Key Stories in Christianity — Abrahamic Religions 3 (C1)

THE ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS · LESSON 3 OF 5

Key Stories in Christianity

C1 (B2–C2) · 70 minutes

Story spotting

Task For each item, tell your partner where you have met it, or something like it. Then write the letter of the story it comes from.

N

the Nativity

S

the Good Samaritan

P

the Prodigal Son

E

the Passion and Easter

D

the road to Damascus

1. A huge painting in the Hermitage, St Petersburg: a ragged young man kneels, his head shaved, pressed against an old man's chest.

2. "Good Samaritan laws", which protect bystanders who give first aid in an emergency.

3. A charity people can phone, day or night, when they are in despair.

4. "It was my road to Damascus moment."

5. A spring holiday whose date moves every year, and often falls on different Sundays in Moscow and in Rome.

6. A star on top of a decorated tree; children in dressing gowns playing shepherds.

7. A wall painting in Milan: thirteen men at a long table, at the moment one of them is about to be named as a traitor.

8. A rock opera from 1970 about the last week of a young preacher's life, told largely through the eyes of the friend who betrays him.

Where the stories come from

P

1. Rembrandt, The Return of the Prodigal Son, painted near the end of his life (he died in 1669). Luke 15:11–32.

E

5. Easter. Western and Orthodox churches calculate its date differently.

S

2. Laws in the US, Canada and many other countries. Luke 10:25–37.

N

6. Christmas. Matthew 1–2 and Luke 1–2.

S

3. The Samaritans, founded in London in 1953. Luke 10:25–37.

E

7. Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper (about 1495–98). The Gospels' account of the last meal.

D

4. A sudden change of mind or life. Acts 9.

E

8. Jesus Christ Superstar, by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, seen partly through Judas's eyes.

Two Christmas stories

Task Only two gospels tell the birth of Jesus (in Arabic, Isa). Nativity plays usually merge them. Which details of a typical Christmas scene come from Matthew, which from Luke, and which from neither?

Matthew

Luke

Told from Joseph's side. An angel speaks to him in a dream. Wise men (magi) from the east follow a star to Bethlehem with gold, frankincense and myrrh. King Herod orders the town's baby boys killed; the family flees to Egypt, then settles in Nazareth (Matthew 1–2).

Told from the side of Mary (in Arabic, Maryam). The angel Gabriel visits her in Nazareth. A Roman census takes the couple to Bethlehem, where she lays her son in a manger, "because there was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7, KJV). Angels tell shepherds of the birth.

"Who is my neighbour?"

Task Read the dialogue (Luke 10:25–37). An expert in the religious law stands up "to test" Jesus. With your partner, work out:

1. Lawyer: Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

2. Jesus: What is written in the law? how readest thou?

3. Lawyer: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart ... and thy neighbour as thyself.

4. Jesus: Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

5. Lawyer: And who is my neighbour?

6. Jesus: (paraphrased) A man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho is robbed and left half dead. A priest sees him and passes by on the other side. So does a Levite, a Temple assistant.

7. Jesus: (paraphrased) Then a Samaritan comes by, moved with compassion. He bandages the man, takes him to an inn, and pays for his care.

8. Jesus: Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

9. Lawyer: He that shewed mercy on him.

10. Jesus: Go, and do thou likewise.

Lines 1–5 and 8–10: King James Version (1611). Lines 6–7: paraphrase.

"Who is my neighbour?"

Task Read the dialogue (Luke 10:25–37). An expert in the religious law stands up "to test" Jesus. With your partner, work out:

1. What does the lawyer want from his first question? And from his second?

2. Twice Jesus answers a question with a question. Why?

3. Compare the question in line 5 with the question in line 8. What has been turned around?

4. Why is the hero a Samaritan, and not a priest or an ordinary fellow Jew?

READING

Three days in Jerusalem

In the gospels, Jesus comes to Jerusalem for Passover, the festival of the Exodus. At a last meal he breaks bread with his disciples: "This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19, KJV). Arrested that night, he is sentenced by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to crucifixion, a Roman death for rebels and slaves. Christians call his suffering and death the Passion (Latin for "suffering"). Most historians accept that Jesus was crucified under Pilate, around 30 CE.

READING · CONTINUED

Three days in Jerusalem

On the third day, the gospels report, women found his tomb empty, and his followers said they had seen him alive. This Resurrection is the centre of Christian belief. As Paul put it, "if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain" (1 Corinthians 15:14, KJV).

So Easter, not Christmas, is the oldest Christian feast, and for most churches the greatest. In Greek and Russian it is still Pascha, from

Pesach, the Hebrew name for Passover. The last meal lives on in the Eucharist ("thanksgiving"): Catholics and Orthodox believe the bread and wine become Christ's body and blood; Protestant churches range from a real presence to a memorial. Orthodox churches calculate Easter with the older Julian calendar, so in 2027 Western Easter falls on 28 March, Orthodox Easter on 2 May.

One story, three tellings: Jesus

Task Read the three cards. Find one thing that two traditions say about Jesus and the third does not; then one point on which all three part ways. Which difference do you think matters most, and why?

Judaism

Christianity

Islam

In mainstream Jewish thought, Jesus was a Jewish teacher from Galilee, but neither the Messiah nor a prophet: the age of peace promised in Isaiah 2:4 has not come. Nor was he divine. The Shema, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4, KJV), rules out God becoming a man.

For Christians, Jesus is the Son of God, fully divine and fully human: "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14, KJV). Born of the virgin Mary (Luke 1–2), he was crucified under Pontius Pilate and rose on the third day, as the Nicene Creed declares.

In the Quran, Isa son of Maryam is born to a virgin and speaks from the cradle (Surah 19). He is a prophet and the Messiah, but not divine. Surah 4:157 denies the crucifixion: "they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them" (Pickthall); God took him up to Himself (4:158).

Which story comes first?

Task Rank the five stories twice, writing 1 to 5 beside each: first by how much it matters to Christianity, then by how much it matters to European culture. Be ready to defend your number 1 and your number 5.

Christianity

European culture

A

The Nativity. Could be first: without God becoming human, nothing else follows.

B

The Good Samaritan. Could be first: it made "neighbour" mean anyone in need; charities and laws carry its name.

C

The Last Supper. Could be first: it is re-enacted every week in the Eucharist.

D

The Crucifixion and Resurrection. Could be first: Paul says that without the Resurrection, faith is empty.

Paul on the road to Damascus. Saul, a Pharisee who persecuted Jesus' followers, is struck by a light near Damascus (Acts 9) and becomes the apostle to non-Jews. Could be first: without him, Christianity might have stayed a Jewish movement.

E

Stories without belief?

Task Which position is closest to your view? Then choose three questions and spend most time on the one you disagree about.

The stories now belong to everyone: you need no faith to be moved by the Prodigal Son.

A

1. Can you really understand European art without knowing these stories?

2. Should state schools teach them, and if so, as literature, history or religion?

3. Where you live, is Christmas or Easter still mainly a religious festival?

4. Should Western and Orthodox churches agree on one Easter date?

5. Does the Good Samaritan's lesson need the story, or does it stand alone?

6. Which of today's stories travels best to cultures with no Christian past?

Cut off from belief, the stories become decoration, and Christmas becomes shopping.

B

The historian Tom Holland argues in Dominion (2019) that even secular values, like human rights, grew from these stories. Critics think the line is less direct.

C

Private reflection

Task Choose one prompt and write privately. Nobody will read what you write. Sharing afterwards is optional.

Prompt 1

Think of a painting, a piece of music, a film or a building that tells one of today's stories. What did it make you notice that the words alone might not?

Prompt 2 (lighter)

If you could film one of today's stories in a modern setting, which would you choose, and where would you set it?

Back to story spotting

Task Look again at your list on the Story spotting slide. Add one more item: something from your own country or city (a painting, building, saying, custom or name) that one of today's stories explains.

N

the Nativity

S

the Good Samaritan

P

the Prodigal Son

E

the Passion and Easter

D

the road to Damascus

Before Lesson 4

This week, find one of today's stories somewhere you did not expect it.

Judaism

It might be a headline, an advert, a street name or a film; note where it was and how the story was being used. Sharing it next week is optional.

Christianity

Next lesson: Key Stories in Islam. The stories at the heart of the Quran and of Muslim life, and Joseph (in Arabic, Yusuf) told three ways.

Islam

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key (1)

STORY SPOTTING see Where the stories come from

1 P, 2 S, 3 S, 4 D, 5 E, 6 N, 7 E, 8 E. Item 3 is the Samaritans, founded in 1953 by Chad Varah, a Church of England vicar; the name came from a newspaper headline, and the charity is not religious. Item 7 shows the moment after Jesus says that one of the disciples will betray him.

TWO CHRISTMAS STORIES

• Matthew only: the angel in Joseph's dream; the magi and the star; the gifts; Herod's massacre; the flight to Egypt.

• Luke only: Gabriel and Mary; the census; the manger and "no room in the inn"; the shepherds and the angels.

• Both: Bethlehem; Mary and Joseph; the virgin birth; the later home in Nazareth.

• Neither: the number of the magi (three is inferred from the three gifts), the magi as kings, the ox and the donkey (later tradition, linked to Isaiah 1:3), a stable as such, snow, and 25 December (first recorded in the Roman Chronograph of 354, in a list going back to 336 CE).

"WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?" points pairs may raise; there are other good readings

1 First he tests Jesus with a large question; then, having answered correctly, he wants a limit: whom must I love, and whom not? Luke says he was "willing to justify himself" (10:29).

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key (2)

2 Jesus makes him answer from his own law (line 3 joins Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18), and then makes him judge the story himself.

3 Line 5 asks who counts as my neighbour (an object of my duty). Line 8 asks who acted as a neighbour. The question moves from deserving help to giving it.

4 Jews and Samaritans shared descent from ancient Israel and the five books of Moses, but worshipped at rival sites (Jerusalem and Mount Gerizim) and were long hostile (compare John 4:9). The lawyer's model of mercy is the person he would least expect, and in line 9 he avoids saying "the Samaritan". One common reading of the priest and Levite is fear of impurity from touching a corpse (Leviticus 21:1), though they are going away from Jerusalem, not to the Temple.

ONE STORY, THREE TELLINGS: JESUS

• Two against one: Christianity and Islam both call him the Messiah and both hold he was born of a virgin; Judaism does neither. Judaism and Islam both deny that he was divine; Christianity affirms it.

• All three part ways on his death: in Jewish thought, he was a man executed by the Romans; in Christianity, he died on the cross and rose; in Islam, he was not crucified at all, and God took him up.

WHICH STORY COMES FIRST? No single answer. Within Christianity, Paul's own priority (1 Corinthians 15:14) and the place of Easter in the church year make D the strongest case for first.