A “New Perspective” on the Gospel, the King Jesus Gospel 8

Scot McKnight’s central thesis in his new book The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited is that the gospel is “declaring the Story of Israel as resolved in the Story of Jesus”. In chapter 6, his thesis is the “the Gospels are the gospel” and the Gospels are neither shaped in the form of the Plan of Salvation nor do they offer a Method of Persuasion. The Gospels “the deeds of the Messiah Jesus” to use the words of John Dickson.

Scot points to the curious comment of Jesus recorded by Mark. In recounting the story of the anointing of Jesus by a nameless woman with extravagant perfume. Although being chastised by the disciples for neglecting to us the commodity for the poor, Jesus commends her and tells those around “wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her” (Mark 14:9). Scot muses over the fact that many of his students who know the gospel well have never heard of her. To him, this fact reflects a situation in which “the gospel and the four Gospels are not connected tightly enough” (91).

Question: do you think the shape of the Gospels should determine the shape of our gospeling?