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The Readable Gospels
excerpted from
The Latin Testament Project Bible
The Readable Mark
Mark's Gospel formatted as HTML for Text-to-Speech
The Readable John
John's Gospel formatted as HTML for Text-to-Speech
The Readable Matthew
Matthew's Gospel formatted as HTML for Text-to-Speech
The Readable Luke-Acts
Luke and Acts formatted as HTML for Text-to-Speech
(For tips on how to start your device's reader, please click here.)
We hope, of course, that all versions of the Gospels are "readable," at least to someone. We hope these versions are "readable" in a particular sense, though: they are designed to be read aloud by your computer. The verse numbers have been removed, to allow the text to flow smoothly.
Here's how you can hear these "readable" versions. Choose whichever of the Gospels you'd like to hear, by clicking on its links above. Then, use your device's text-to-speech program. Then sit back, listen, and let the story unfold. Make up your own mind about who this is and what it means to you.
This moves us closer to the way the communities who first received the Gospels would have heard them: aloud, in their entirety, at one sitting. That's longer than our customary attention spans today in this age of constant distractions, but it isn't impossible, or even unlikely. At most, it takes two and a half hours to read the longest of the Gospels. Most of us sit through movies, sports events, concerts, and the like for at least that long. It's still doable.
Our hope is that we will encounter these amazing works afresh, apart from all the distractions that make them seem so alien. In this way, we give ourselves the opportunity to meet their central character, perhaps for the first time. Allow the words of these ancient books to bring Jesus of Nazareth to life in the theater of your own mind.
You probably know what others say about him. This way, you're free to form your own response. Let it be about the man in the book, not about misguided followers through the ages.
We have listed the Gospels in this order for a reason. Mark comes first, since it seems to have been the earliest of the four.
John comes second. Though many scholars believe John attained its current form later in the First Century than Mark, John also contains telltale details that could only have come from an actual witness of the events described. For instance, who would know what kind of loaves Jesus multiplied at the Feeding of the Five Thousand? John tells us they were BARLEY loaves. Clearly, it's a detail from someone who was close at hand. Furthermore, John tells the overall story from a different perspective than the other, so-called synoptic Gospels.
Matthew comes third, reworking as it does Mark's account with Judean- and Joseph-centered episodes found in its account alone.
Luke comes fourth for no other reason than to let it lead directly into Acts, unlike in the canonical order. Like Matthew, Luke generally follows Mark's account, incorporating a Mary-centered, feminine perspective on Jesus' birth. Luke and Matthew both share the teaching materials that led scholars in a previous century to speculate on the "Q" document, an otherwise lost tradition preserved in both.
Yet Luke and Acts are written to be read as one. John's place between them in the canon can obscure this for us. With this arrangement, we can more easily see the one story uniting both books.
Our hope is that someone, somewhere, will listen to one of the Gospels and be grasped to the depths by the One they reveal. We offer these Gospels as a gift to whoever will listen. Some things are too important not to freely give away.
We believe that faith in Jesus as the Gospels present him is sufficient for salvation, if that matters to you.
Here are the Gospels as downloadable PDF files.
Mark
John
Matthew
Luke
Acts
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