrated as Bishop of The Diocese of Massachusetts in 1994 . He holds a Master of Divinity degree from General Theological Seminary in New York and a Master of Arts degree in theology from the Catholic University of America.
In 1975, he entered the Society of St. John the Evangelist, a religious order of priests and lay brothers in the Episcopal Church involved in ministry to the urban poor, retreat work and spiritual direction. Life professed in the society in 1981, he was elected superior in 1983. During his term as superior, Bishop Shaw established the Cowley retreat center at Emery House in West Newbury, Massachusetts and began Cowley Publications, an Episcopal and Anglican book publishing house.
Bishop Shaw is a founding member and the chair of the board of the Epiphany Middle School, a tuition-free, inner-city Boston school, and has initiated the Youth Leadership Academy in the Diocese of Massachusetts, a Christian leadership training program for high-school-aged Episcopalians. The completion of the diocese’s new Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center in Greenfield, N.H., is the result of his vision and leadership toward building strong lay and ordained leadership, addressing issues that confront this urban diocese and ministering to children and young people to bring about their full inclusion in the life of the church.
He recently returned from a three month sabbatical during which he traveled in Kenya, Tanzania and the Holy Land. A prolific writer, he is currently completing a book focusing on the use of scripture in building up congregational life.
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