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ROOTS OF FAITH
Style Workshop
Key Point The roots of our faith lie in the Bible, in our shared traditions,
in the use of our reason – and in the experience of
encountering Jesus.
Prepare Imagine you are in a book club. The book this month is Mark’s
Gospel. Read it through like a novel.
Prepare some notes for the club meeting: what sort of book is
it; what’s the plot and who are the key characters; where is
the turning point in the story; what grabbed you…?
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
Welcome Introductions
The Tool The aim of the module is to identify with a “Personal Biblical
story or phrase.”
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
Note: Some stories only appear in one gospel. The story of the
woman caught in adultery, for example, appears only in John’s
gospel.
Note: They might help in our prayer before the end of the
evening.
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
Coffee
Break
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
As well as telling the story of Jesus, the gospels also met the
needs of particular congregations or communities in which
each of the four gospel accounts emerged.
Form Criticism
But by the 1930s there was a reaction against the biographical
approach. This new approach, sometimes called ‘form
criticism’ had Rudolf Bultmann as its most famous exponent.
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
Redaction Criticism
More recently, something called ‘redaction criticism’ has
stressed what each evangelist has done with the texts and
traditions which were before them.
Narrative Criticism
Biographies, forms, and redactions all have their place in
critical approaches to the gospels. More recently, narrative
criticism has stressed the literary skills of each gospel
evangelist in constructing a particular literary arrangement.
Notes
One major difficulty in understanding the gospels is that they
are not very direct about the context in which they were
written in the way that Paul is, for example. He is quite
explicit in his letter to the Corinthians about the conflict that
had emerged in the Church in Corinth and about how he
wished to solve it.
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
Form Criticism
The gospels, it was claimed, are primarily constructions of the
early church in addressing the catechetical needs of the early
Christian communities. They made use of an oral preaching
tradition which existed at the time and they might tell us a
few things about the historical Jesus; but primarily, they
proclaim the risen, living Christ.
Redaction Criticism
It has been recognised that ‘form criticism’ underestimated
how much biography of Jesus there actually is in the gospels.
Justin Martyr, writing in the early second century, for one,
regarded the gospels as “memoirs of the apostles.”
Narrative Criticism
Use the example provided of ‘Mark’s Gospel in 5 Acts’ to use as
an illustration of narrative criticism
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
Instruction
Wise sayings
History
Lament*
Oracle or prophecy
Hymn
Story
Poetry
Myth**
Letter
Notes:
*Lament is not a common form of expression in our
Christian culture today. It enables the writer and reader
to say that things are awful and to cry out to God. The
fact that this is included in the Bible shows that saying
things are not OK is a legitimate form of Christian
discourse. The Bible also includes uncertainty and
questions and is best understood as charting the journey
of God with God's people, as the people of the time
understood it.
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
This Reflection:
Week Choose one of the topics from HANDOUT 2 Roots Reflection,
and make notes that are important to that topic from today’s
session.
Preparation:
Check out next week’s notes
Read Exodus chapter 12:1–13:16, and the letter to the
Galatians
Read the account of the Last Supper in all four gospels
Ø Close in prayer
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION
LEADER’S NOTES
ROOTS OF FAITH
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© Diocese of Guildford LIVING your FAITH 2011
ROOTS OF FAITH SESSION 1
LEADER’S VERSION