In the 18th century, English painter Robert Barker created paintings of the cities of London and Edinburgh that allowed people to experience a sweeping 360-degree view of those cities. Barker called these paintings panoramas (the word panorama is formed from the Greek pan “all” + orama “sight”). The paintings were displayed in a rotunda, and a viewer standing in the middle of the room could see not just a part of these cities but a complete view. Later, panorama was used in photography by “stitching” together individual pieces of an entire scene. Instead of looking at individual pictures that showed just a part of a wider scene, people could now view the entire scene all at once.
Mark’s Gospel, which was the first one written and may have relied heavily on the oral teachings of Peter, was written to a Roman audience. In order to convince that audience that Christ was the Son of God and win converts to Him, Mark presented Jesus as a man of power and action.
The last Gospel, that of John, provides the picture of Jesus as God and Savior more than any of the other accounts. His account begins with the preexistence of Jesus, telling us that He was with God in the beginning and He was God (John 1:1). John also provides a hint to the divinity of Jesus through his many “I am” statements about Himself that allude to the title that God used for Himself in Exodus 3:14, “I am who I am.”