by Tom Boomershine
Originally, the Gospels were experienced as sounds produced by storytellers who learned the stories by heart and performed the stories for audiences. This storytelling tradition was initiated by Jesus’ own teaching and was continued in the telling of the stories of Jesus’ deeds soon after his death and resurrection.
The meaning of the Gospels may have included the assumption that the stories were historically descriptive and that they contained perceptions and beliefs about God. But the primary meaning of the Gospels was centered in the relationship that was established between Jesus as the central character of the stories and the lives of the listeners.
In a variety of ways, those who believed the stories were healed from physical and spiritual sickness. For those who accepted Jesus as the Messiah, the stories became central to their own spiritual formation. They learned the stories by heart and began to tell the stories themselves. The function of the documents was to record and to resource this storytelling process.
A central dimension of the work and witness of this storytelling community was to tell the stories as an alternative to the government of Rome and its practice of war and domination as the way of bringing peace. The documents of the four Gospels were all composed in the aftermath of the Jewish war, the most tragic war in the history of ancient Israel.
