The Four Gospels and their Traditional Authors Essay

The Four Gospels and their Traditional Authors - Essay Example The character to whom the Gospel we call Mark is attributed by tradition appears in the book of Acts ("Mark" in Smith 2009). He was evidently a Jew of Jerusalem named John who took the Roman name Marcus (conventionally Mark in English) when he moved to Rome. His mother Mary was on intimate terms with the Apostle Peter, and we first hear of Mark when Peter goes to her house after escaping form prison (Acts 12:12). Tradition further identifies this figure with the Marcus mentioned by Paul (Col 4:10; Philm 1:24) as his companion in prison in Rome and with the Marcus Peter calls his son (perhaps in the sense of a spiritual son) in 1 Peter (5:13). The tradition that associated Mark with the authorship of the Gospel is post Biblical. In the middle of the second century Papias the Bishop of Hierapolis in Asia Minor collected saying of Jesus from his presbyters based on their memories of what had been taught at the earliest foundation of the church and published them in a book called Interpr etations of the Sayings of the Lord (Koester 1990, 32-35). This has been lost but quotations from it are preserved in the Church History of Eusebius. Part of the tradition (Eusebius 3.39.15) Papias wrote down described Mark acting as Peter's secretary and writing down (in Greek) everything that Peter said (in Aramaic) about Jesus, thus producing the Gospel of Mark (Koester 1990, 274-75). In the Gospels of Mark (3:18) and Luke (6;15) Jesus calls as an apostle a tax collector named Levi. In the parallel passage in Matthew (10:3) he is called Matthew. Tradition, once again attested by Papias, soon made this the same figure, called Levi before his conversion and Matthew afterward, and identified him with the Apostle Matthew and with the Gospel author ( "Mathew" in Catholic Encyclopedia 1917). According to Papias (Eusebius, Church History 3.39.16) he first wrote his Gospel in Hebrew and it was only later translated into (Koester 1990, 315-19). Irenaeus the Bishop of Lyons in the late second century, in his Against Heresies (14.1) gives the earliest attestation of Luke as the author of that Gospel and the Book of Acts. He calls attention to the fact that the author of Acts, although he never gives his name, on three occasions identifies himself as a companion of Paul by referring to himself and Paul in the first person plural (16:10-17, 20:5-15, 21:1-18). Irenaeus further identifies this author with the Luke named as one of his companions of Paul in the Pauline Epistles. Paul mentions Luke in Philemon (1:24) and in Colossians (4:14) refers to him as a physician (Koester 1990, 334-36) . One of the most important characters in the Gospel of John is the unnamed 'disciple whom Jesus loved.' At the end of the Gospel, the narrative framework of the text is nearly broken when Jesus tells Peter about him: "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you (21:22). The narrator immediately denies that Jesus means that the beloved disciple will live until he returns, but rather says: "This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true" (21:24), claiming the authority of this disciple for the authorship of the Gospel. Papias, again, is the earliest

The Marijuana Policy in California Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Marijuana Policy in California - Essay Example According to the California Health & Safety Code 11018, the definition of marijuana is all the parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether it is grown or not; its seeds, the resin gotten from the plant, and any compound derived or manufactured from the plant. However, it does not include the plant’s mature stalks or any substance manufactured or derived from the stalk. Concentrated cannabis is used to mean the separated resin extracted from marijuana, irrespective of whether it is in purified or crude form. In spite of the fact that the laws for simple possession and the medical marijuana laws in California are among the country’s most progressive, adults who are seemingly responsible are still being arrested or harassed for its possession at an alarming rate. This is for a drug that has been scientifically proved to be safer than both tobacco and alcohol. According to Weintraub & Wood (44), the arrest rates in California for crimes related to marijuana in 2003 stood at 173 for every 100,000 people, and by 2007, the rate had risen to 203 per 100,000. In 2010, preposition 19 received a narrow defeat of 16% to 54%. It was a vote whose aim was to bring to an end the draconian policy of the arrest and prosecution of adults who were caught using marijuana, a substance proven to have less unpleasant effects than alcohol and cigarettes. This was to be achieved through the removal of criminal penalties for offenses related to marijuana as well as allowing local authorities to tax and reg ulate its growth and distribution. Despite its loss, it had the highest percentage of any marijuana legalization initiative that has ever been voted for (Weintraub & Wood 44). California State is ranked number 46 in the country in terms of the total severity of the maximum jail sentences that its residents receive for being in possession of marijuana, this being on a basis of penalties issued for first offenders. When looking at the penalties issued for just less than 1 once of the drug, the state is ranked number 12 together with 10 other states, since due to similarities in the states there are only 12 rankings within this category (McCollum 37).In 2007, arrested related to the possession of marijuana accounted for about 80% of all arrests related to the drug in California. Additionally, arrests related to the drug also accounted for 25% of all arrests related to drugs in the same year (McCollum 37). In recent years, the cultivation of marijuana has been on the increase dramatical ly. DCESP (Domestic Cannabis Eradication suppression Program), a program sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration, collects data that does not include all the marijuana plants seized within the state; but these data give an accurate indication of the actual cultivation rates of the drug. As much as getting estimates of how much from the total amounts of the drug cultivated is seized by the authorities, such as the local, state and federal ones is difficult, the overall trend is clear. The total seizures of the pant in California have increased for a period