What is the gospel?

"By its word of the crucified, the Christian gospel gives life, brings to birth, makes faith in God possible, and turns one toward the needs of the neighbor. For Paul, such a word can repeatedly turn a dinner club or a gathering of the like-minded into a church."

This is just one example of the limpid prose of Gordon Lathrop. It's a lovely summary sentence in a chapter situating "the gospel" within the larger framework of how gospels were understood in the Greco-Roman world. It is so very seldom that I read a theologian not just for their theology, but also for their prose. Lathrop falls into this select group.

I'll be reading this book together with a large discussion group beginning in February, ably organized by an awesome organist from Houston, Texas. If you are interested in reading The Four Gospels on Sunday: The New Testament and the Reform of Christian Worship, look the group up on Facebook and join us.