Monday 30 April 2012

Gospel


A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The most widely-known examples of gospel are the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. However, the term is also used to refer to the apocryphal gospels, the non-canonical gospels, the Jewish gospels and the gnostic gospels. Christians may additionally use the term "gospel" in reference to the general message of the biblical New Testament, otherwise known as the "good news".

World religions differ in their treatment of documents classified as gospels. Christianity traditionally places a high value on the four canonical gospels, which it considers to be a revelation from God and central to its belief system. Christians teach that the four canonical gospels are an “accurate and authoritative” representation of the life of Jesus.

In Islam the Injil (Arabic: إنجيل‎ ʾInǧīl) is the Arabic name for the original gospel of Jesus, and one of the four Islamic holy books the Qur'an records as revealed by God. Islam holds that over time it became corrupt and God sent the prophet Muhammad to reveal the last book, according to the Islamic faith.