Carey Ministry Conference 2020 Session 5

Our fifth session, our second men only one, was led by Luke Jenner on preaching the Gospels from 

His outline (kindly supplied) had four headings

1. The 'Irreducible Plurality'* of the Gospels (*Stephen Barton)

The view was put forward that the fourfold witness is not merely serendipitous.

Under this first heading he said something like this - 

The author Richard Burridge begins his work on the four biblical gospels by describing a visit to Chartwell, the country home of Sir Winston Churchill. The house contains many portraits and photographs of Great Britain’s war-time Prime Minister.

One picture is a photograph of Churchill, the statesman, sitting looking grim-face and determined with President Roosevelt. He is wearing a dark suit and tie. Serious and fateful work is afoot. The weight of the world is upon his shoulders.

A second picture is a painting of a happy family gathering entitled “Tea-time at Chartwell.” Here Churchill is dressed casually with friends and family around the table. It is his family enjoying tea together and the cares of the world do not impact in anyway.

A third picture shows Churchill riding in a camouflaged car surrounded by uniformed men. Churchill is also in uniform. He is “with the troops”, giving his “V for Victory” salute, the signature cigar is clamped between his lips. The men are smiling, war machines are pictured flying overhead. The picture propagates confidence and is intended to breathe life into weary hearts.

The final picture is a photograph of Churchill at rest. He is surrounded by easel and pots as he paints. He is on holiday in Switzerland in 1946. The election a year earlier has been lost and so he now has time to himself. Churchill appears relaxed and at peace.

Four pictures, all different, each evoking their own response yet each of the same man. Each displays the skill and aspect of the photographer or painter. Each gives us a distinctive icon of the same man.

We should not be surprised that the four gospels provide us with four distinct impressions of the same man, Jesus Christ. Four portraits are never the same, and through their diversity we can see different aspects of the one person. One would never superimpose these four images of Churchill one upon another, for it would create nothing but a blur. The gospel writers never intended us to do that either with their distinctive portraits. Each should be allowed to speak from its own frame.

We were also tested on where we will find the details of the Christmas story in the different Gospels.

2. The implications for 'Harmonistic Homiletics'

Stephen Barton says "That there are four gospels standing side by side in the canon, none of which has been subordinated to another, is an ... is irreducibly plural without being either incoherent or completely elastic."

"If each author has a unique story to tell, and the Holy Spirit inspired different aspects to be included in each, then we should respect the integrity of each story." (Mark Strauss)

3. The Spirit-dependent application of a 'Synoptic Reading'

Here he contrasted synoptic reading with harmonistic. We had helpful references showing how Mark stresses the humanity of Christ and Matthew the fact he is the divine king.

4. The inevitability of some unanswered questions