Pat Arensberg: 3 Stages of the Gospels

“We can distinguish three stages in the formation of the Gospels:”  -CCC #126

The Gospels did not fall from the sky.  God uses parents to be co-creators with him in the transmission of human life.  So too, he used many humans to help transmit the Gospel message and the written Gospels in particular.  It is important to remember that which has already been said, namely, that the Scriptures contain all of what God wanted taught and nothing more.  Human involvement, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, does not compromise this.  

So, the Gospel message can be seen in three distinct stages:

1. The life and teaching of Jesus.  The first moments of the Gospel are those when the Incarnate Word himself was here among us.  Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was at hand.  
2. Oral Tradition.  After Jesus was taken up to heaven his followers proclaimed the good news to all the land.  This preaching was enlivened by the reception of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  This oral teaching authentically passed on the Gospel.  In fact, it was the only “Gospel” that the first generation of Christians had.  It was about 30 years or more before an inspired Gospel was written.
3. The written Gospels.  The authors selected which events to include in their written Gospel.  They chose from oral sources and written sources to craft their authentic and accurate story about Jesus.  These written accounts have subsequently been copied and handed on for later generations.  There are adequate ancient manuscripts for various parts of the world to establish that the Gospels we have are in fact the Gospels originally written.

Have a great weekend and Happy Mardi Gras.  The next blog will come out on Ash Wednesday.  In that blog I am going to talk a bit about Mardi Gras and lent before returning to our curriculum.

About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children.