Page 140 - Prophet Jesus (Pbuh): A Prophet Not A Son, Of God

138 Prophet Jesus (pbuh): A Prophet, Not A Son, of God

tions reflect the theologies of the individual gospel writers. In other
words, each gospel is a deliberate interpretation of Jesus—rather than a bi-
ography… With all of the differences between Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John and with numerous other gospels exiting, we have an ob-
vious problem. Each gospel has a particular way of seeing Jesus.
How close to the historical facts are they? 32
Another important fact is how the four Gospels were selected from
a large number of copies of the Gospels. Different Gospels, such as the
Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Peter, the Childhood
Gospels of James and Thomas, the Secret Gospel of James, the Eagerton Gospel,
and the Oxyrhyncus Gospel all contain different information and interpreta-

tions about Prophet Jesus (pbuh). Scholars think that all of these Gospels
come from a common, but lost, original Q Gospel (from the German word
quelle or source). As they collected the words of Prophet Jesus (pbuh), the
first Christian community and the first compilers of the Gospel produced
new interpretations based on their own situations, political pressures,
and the conditions prevailing at the time, and gradually moved away
from the true message. Present-day historians researching the Gospels

agree on this. Fredriksen summarizes the period in which the New
Testament authors wrote thus: