Passion Narratives Accounts of the suffering and death of Jesus preserved in the four canonical Gospels and in the noncanonical Gospel of Peter. The term “Passion Narratives” derives from the Latin word passio (“suffering”), which in the ecclesiastical tradition has come to be associated with Jesus’ suffering and death (see, for example, Acts 1:3 in the Vulgate: post passionem suam).

Within scholarship, the Passion Narratives often are treated in a category separate from other parts of the Gospels because of their unique development. Between the events in the early ad 30s and the literary composition of the Gospels (beginning around ad 70), the story of Jesus’ suffering and death was widely circulated as an oral tradition. This account eventually was incorporated into the four Gospels and Gospel of Peter. Each version of the Passion Narrative bears its own emphases and unique features, and the differing details make it problematic to designate any single Passion Narrative as the definitive historical account. It appears that the writers had additional purposes in mind—rhetorical, theological, and pastoral aims.

The material below examines the Passion Narratives from three angles:

1. the basic outlines of their content;

2. their various literary and theological emphases;

3. their development, including possible influences, sources, and functions.

A final section will focus on the passion account in Gospel of Peter.