On November 5, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Newman Center hosted an event titled, “Theology by the Slice.” Students were able to ask a panel questions about the teachings and traditions of the Catholic faith. The following is one of the questions. The panel included Bishop Peter Muhich; Father Mark McCormick, Newman Center chaplain; Sister Christine Hernandez, SCTJM, chancellor; Sister Rachel Gosda, SCTJM, director of Faith Formation; Sr. Maria Belen Musgrove, SCTJM, religion teacher, RCCSS; Seminarian Robert Kinyon; and Michael Pauley, director of the South Dakota Catholic Conference.

What specifically is the Gospel?

Bishop Peter Muhich: Gospel means good news. The Gospel is the proclamation of Jesus Christ as the answer to all of our deepest questions and to the predicament we’re in — being lost and entangled in sin. But Jesus is the answer to that and the church from the very beginning has proclaimed Jesus Christ to the world as good news. God’s love has come to us in his son who has taken on our worst enemy sin, and suffered the consequences of all of our sins on the cross, and defeated that sin by swallowing it up in his perfect sacrifice, in God’s infinite divine mercy, and rising from the grave. Jesus is  also good news, because he told us how to live a full life, and he told us the spirit will come, when he ascended, that will bring us divine power to live this new life. So that’s all contained in the Gospel. It’s proclaiming Jesus Christ to the world. 

Secondarily, the gospel is not just one particular work in the New Testament. There are four gospels in the New Testament which tell the story of Jesus.