An apt quotation for today:<\/p>\n
\n\nBoth Evangelists designate Jesus\u2019 preaching with the Greek term evangelion\u2014but what does that actually mean?<\/p>\n
The term has recently been translated as \u201cgood news.\u201d\u00a0 That sounds attractive, but it falls far short of the order of magnitude of what is actually meant by the word evangelion.\u00a0 This term figures in the vocabulary of the Roman emperors, who understood themselves as lords, saviors, and redeemers of the world.\u00a0 The messages issued by the emperor were called in Latin evangelium, regardless of whether or not their content was particularly cheerful and pleasant.\u00a0 The idea was that what comes from the emperor is a saving message, that it is not just a piece of news, but a change of the world for the better.<\/p>\n
When the Evangelists adopt this word, and it thereby becomes the generic name for their writings, what they mean to tell us is this:\u00a0 What the emperors, who pretend to be gods, illegitimately claim, really occurs here\u2014a message endowed with plenary authority, a message that is not just talk, but reality.\u00a0 In the vocabulary of contemporary linguistic theory, we would say that the evangelium, the Gospel, is not just informative speech, but performative speech\u2014not just the imparting of information, but action, efficacious power that enters into the world to save and transform.\u00a0 Mark speaks of the \u201cGospel of God,\u201d the point being that it is not the emperors who can save the world, but God.\u00a0 And it is here that God\u2019s word, which is at once word and deed, appears; it is here that what the emperors merely assert, but cannot actually perform, truly takes place.\u00a0 For here it is the real Lord of the world\u2014the living God\u2014who goes into action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2014Benedict XVI in Jesus of Nazareth<\/em>
\n(pages 46-47).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An apt quotation for today: Both Evangelists designate Jesus\u2019 preaching with the Greek term evangelion\u2014but what does that actually mean? The term has recently been translated as \u201cgood news.\u201d\u00a0 That sounds attractive, but it falls far short of the order of magnitude of what is actually meant by the word evangelion.\u00a0 This term figures in … <\/p>\n