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127-482: Harmonies are constructed for a variety of purposes: to create a readable and accessible piece of literature for the general public, to establish a scholarly chronology of events in the life of Jesus as depicted in the canonical gospels, or to better understand how the accounts relate to each other. Among academics, the construction of harmonies has been favoured by conservative scholars, though one scholar, B. S. Childs, opposes this. Students of higher criticism see

254-501: A plaque fixed to Jesus's cross inscribed, (according to John) in Hebrew, Greek and Latin – Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum , meaning Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews . Mark has the plaque say simply, King of the Jews. The Gospels then state that the soldiers divide Jesus's clothes among themselves, except for one garment for which they cast lots . The Gospel of John claims that this fulfills

381-428: A "parallel products of a literate society". All ancient Greek literature was to some degree oral in nature, and the earliest literature was completely so. Homer 's epic poetry, states Michael Gagarin, was largely composed, performed and transmitted orally. As folklores and legends were performed in front of distant audiences, the singers would substitute the names in the stories with local characters or rulers to give

508-469: A Galilean he is under his jurisdiction. Herod is excited at first to see Jesus and hopes Jesus will perform a miracle for him; he asks Jesus several questions but Jesus does not answer. Herod then mocks him and sends him back to Pilate after giving him an "elegant" robe to wear. All the Gospels relate that a man named Barabbas was released by Pilate instead of Jesus. Matthew, Mark and John have Pilate offer

635-510: A Harmony of the Gospels prepared for that purpose since 1777. Daily meetings are held, some times two or three times a day, to follow the events of the day. During the course of the reading, the Congregation sings hymn verses to respond to the events of the text. Most liturgical churches hold some form of commemoration of the Crucifixion on the afternoon of Good Friday. Sometimes, this will take

762-557: A Roman audience saw a Latin version of a Greek play. Literature in Latin would flourish for the next six centuries, and includes essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings. The Qur'an (610 AD to 632 AD), the main holy book of Islam , had a significant influence on the Arab language, and marked the beginning of Islamic literature . Muslims believe it was transcribed in the Arabic dialect of

889-492: A choice between Jesus and Barabbas to the crowd; Luke lists no choice offered by Pilate, but represents the crowd demanding his release. In all the Gospels, Pilate asks Jesus if he is King of the Jews and Jesus replies "So you say". Once condemned by Pilate, he was flogged before execution. The canonical gospels, except Luke, record that Jesus is then taken by the soldiers to the Praetorium where, according to Matthew and Mark,

1016-432: A context without the use of writing to record and preserve history, scientific knowledge, and social practices. While some stories were told for amusement and leisure, most functioned as practical lessons from tribal experience applied to immediate moral, social, psychological, and environmental issues. Stories fuse fictional, supernatural, or otherwise exaggerated characters and circumstances with real emotions and morals as

1143-456: A far larger scale than church Stations, with chapels containing large sculpted groups arranged in a hilly landscape; for pilgrims to tour the chapels typically takes several hours. They mostly date from the late 16th to the 17th century; most depict the Passion, others different subjects as well. The main traditional types of church music sung during Holy Week are Passions , musical settings of

1270-564: A fragment was discovered in Cairo in 1884. The narrative begins with Pilate washing his hands, as in Matthew, but the Jews and Herod refuse this. Joseph of Arimathea , before Jesus has been crucified, asks for his body, and Herod says he is going to take it down to comply with the Jewish custom of not leaving a dead body hung on a tree overnight. Herod then turns Jesus over to the people who drag him, give him

1397-405: A means of teaching. Plots often reflect real life situations and may be aimed at particular people known by the story's audience. In this way, social pressure could be exerted without directly causing embarrassment or social exclusion . For example, rather than yelling, Inuit parents might deter their children from wandering too close to the water's edge by telling a story about a sea monster with

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1524-576: A more dependable method of recording and presenting transactions in a permanent form. Though in both ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica , writing may have already emerged because of the need to record historical and environmental events. Subsequent innovations included more uniform, predictable legal systems , sacred texts , and the origins of modern practices of scientific inquiry and knowledge-consolidation , all largely reliant on portable and easily reproducible forms of writing. Ancient Egyptian literature , along with Sumerian literature , are considered

1651-503: A near-monopoly of reading and writing and/or a censorship role (as, for example, in the European Middle Ages ), may impart a religious gloss to much of the literature those societies produce or retain. The traditions of close study of religious texts has furthered the development of techniques and theories in literary studies . Passion (Christianity) The Passion (from Latin patior , "to suffer, bear, endure")

1778-531: A pouch for children within its reach. The enduring significance of oral traditions is underscored in a systemic literature review on indigenous languages in South Africa, within the framework of contemporary linguistic challenges. Oral literature is crucial for cultural preservation, linguistic diversity, and social justice, as evidenced by the postcolonial struggles and ongoing initiatives to safeguard and promote South African indigenous languages. Oratory or

1905-624: A prophecy from Psalms 22:18 . Some of the crowd who have been following taunt Jesus by saying, "He trusts in God; let God deliver him now!" The statement suggests that Jesus might perform a miracle to release himself from the cross. According to the Gospels, two thieves are also crucified, one on each side of him. According to Luke, one of the thieves reviles Jesus, while the other declares Jesus innocent and begs that he might be remembered when Jesus comes to his kingdom (see Penitent thief ). John records that Mary, his mother, and two other women stand by

2032-503: A purple robe, crown him with thorns, and beat and flog him. There are also two criminals, crucified on either side of him and, as in Luke, one begs Jesus for forgiveness. The writer says Jesus is silent as they crucify him, "...as if in no pain." Jesus is labeled the King of Israel on his cross and his clothes are divided and gambled over. As in the canonical Gospels, darkness covers the land. Jesus

2159-465: A role in an individual's psychological development. Psychologists have also been using literature as a therapeutic tool. Psychologist Hogan argues for the value of the time and emotion that a person devotes to understanding a character's situation in literature; that it can unite a large community by provoking universal emotions, as well as allowing readers access to different cultures, and new emotional experiences. One study, for example, suggested that

2286-468: A section below. Tatian 's influential Diatessaron , which dates to about AD 160, was perhaps the first harmony. The Diatessaron reduced the number of verses in the four gospels from 3,780 to 2,769 without missing any event of teaching in the life of Jesus from any of the gospels. Some scholars believe Tatian may have drawn on one or more noncanonical gospels. The Gospel of the Ebionites , composed about

2413-458: A social, psychological, spiritual, or political role. Literary criticism is one of the oldest academic disciplines, and is concerned with the literary merit or intellectual significance of specific texts. The study of books and other texts as artifacts or traditions is instead encompassed by textual criticism or the history of the book . "Literature", as an art form, is sometimes used synonymously with literary fiction , fiction written with

2540-622: A spear, and at once there came out blood and water. ...For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, 'Not a bone of him shall be broken.' And again another scripture says, 'They shall look on him whom they have pierced'" ( John 19:32–37 ). In the Gospel of Mark , Jesus is described as prophesying his own Passion and his Resurrection three times: Christians argue that these are cases of genuine and fulfilled prophecy and many scholars see Semitic features and tradition in Mark 9:31 . After

2667-472: A visual form and be undertaken to create narratives for artistic purposes, as in the creation of picture compositions depicting the life of Christ. The oldest approach to harmonizing consists of merging the stories into a single narrative, producing a text longer than any individual gospel. This creates the most straightforward and detailed account, and one that is likely to be most accessible to non-academic users, such as lay churchgoers or people who are reading

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2794-409: Is "what is literature?" – although many contemporary theorists and literary scholars believe either that "literature" cannot be defined or that it can refer to any use of language. Literary fiction is a term used to describe fiction that explores any facet of the human condition , and may involve social commentary . It is often regarded as having more artistic merit than genre fiction , especially

2921-516: Is a "minimum age constraint for human presence in Victoria ", and also could be interpreted as evidence for the oral histories of the Gunditjmara people, an Aboriginal Australian people of south-western Victoria, which tell of volcanic eruptions being some of the oldest oral traditions in existence. An axe found underneath volcanic ash in 1947 had already proven that humans inhabited the region before

3048-667: Is a term for devotional subjects such as the Man of Sorrows or Pietà , that may not precisely represent a moment in the Passion but are derived from the Passion story. The Arma Christi , or "Instruments of the Passion" are the objects associated with Jesus's Passion, such as the cross, the Crown of Thorns and the Spear of Longinus . Each of the major Instruments has been supposedly recovered as relics which have been an object of veneration among many Christians, and have been depicted in art. Veronica's Veil

3175-423: Is a well-known example. In terms of content and quality, Johann Jakob Griesbach 's 1776 synopsis was a notable case. At the same time, the rise of modern biblical criticism was instrumental in the decline of the traditional apologetic gospel harmony. The Enlightenment writer, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing , observed: Oh that most excellent Harmony, which can only reconcile two contradictory reports, both stemming from

3302-510: Is also given vinegar to drink. Peter has "My Power, My Power, why have you forsaken me?" as the last words of Jesus, rather than "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" as quoted in Mark. He is then "taken up", possibly a euphemism for death or maybe an allusion to heaven . Peter then has a resurrection, similar to the other books. Serapion of Antioch urged the exclusion of the Gospel of Peter from

3429-663: Is also often counted among the Instruments of the Passion; like the Shroud of Turin and Sudarium of Oviedo it is a cloth relic supposed to have touched Jesus. In the Catholic Church, the Passion story is depicted in the Stations of the Cross ( via crucis , also translated more literally as "Way of the Cross"). These 14 stations depict the Passion from the sentencing by Pilate to the sealing of

3556-641: Is also used in reference to non-written works: to " oral literature " and "the literature of preliterate culture". Etymologically , the term derives from Latin literatura/litteratura , "learning, writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from litera/littera , "letter." In spite of this, the term has also been applied to spoken or sung texts. Literature is often referred to synecdochically as "writing," especially creative writing , and poetically as "the craft of writing" (or simply "the craft"). Syd Field described his discipline, screenwriting , as "a craft that occasionally rises to

3683-631: Is an attempt to collate the Christian canonical gospels into a single account. Harmonies are constructed by some writers in order to make the gospel story available to a wider audience, both religious and secular. Harmonies can be studied by scholars to establish a coherent chronology of the events depicted in the four canonical gospels in the life of Jesus , to better understand how the accounts relate to each other, and to critically evaluate their differences. The terms harmony and synopsis have been used to refer to several different approaches to consolidating

3810-452: Is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels , plays , and poems . It includes both print and digital writing . In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature , much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment . It can also have

3937-416: Is believed to have been recited or sung, employed as a way of remembering history , genealogy , and law. In Asia, the transmission of folklore, mythologies as well as scriptures in ancient India, in different Indian religions, was by oral tradition, preserved with precision with the help of elaborate mnemonic techniques . The early Buddhist texts are also generally believed to be of oral tradition, with

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4064-524: Is made to carry his own cross. The Gospel of Mark gives the names of Simon's children, Alexander and Rufus. However, the Gospel of Luke refers to Simon carrying the cross after Jesus, in that it states: "they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus". Luke adds that Jesus's female followers follow, mourning his fate, but that he responds by quoting Hosea 10:8 . The Synoptic Gospels state that on arrival at Golgotha, Jesus

4191-429: Is more probable. A less common but more serious difficulty arises if the gospels diverge in their substantive description of an event. An example is the incident involving the centurion whose servant is healed at a distance. In the Gospel of Matthew the centurion comes to Jesus in person; in the Luke version he sends Jewish elders. Since these accounts are clearly describing the same event, the harmonist must decide which

4318-520: Is offered wine laced with myrrh to lessen the pain, but he refuses it. Jesus is then crucified, according to Mark, at "the third hour" (9 a.m.) the morning after the Passover meal, but according to John he is handed over to be crucified at "the sixth hour" (noon) the day before the Passover meal, although many resolve this by saying that the Synoptics use Jewish time, and that John uses Roman time. Pilate has

4445-410: Is returned his own clothes, prior to being led out for execution. According to the Gospel accounts he is forced, like other victims of crucifixion, to drag his own cross to Golgotha , the location of the execution. The three Synoptic Gospels refer to a man called Simon of Cyrene , who is made to carry the cross ( Mark 15:21 , Matthew 27:32 , Luke 23:26 ), while in the Gospel of John ( 19:17 ), Jesus

4572-454: Is the ancient text which Jesus himself quoted, while he was dying on the cross. From the cross, Jesus cried with a loud voice, " Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" These words of Jesus were a quotation of the ancient HE . King David , in Psalm 22, foretold the sufferings of the messiah. For example, "I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men and

4699-469: Is the more accurate description or else devise a composite account. The modern academic view, based on the broadly accepted principle that Matthew and Luke were written using Mark as a source, seeks to explain the differences between the texts in terms of this process of composition. For example, Mark describes John the Baptist as preaching the forgiveness of sins, a detail which is dropped by Matthew, perhaps in

4826-676: Is the short final period before the death of Jesus , described in the four canonical gospels . It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy Week . The Passion may include, among other events, Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem , his cleansing of the Temple , his anointing , the Last Supper , his agony , his arrest , his trials before the Sanhedrin and before Pilate , his crucifixion and death , and his burial . Those parts of

4953-547: The 2nd century and variations based on the Diatessaron continued to appear in the Middle Ages. The 16th century witnessed a major increase in the introduction of gospel harmonies and the parallel column structure became widespread. At this time visual representations also started appearing, depicting the life of Christ in terms of a "pictorial gospel harmony", and the trend continued into the 19th–20th centuries. A gospel harmony

5080-618: The Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age . The period between approximately the 6th to 1st centuries BC saw the composition and redaction of the two most influential Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana , with subsequent redaction progressing down to the 4th century AD such as Ramcharitmanas . The earliest known Greek writings are Mycenaean ( c.  1600 –1100 BC), written in

5207-566: The Limburg dialect (Liege University library item 437) is a key Western source of the Diatessaron and dates to 1280, although it was published much later. The two extant recensions of the Diatessaron in Medieval Italian are the single manuscript Venetian from the 13th or 14th century and the 26 manuscript Tuscan from the 14th–15th century. In the 3rd century Ammonius of Alexandria developed

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5334-555: The Linear B syllabary on clay tablets. These documents contain prosaic records largely concerned with trade (lists, inventories, receipts, etc.); no real literature has been discovered. Michael Ventris and John Chadwick , the original decipherers of Linear B, state that literature almost certainly existed in Mycenaean Greece , but it was either not written down or, if it was, it was on parchment or wooden tablets, which did not survive

5461-651: The Passion of Christ . Another devotion is the Little Office of the Passion created by Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226). He ordered this office around the medieval association of five specific moments in Jesus's Passion with specific hours of the day. Having then attributed these to hours of the Divine Office , he arrived at this schema: The Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions as " acts of reparation " for

5588-881: The Quraysh , the tribe of Muhammad . As Islam spread, the Quran had the effect of unifying and standardizing Arabic. Theological works in Latin were the dominant form of literature in Europe typically found in libraries during the Middle Ages . Western Vernacular literature includes the Poetic Edda and the sagas , or heroic epics, of Iceland, the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf , and the German Song of Hildebrandt . A later form of medieval fiction

5715-660: The Synoptic Gospels , for instance, describe Jesus overturning tables in the Temple at Jerusalem in the last week of his life, whereas the Gospel of John records a counterpart event only towards the beginning of Jesus's ministry. Harmonists must either choose which time they think is correct, or conclude that separate events are described. Lutheran theologian Andreas Osiander , for instance, proposed in Harmonia evangelica (1537) that Jesus must have been crowned with thorns twice, and that there were three separate episodes of cleansing of

5842-559: The Vedas , dating back to 1500–1000 BC, and continues with the Sanskrit Epics of Iron Age India . The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts . The Samhitas (vedic collections) date to roughly 1500–1000 BC, and the "circum-Vedic" texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c.  1000 ‒500 BC, resulting in a Vedic period , spanning the mid-2nd to mid-1st millennium BC, or

5969-723: The Vedas , the Torah , the Bible, and the Quran . The King James Version of the Bible has been called "the most influential version of the most influential book in the world, in what is now its most influential language", "the most important book in English religion and culture", and "arguably the most celebrated book in the English-speaking world ," principally because of its literary style and widespread distribution. Prominent atheist figures such as

6096-603: The destruction of the Mycenaean palaces in the twelfth century BC . Homer 's epic poems , the Iliad and the Odyssey , are central works of ancient Greek literature . It is generally accepted that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century BC. Modern scholars consider these accounts legendary . Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally . From antiquity until

6223-696: The invention of printing . Prior to printing, distributed works were copied manually, by scribes . The Chinese inventor Bi Sheng made movable type of earthenware c.  1045 and was spread to Korea later. Around 1230, Koreans invented a metal type movable printing. East metal movable type was spread to Europe between the late 14th century and early 15th century. In c.  1450 , Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type in Europe. This invention gradually made books less expensive to produce and more widely available. Early printed books, single sheets, and images created before 1501 in Europe are known as incunables or incunabula . "A man born in 1453,

6350-399: The utilitarians and Benthamites , promoted the possibility of including courses in English literary study in the newly formed London University ". This further developed into the idea of the study of literature being "the ideal carrier for the propagation of the humanist cultural myth of a well educated, culturally harmonious nation". The widespread education of women was not common until

6477-402: The "Son of God" (Matthew, Mark). John says that, as was the custom, the soldiers come and break the legs of the thieves, so that they will die faster, but that on coming to Jesus they find him already dead. A soldier pierces his side with a spear . According to the Gospel of Matthew, Judas, the betrayer, is filled with remorse and tries to return the money he was paid for betraying Jesus. When

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6604-503: The 15th and the 16th centuries some new approaches to harmony began to appear. For example, Jean Gerson produced a harmony in 1420 which gave priority to the Gospel of John . Cornelius Jansen also published his harmony in 1549, focusing on the four gospels and even referring to the Acts of the Apostles. On the other hand John Calvin 's approach focused on the three synoptic Gospels, and excluded

6731-410: The 4th century. It began to be intoned (rather than just spoken) in the Middle Ages, at least as early as the 8th century. Ninth-century manuscripts have "litterae significativae" indicating interpretive chant, and later manuscripts begin to specify exact notes to be sung. By the 13th century, different singers were used for different characters in the narrative, a practice which became fairly universal by

6858-476: The Church because Docetists were using it to bolster their theological claims, which Serapion rejected. Many modern scholars also reject this conclusion, as the statement about Jesus being silent "as if in no pain" seems to be based on Isaiah's description of the suffering servant, "as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth." ( Isaiah 53:7 ). The gospels provide differing accounts of

6985-565: The European Romantic era. Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) is the first major English woman novelist, while Aphra Behn is an early female dramatist. Nobel Prizes in Literature have been awarded between 1901 and 2020 to 117 individuals: 101 men and 16 women. Selma Lagerlöf (1858 – 1940) was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature , which she was awarded in 1909. Additionally, she

7112-553: The European canon of Romantic literature , there is one notable exception, the French novelist and memoirist Amantine Dupin (1804 – 1876) best known by her pen name George Sand . One of the more popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, being more renowned than both Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac in England in the 1830s and 1840s, Sand is recognised as one of the most notable writers of

7239-643: The Gospel narratives, both a Catholic and Lutheran tradition, and settings of the readings and responses from the Catholic Tenebrae services, especially those of the Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet . The many settings of the Stabat Mater or musical settings of sayings of Jesus on the cross are also commonly performed. The reading of the Passion section of one of the Gospels during Holy Week dates back to

7366-720: The Gospel of John. By this time visual representations had also started appearing, for instance, the 15th-century artist Lieven de Witte produced a set of about 200 woodcut images that depicted the Life of Christ in terms of a "pictorial gospel harmony" which then appeared in Willem van Branteghem's harmony published in Antwerp in 1537. The importance of imagery is reflected in the title of Branteghem's well known work: The Life of Jesus Christ Skillfully Portrayed in Elegant Pictures Drawn from

7493-653: The Grand Historian , c.  94 BC ). Ancient Chinese literature had a heavy emphasis on historiography, with often very detailed court records. An exemplary piece of narrative history of ancient China was the Zuo Zhuan , which was compiled no later than 389 BC, and attributed to the blind 5th-century BC historian Zuo Qiuming . In ancient India , literature originated from stories that were originally orally transmitted. Early genres included drama , fables , sutras and epic poetry . Sanskrit literature begins with

7620-521: The Latin littera , "letter," essentially writing. Alternatives such as "oral forms" and "oral genres" have been suggested, but the word literature is widely used. Australian Aboriginal culture has thrived on oral traditions and oral histories passed down through tens of thousands of years. In a study published in February 2020, new evidence showed that both Budj Bim and Tower Hill volcanoes erupted between 34,000 and 40,000 years ago. Significantly, this

7747-444: The Latin form passio . Accounts of the Passion are found in the four canonical gospels , Matthew , Mark , Luke and John . Three of these, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, known as the Synoptic Gospels , give similar accounts. The Gospel of John account varies significantly. Scholars do not agree on which events surrounding the death of Jesus should be considered part of the Passion narrative, and which ones merely precede and succeed

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7874-533: The Narratives of the Four Evangelists The 16th century witnessed a major increase in the introduction of gospel harmonies. In this period the parallel column structure became widespread, partly in response to the rise of biblical criticism . This new format was used to emphasize the trustworthiness of the gospels. It is not clear who produced the first parallel harmony, but Gerardus Mercator 's 1569 system

8001-491: The Old Testament as prophecies about Jesus' Passion. The first and most obvious is the one from Isaiah 52:13–53:12 (either 8th or 6th century BC). This prophetic oracle describes a sinless man who will atone for the sins of his people. By his voluntary suffering, he will save sinners from the just punishment of God. The death of Jesus is said to fulfill this prophecy. For example, "He had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He

8128-417: The Passion is from the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon . Protestant Christians place it in the Apocrypha , Catholics and Eastern Orthodox among the deuterocanonical books. But it was written about 150 BC, and many have understood these verses (12–20 of chapter 2) as a direct prophecy of Jesus' Passion. For example, "Let us lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn. ...He boasteth that he hath

8255-404: The Passion of Christ began with Francis of Assisi and extended throughout the Catholic Church in the medieval period. It is most commonly done during Lent , especially on Good Friday , but it can be done on other days as well, especially Wednesdays and Fridays. The Passion Offices were the special prayers said by various Catholic communities, particularly the Passionist fathers to commemorate

8382-414: The Passion. The "cup" is sometimes interpreted as the symbol of his death, in the light of Jesus's prayer at Gethsemane "Let this cup be taken from me!" Most Christian denominations will read one or more narratives of the Passion during Holy Week , especially on Good Friday . In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, a large cross depicting the crucified Christ is brought out into the church and each of

8509-399: The Resurrection". He also made portraits of each of the Four Evangelists to honor them. In the 20th century, the Synopsis of the Four Gospels by Kurt Aland came to be seen by some as "perhaps the standard for an in-depth study of the Gospels." A key feature of Aland's work is the incorporation of the full text of the Gospel of John. Bernard Orchard 's synopsis (which has the same title)

8636-467: The Son of God continues to be crucified". Each episode of the Passion, such as the Flagellation of Christ or Entombment of Christ , has been represented thousands of times and has developed its own iconographic tradition; the Crucifixion is much the most common and important of these subjects. The Passion is often covered by a cycle of depictions; Albrecht Dürer 's print cycles were so popular that he produced three different versions. Andachtsbilder

8763-411: The Temple . On the other hand, commentators have long noted that the individual gospels are not written in a rigorously chronological format. This means that an event can be described as falling at two different times and still be the same event, so that the substantive details can be properly brought together in a harmony, although the harmonist will still have the task of deciding which of the two times

8890-412: The Virgin Mary . In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor on reparations, Pope Pius XI called acts of reparation to Jesus Christ a duty for Catholics and referred to them as "some sort of compensation to be rendered for the injury" with respect to the sufferings of Jesus. Pope John Paul II referred to acts of reparation as the "unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which

9017-609: The above, it deserves to be mentioned that at least three other, less elaborate messianic prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus' crucifixion, namely, the following Old Testament passages: "Many are the afflictions of the just man; but the Lord delivers him from all of them. He guards all his bones: not even one of them shall be broken" ( Psalm 34:20 ). "And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink" ( Psalm 69:21 ). "And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son; and they shall grieve over him, as

9144-419: The actual Passion narrative itself. For example, Puskas and Robbins (2011) commence the Passion after Jesus's arrest and before his resurrection, thus only including the trials, crucifixion and death of Jesus. In Pope Benedict XVI 's Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week (2011), the term Passion completely coincides with the crucifixion and death of Jesus; it does not include earlier events and specifically excludes

9271-509: The art of public speaking was considered a literary art for a significant period of time. From Ancient Greece to the late 19th century, rhetoric played a central role in Western education in training orators, lawyers, counselors, historians, statesmen, and poets. Around the 4th millennium BC, the complexity of trade and administration in Mesopotamia outgrew human memory, and writing became

9398-416: The belief that the forgiveness of sins was exclusive to Jesus. The modern popularizing view, on the other hand, while acknowledging these difficulties, deemphasizes their importance. This view suggests that the divergences in the gospels are a relatively small part of the whole, and that the accounts show a great deal of overall similarity. The divergences can therefore be sufficiently discussed in footnote in

9525-439: The burial and resurrection. Others such as Matson and Richardson (2014) take a broader approach and consider the triumphal entry, the last supper, the trial before Pilate, the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection collectively as constituting the so-called "Passion Week". Taking an inclusive approach, the "Passion" may include: The Gospel of Luke states that Pilate sends Jesus to be judged by Herod Antipas because as

9652-488: The burial in the tomb – during the course of the service. The first of these twelve readings is the longest Gospel reading of the entire liturgical year . In addition, every Wednesday and Friday throughout the year is dedicated in part to the commemoration of the Passion. During Holy Week / Passion Week Congregations of the Moravian Church ( Herrnhuter Bruedergemeine) read the entire story of Jesus's final week from

9779-452: The canonical gospels. Technically, a "harmony" weaves together sections of scripture into a single narrative, merging the four gospels. There are four main types of harmony: radical , synthetic , sequential and parallel . By contrast, a "synopsis", much like a parallel harmony, juxtaposes similar texts or accounts in parallel format, synchronized by time, while preserving their individual identity, usually in columns. Harmonies may also take

9906-399: The course of a consolidated narrative, and need not stand in the way of conveying a better overall view of the life of Jesus or of making this material more accessible to a wider readership. To illustrate the concept of parallel harmony, a simple example of a "synopsis fragment" is shown here, consisting of just four episodes from the Passion . A more comprehensive parallel harmony appears in

10033-476: The cross to his crucifixion . Most Catholic churches, as well as many Anglican , Lutheran , and Methodist parishes, contain Stations of the Cross, typically placed at intervals along the sidewalls of the nave ; in most churches, they are small plaques with reliefs or paintings, although in others they may be simple crosses with a numeral in the center. The tradition of moving around the Stations to commemorate

10160-440: The cross as does a disciple, described as the one whom Jesus loved . Jesus commits his mother to this disciple's care. According to the synoptics, the sky becomes dark at midday and the darkness lasts for three hours, until the ninth hour when Jesus cries out Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). The centurion standing guard, who has seen how Jesus has died, declares Jesus innocent (Luke) or

10287-468: The crown of thorns, in order to appeal his innocence before the crowd, saying Ecce homo , ("Behold the man"). But, John represents, the priests urge the crowd to demand Jesus's death. Pilate resigns himself to the decision, washing his hands (according to Matthew) before the people as a sign that Jesus's blood will not be upon him. According to the Gospel of Matthew they replied, " His blood be on us and on our children! " Mark and Matthew record that Jesus

10414-436: The digital era had blurred the lines between online electronic literature and other forms of modern media. Definitions of literature have varied over time. In Western Europe, prior to the 18th century, literature denoted all books and writing. It can be seen as returning to older, more inclusive notions, so that cultural studies , for instance, include, in addition to canonical works , popular and minority genres . The word

10541-466: The divergences between the gospel accounts as reflecting the construction of traditions by the early Christian communities . Among modern academics, attempts to construct a single story have largely been abandoned in favour of laying out the accounts in parallel columns for comparison , to allow critical study of the differences between them. The earliest known harmony is the Diatessaron by Tatian in

10668-541: The earliest and most influential works of ancient Greek literature. Classical Greek genres included philosophy, poetry, historiography, comedies and dramas. Plato (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) and Aristotle (384–322 BC) authored philosophical texts that are regarded as the foundation of Western philosophy , Sappho ( c.  630  – c.  570 BC ) and Pindar were influential lyric poets , and Herodotus ( c.  484  – c.  425 BC ) and Thucydides were early Greek historians. Although drama

10795-547: The eruption of Tower Hill. Oral literature is an ancient human tradition found in "all corners of the world." Modern archaeology has been unveiling evidence of the human efforts to preserve and transmit arts and knowledge that depended completely or partially on an oral tradition, across various cultures: The Judeo-Christian Bible reveals its oral traditional roots; medieval European manuscripts are penned by performing scribes; geometric vases from archaic Greece mirror Homer's oral style. (...) Indeed, if these final decades of

10922-485: The evangelists, by inventing a third report, not a syllable of which is to be found in any individual evangelist! W. G. Rushbrooke's 1880 Synopticon is at times considered a turning point in the history of the synopsis, as it was based on Marcan priority , i.e. the assumption that the Gospel of Mark was the first to be written. Thirteen years later, John Albert Broadus used historical accounts to assign priorities in his harmony, while previous approaches had used feasts as

11049-639: The faithful come forward to venerate the cross. Rather than having the Gospel read solely by the priest, whole congregations participate in the reading of the Passion Gospel during the Palm Sunday Mass and the Good Friday service. These readings have the Priest read the part of Christ, a narrator read the narrative, other reader(s) reading the other speaking parts, and either the choir or the congregation reading

11176-507: The first by comparing inconsistencies in the transmitted versions of literature from various oral societies such as the Greek, Serbia and other cultures, then noting that the Vedic literature is too consistent and vast to have been composed and transmitted orally across generations, without being written down. According to Goody, the Vedic texts likely involved both a written and oral tradition, calling it

11303-527: The forerunner of modern synopsis (perhaps based on the Diatessaron ) as the Ammonian Sections in which he started with the text of Matthew and copied along parallel events. There are no extant copies of the harmony of Ammonius and it is only known from a single reference in the letter from Eusebius to Carpianus . In the letter Eusebius also discusses his own approach, i.e. the Eusebian Canons in which

11430-571: The form of a vigil from noon to 3:00 pm, the approximate time that Jesus hung on the cross. Sometimes there will be a reenactment of the Descent from the Cross ; for instance, at Vespers in the Byzantine (Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic) tradition. Several non-liturgical devotions have been developed by Christian faithful to commemorate the Passion. The Stations of the Cross are a series of religious reflections describing or depicting Christ carrying

11557-463: The four canonical Gospels that describe these events are known as the Passion narratives. In some Christian communities, commemoration of the Passion also includes remembrance of the sorrow of Mary, the mother of Jesus , on the Friday of Sorrows . The word passion has taken on a more general application and now may also apply to accounts of the suffering and death of Christian martyrs , sometimes using

11684-532: The genre. The Hebrew religious text, the Torah , is widely seen as a product of the Persian period (539–333 BC, probably 450–350 BC). This consensus echoes a traditional Jewish view which gives Ezra , the leader of the Jewish community on its return from Babylon, a pivotal role in its promulgation. This represents a major source of Christianity's Bible, which has had a major influence on Western literature. The beginning of Roman literature dates to 240 BC, when

11811-421: The goal of artistic merit , but can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography , diaries , memoirs , letters , and essays . Within this broader definition, literature includes non-fictional books , articles, or other written information on a particular subject. Developments in print technology have allowed an ever-growing distribution and proliferation of written works, while

11938-422: The gospels as a work of literature or philosophy. There are, however, difficulties in the creation of a consolidated narrative. As John Barton points out, it is impossible to construct a single account from the four gospels without changing at least some parts of the individual accounts. One challenge with any form of harmonizing is that events are sometimes described in a different order in different accounts –

12065-495: The grave and oblivion. The very best in literature is annually recognized by the Nobel Prize in Literature , which is awarded to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel , produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction" (original Swedish: den som inom litteraturen har producerat det mest framstående verket i en idealisk riktning ). Some researchers suggest that literary fiction can play

12192-536: The high priests say that that is his affair, Judas throws the money into the temple , goes off, and hangs himself. However, according to the Book of Acts 1:18 , Judas was not remorseful, took the money and bought a field from it, whereupon he suddenly fell and died. Further claims concerning the Passion are made in some non-canonical early writings. Another passion narrative is found in the fragmentary Gospel of Peter , long known to scholars through references, and of which

12319-465: The knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God ... and glorieth that he hath God for his father. Let us see then if his words be true. ...For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies. Let us examine him by outrages and tortures. ...Let us condemn him to a most shameful death. ...These things they thought, and were deceived, for their own malice blinded them" (Wisdom 2:12–20). In addition to

12446-569: The late Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins have praised the King James Version as being "a giant step in the maturing of English literature" and "a great work of literature", respectively, with Dawkins adding: "A native speaker of English who has never read a word of the King James Bible is verging on the barbarian". Societies in which preaching has great importance, and those in which religious structures and authorities have

12573-436: The level of art." A value judgment definition of literature considers it as consisting solely of high quality writing that forms part of the belles-lettres ("fine writing") tradition. An example of this is in the 1910–1911 Encyclopædia Britannica , which classified literature as "the best expression of the best thought reduced to writing". The use of the term "literature" here poses some issues due to its origins in

12700-568: The major milestones for dividing the life of Christ. Towards the end of the 19th century, after extensive travels and study in the Middle East, James Tissot produced a set of 350 watercolors which depicted the life of Christ as a visual gospel harmony. Tissot synthesized the four gospels into a singular narrative with five chapters: "the Holy Childhood, the Ministry, Holy Week, the Passion, and

12827-408: The manner is to grieve for the death of the firstborn" ( Zechariah 12:10 ). The Gospel explains how these old prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus' crucifixion. "So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with Jesus; but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with

12954-431: The millennium have taught us anything, it must be that oral tradition never was the other we accused it of being; it never was the primitive, preliminary technology of communication we thought it to be. Rather, if the whole truth is told, oral tradition stands out as the single most dominant communicative technology of our species as both a historical fact and, in many areas still, a contemporary reality. The earliest poetry

13081-571: The most commercially oriented types, but this has been contested in recent years, with the serious study of genre fiction within universities. The following, by the British author William Boyd on the short story, might be applied to all prose fiction: [short stories] seem to answer something very deep in our nature as if, for the duration of its telling, something special has been created, some essence of our experience extrapolated, some temporary sense has been made of our common, turbulent journey towards

13208-510: The nineteenth century, and because of this, literature until recently was mostly male dominated . George Sand was an idea. She has a unique place in our age. Others are great men ... she was a great woman. There were few English-language women poets whose names are remembered until the twentieth century. In the nineteenth century some notable individuals include Emily Brontë , Elizabeth Barrett Browning , and Emily Dickinson (see American poetry ). But while generally women are absent from

13335-690: The outcast of the people. All who see me, laugh me to scorn, they draw apart their lips, and wag their heads: 'He trusts in the Lord: let him free him, let him deliver him if he loves him.' Stand not far from me, for I am troubled; be thou near at hand: for I have no helper. ...Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet – I can count all my bones – they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots" ( Psalm 22:7–19 ). The words " they have pierced my hands and feet " are disputed, however. The third main prophecy of

13462-684: The parts of crowds (i.e.: when the crowd shouts "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"). In the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches, the Matins service for Good Friday is called Matins of the Twelve Passion Gospels , and is notable for the interspersal of twelve readings from the Gospel Book detailing chronologically the events of the Passion – from the Last Supper to

13589-432: The presence of familiar cultural values in literary texts played an important impact on the performance of minority students. Psychologist Maslow's ideas help literary critics understand how characters in literature reflect their personal culture and the history. The theory suggests that literature helps an individual's struggle for self-fulfillment. Religion has had a major influence on literature, through works like

13716-415: The present day, the influence of Homeric epic on Western civilization has been significant, inspiring many of its most famous works of literature, music, art and film. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education; to Plato , Homer was simply the one who "has taught Greece" – ten Hellada pepaideuken . Hesiod 's Works and Days (c.700 BC) and Theogony are some of

13843-526: The same time, is believed to have been a gospel harmony. Variations based on the Diatessaron continued to appear in the Middle Ages. For example, the Codex Sangallensis (based on the 6th century Codex Fuldensis ) dates to 830 and has a Latin column based on the Vulgate and an Old High German column that often resembles the Diatessaron , although errors frequently appear within it. The Liege harmony in

13970-624: The stories a local flavor and thus connect with the audience by making the historicity embedded in the oral tradition as unreliable. The lack of surviving texts about the Greek and Roman religious traditions have led scholars to presume that these were ritualistic and transmitted as oral traditions, but some scholars disagree that the complex rituals in the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations were an exclusive product of an oral tradition. Writing systems are not known to have existed among Native North Americans (north of Mesoamerica) before contact with Europeans. Oral storytelling traditions flourished in

14097-523: The sufferings and insults that Jesus endured during his Passion. These " acts of reparation to Jesus Christ " do not involve a petition for a living or deceased beneficiary, but aim to repair the sins against Jesus. Some such prayers are provided in the Raccolta Catholic prayer book (approved by a Decree of 1854, and published by the Holy See in 1898) which also includes prayers as Acts of Reparation to

14224-463: The texts of the gospels are shown in parallel to help comparison among the four gospels. In the 5th century, Augustine of Hippo wrote extensively on the subject in his book Harmony of the Gospels . Augustine viewed the variations in the gospel accounts in terms of the different focuses of the authors on Jesus: Matthew on royalty, Mark on humanity, Luke on priesthood and John on divinity. Clement of Llanthony 's Unum ex Quatuor ( One from Four )

14351-432: The third prophecy, the Gospel of Mark states that the brothers James and John ask Jesus to be his left and right hand men, but Jesus asks if they can drink from the "cup" he must drink from. They say that they can do this. Jesus confirms this, but says that the places at his right and left hand are reserved for others. Many Christian see this as being a reference to the two criminals at Jesus's crucifixion, thus relating to

14478-542: The tomb, or with the addition of a 15th, the resurrection. Since the 16th-century representations of them in various media have decorated the naves of most Catholic churches. The Way of the Cross is a devotion practiced by many people on Fridays throughout the year, most importantly on Good Friday . This may be simply by going round the Stations in a church, or may involve large-scale re-enactments, as in Jerusalem . The Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy are similar schemes on

14605-565: The trial of Jesus. Mark describes two separate proceedings, one involving Jewish leaders and one in which the Roman prefect for Judea, Pontius Pilate, plays the key role. Both Matthew and John's accounts generally support Mark's two-trial version. Luke, alone among the gospels, adds yet a third proceeding: having Pilate send Jesus to Herod Antipas. The non-canonical Gospel of Peter describes a single trial scene involving Jewish, Roman, and Herodian officials. Christians interpret at least three passages of

14732-406: The whole contingent of soldiers has been called together. They place a purple robe on him, put a crown of thorns on his head, and according to Matthew , put a rod in his hand. They mock him by hailing him as " King of the Jews ", paying homage and hitting him on the head with the rod. According to the Gospel of John, Pilate has Jesus brought out a second time, wearing the purple robe and

14859-482: The world's oldest literatures . The primary genres of the literature of ancient Egypt — didactic texts, hymns and prayers, and tales—were written almost entirely in verse; By the Old Kingdom (26th century BC to 22nd century BC), literary works included funerary texts , epistles and letters, hymns and poems, and commemorative autobiographical texts recounting the careers of prominent administrative officials. It

14986-615: The world's first print cultures . Much of Chinese literature originates with the Hundred Schools of Thought period that occurred during the Eastern Zhou dynasty (769‒269 BC). The most important of these include the Classics of Confucianism , of Daoism , of Mohism , of Legalism , as well as works of military science (e.g. Sun Tzu 's The Art of War , c.  5th century BC ) and Chinese history (e.g. Sima Qian 's Records of

15113-577: The year of the fall of Constantinople, could look back from his fiftieth year on a lifetime in which about eight million books had been printed, more perhaps than all the scribes of Europe had produced since Constantine founded his city in A.D. 330." Eventually, printing enabled other forms of publishing besides books. The history of newspaper publishing began in Germany in 1609, with the publishing of magazines following in 1663. In late 1820s England, growing political and social awareness, "particularly among

15240-755: Was considered an improvement on previous gospel harmonies, although modern scholars sometimes opine that no major advances beyond Augustine emerged on the topic until the 15th century. Throughout the Middle Ages harmonies based on the principles of the Diatessaron continued to appear, e.g., the Liege harmony by Plooij in Middle Dutch , and the Pepysian harmony in Middle English . The Pepysian harmony (Magdalene college, Cambridge, item Pepys 2498) dates to about 1400 and its name derives from having been owned by Samuel Pepys . In

15367-498: Was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed" ( 53:2–5 ). The second prophecy of Christ's Passion

15494-558: Was not until the early Middle Kingdom (21st century BC to 17th century BC) that a narrative Egyptian literature was created. Many works of early periods, even in narrative form, had a covert moral or didactic purpose, such as the Sanskrit Panchatantra ( 200 BC – 300 AD), based on older oral tradition. Drama and satire also developed as urban cultures, which provided a larger public audience, and later readership for literary production. Lyric poetry (as opposed to epic poetry)

15621-520: Was of note in that it took the unusual approach of abandoning Marcan priority and assuming the synoptic gospels were written with Matthean priority and Markan posteriority. The following table is an example of a parallel harmony. The order of events, especially during the ministry period, has been the subject of speculation and scholarly debate. The order below is based on those of Anglican William Newcome in 1778 and Baptists Steven L. Cox and Kendell H. Easley in 2006. Literature Literature

15748-611: Was often the speciality of courts and aristocratic circles, particularly in East Asia where songs were collected by the Chinese aristocracy as poems, the most notable being the Shijing or Book of Songs (1046– c.  600 BC ). In ancient China , early literature was primarily focused on philosophy, historiography , military science , agriculture, and poetry . China, the origin of modern paper making and woodblock printing , produced

15875-435: Was popular in ancient Greece, of the hundreds of tragedies written and performed during the classical age , only a limited number of plays by three authors still exist: Aeschylus , Sophocles , and Euripides . The plays of Aristophanes ( c.  446  – c.  386 BC ) provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy , the earliest form of Greek Comedy, and are in fact used to define

16002-619: Was the romance , an adventurous and sometimes magical narrative with strong popular appeal. Controversial, religious, political and instructional literature proliferated during the European Renaissance as a result of the Johannes Gutenberg 's invention of the printing press around 1440, while the Medieval romance developed into the novel. Publishing became possible with the invention of writing but became more practical with

16129-612: Was the first woman to be granted a membership in The Swedish Academy in 1914. Feminist scholars have since the twentieth century sought to expand the literary canon to include more women writers. A separate genre of children's literature only began to emerge in the eighteenth century, with the development of the concept of childhood . The earliest of these books were educational books, books on conduct, and simple ABCs—often decorated with animals, plants, and anthropomorphic letters. A fundamental question of literary theory

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