Books from the Bible

Learning Goal: I’m working on a literature discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

In 2 separate paragraphs please state an observation, question, or comment for each one individually:

1. The book of Matthew:

Matthew is not the oldest of the (synoptic) Gospels, but he is first in the New Testament. Now that the main character becomes Jesus, you are free to allude back to the Old Testament and see things the way 1st Century Jews, Gentiles, and eventually Christians did.

Matthew is the most Jewish in style and content; how can we tell?

Like many writings in the Old Testament, we do not have concrete evidence that this book was written by Matthew himself, although Tradition makes this claim.

Look for things you have already learned from reading the Hebrew Bible as literature–character,plot, literary devices, structure, theme.

2. The book of Mark

Mark is regarded as the oldest of the Gospels. You should be able to distinguish each evangelists’s style from one another, and Mark, in contrast to Matthew, is very obvious. What sorts of things distinguish Mark from Matthew?

You may coment on anything; I ask the question above just as an example of things to look for.