Leading experts in New Testament studies discuss the origins, composition and reception of the canonical gospels in the early church within this volume. Beginning with their earliest oral forms during the lifetime of Jesus and moving through the processes of oral tradition to their written composition by the evangelists, the book then traces the continuation of this history in the gospels' subs…
That there are four canonical versions of the one gospel story is often seen as a problem for Christian faith: where gospels multiply, so too do apparent contradictions that may seem to undermine their truth claims. In Gospel Writing Francis Watson argues that differences and tensions between canonical gospels represent opportunities for theological reflection, not problems for apologetics. Wat…
With alternative readings from the Manuscripts and Noncanonical Parallels. Text used is the Revised Standard Version, 1952. The arrangement follows the Huck-Lietzmann Synopsis, ninth edition, 1936. First published in 1949.
New Testament scholars often talk about oral tradition as a means by which material about Jesus reached the Gospels writers. Despite the recent interest in oral tradition, scholarly advances have not penetrated the mainstream of academic Gospels scholarship, let alone the wider public. Behind the Gospels fills this gap, offering a general theoretical discussion of oral tradition and the formati…