Reference no: EM133802178

Discussion Thread: Reading the Gospels Horizontally and Vertically

When you have multiple accounts of the same story, such as with the four canonical Gospels, there will inevitably be both similarities and differences. To do justice to both, it is necessary to read the Gospels in two different ways: horizontally and vertically. The former focuses on the four Gospels as telling a single story about their central subject, Jesus of Nazareth, and reads the four as one unified story, ignoring or glossing over differences in favor of uniformity. The latter does the opposite and reads each of the four Gospels with an eye to their individuality and idiosyncrasies. To use different imagery, the former focuses on the "harmony" of the Gospels, while the latter on their "solo" voices. Both approaches have value. Discuss these two ways of reading the Gospels, identifying the strengths, contributions, and values of each approach, as well as what you have learned about the Gospels by learning to read them both ways. Provide at least one specific example of an insight gained through reading the Gospels both horizontally and vertically.

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