Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels

by Richard B. Hays

The claim that the events of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection took place “according to the Scriptures” stands at the heart of the New Testament’s message. All four canonical Gospels declare that the Torah and the Prophets and the Psalms mysteriously prefigure Jesus. The author of the Fourth Gospel states this claim succinctly: in his narrative, Jesus declares, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me” (John 5:46). Yet modern historical criticism characteristically judges that the New Testament’s christological readings of Israel’s Scripture misrepresent the original sense of the texts; this judgment forces fundamental questions to be asked: Why do the Gospel writers read the Scriptures in such surprising ways? Are their readings intelligible as coherent or persuasive interpretations of the Scriptures? Does Christian faith require the illegitimate theft of someone else’s sacred texts?
 
Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels answers these questions. Richard B. Hays chronicles the dramatically different ways the four Gospel writers interpreted Israel’s Scripture and reveals that their readings were as complementary as they were faithful. In this long-awaited sequel to his Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul, Hays highlights the theological consequences of the Gospel writers’ distinctive hermeneutical approaches and asks what it might mean for contemporary readers to attempt to read Scripture through the eyes of the Evangelists. In particular, Hays carefully describes the Evangelists’ practice of figural reading—an imaginative and retrospective move that creates narrative continuity and wholeness. He shows how each Gospel artfully uses scriptural echoes to re-narrate Israel’s story, to assert that Jesus is the embodiment of Israel’s God, and to prod the church in its vocation to engage the pagan world.
 
Hays shows how the Evangelists summon readers to a conversion of their imagination. The Evangelists’ use of scriptural echo beckons readers to believe the extraordinary: that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah, that Jesus is Israel’s God, and that contemporary believers are still on mission. The Evangelists, according to Hays, are training our scriptural senses, calling readers to be better scriptural people by being better scriptural poets.

Genres: Theology, Biblical Studies, Christian, New Testament, Christianity, Nonfiction, Religion

524 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2016

About the author

Richard Bevan Hays was an American New Testament scholar and George Washington Ivey Professor Emeritus of New Testament Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. He was an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church.

Reviews

[David Goetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a masterwork, plus exceptionally useful!

Hays's words will help most in understanding what the book seeks to do: "We will pose three heuristic questions to each Gospel. (1) We will be asking how each Evangelist carries forward and renarrates the story of Israel through intertextual references to Scripture. (2) We will listen carefully for the ways in which each Evangelist draws on scriptural stories and images to interpret the world-changing significant of Jesus. And finally, (3) we will ask how each of the Evangelists begins to shape the story of the church ... through evoking texts from Israel's Scripture" (14).

Each chapter is illuminating on each of the three questions. Hays subtly and skillfully exhibits the different aims, styles, and sensibilities of the four Evangelists, helping us to hear each voice for what it is but, in the end, helping us to hear the "polyphonic" resonance of the fourfold gospel. The end result is a clearer vision of Jesus! His careful work not only on OT citations but also on allusions and echoes of the OT, plus his description and demonstration of the Gospel writers' use of metalepsis--all of this is super helpful for the preacher. I dare suggest a careful reading of Hays's work, alongside deep and attentive reading of the Gospels themselves, will effect the conversion/baptism of our imaginations and help us to proclaim the good news of Jesus with greater depth, variety, fidelity, and joy.

Because I hate endnotes, I tend to ignore them, but I realized quickly that the notes here are immensely informative; it's a definite loss if you ignore them. The bibliography, likewise, is excellent.

My only disappointment concerns the publisher (Baylor). Given what they charge for their books, they should do a better job with binding. The glue/adhesive just isn't good and won't stand up to repeated use.

[Shane Williamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

2023 reads: 17

Rating: 5 stars

It's hard to put my thoughts into words, but here it goes. Almost thirty years after the ground-breaking Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul, Richard B. Hays, Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School, published Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels with Baylor University Press (2016). Continuing to utilize the insights of literary critics, John Hollander and Umberto Eco, Hays’ Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels is a literary and theological masterpiece. The volume operates on the premise that the four Gospel writers all “embody and enact…figural christological reading[s].” (2) Hays seeks to draw out the distinctive voice of each Evangelist. The results are nothing short than revolutionary. Mark is the “Herald of Mystery,” Matthew presents “Torah Transfigured,” Luke unveils “The Liberation of Israel,” and John discloses “The Temple of His Body”. Hays’ initial contribution upended the field of biblical studies in 1989, and this contribution has had similar affects, issuing forth a reappraisal and appreciation for the Gospels in matters pertaining to theology, hermeneutics, and the Christian life. The inherited modern historical criticism of the past century bred, at best, a suspicion toward figural interpretation, married to an infatuation with scientific readings, and universal principals of meaning. In this sense, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, is an exercise in thick reading, necessarily entailing a conscious “reading backwards” (5), a “retrospective reinterpretation” of Israel’s traditions. (4) The result is that “Jesus’ teachings and actions, as well as his violent death and ultimate vindication, constituted the continuation and climax of the ancient biblical story.” (5) This thesis is established through four concerns: the general thrust of each Evangelist’s interpretation of Israel’s Scripture; how they re-narrate Israel’s story; how the identity of Jesus is disclosed; and finally how the church relates to Scripture’s re-narration. (9)

It is hard to exaggerate the importance of this volume for biblical studies as well as for my own reading and personal satisfaction. It is a model exemplar of interdisciplinary study. The fact that several subsequent works have been shaped by this one speaks to its immense worth. The nature of this work is a creative exercise in narrative representation (7), and so there were several examples of figural readings that I had not yet heard of, but others that I had picked up on myself, or seen others suggest. One thing is for certain, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels continues to validate the imperative of Old Testament studies and Israel’s story for understanding the New Testament. If we are to think like the Evangelists, then we will need to inhabit the stories that they lived and breathed. It is this symbolic world that is the generative matrix of the Gospel authors.

Of course, for one who’s interests lie in the Gospels and their relationship to the Old Testament, Hays’ Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels is bread and butter. Lingering questions and matters for further inquiry concern the LXX and the MT as the source of intertextuality–is Hays justified in almost exclusively working from the LXX? In Evangelical circles, the question of inerrancy shrouds this conversation. Perhaps the question of ‘authority’ is anachronistic. Regardless, the question still remains a contemporary issue. A second thought pertains to authorial intent and meaning. Hays is emphatic that texts can take on meaning beyond the human author’s ‘intention’. I would agree. I didn’t intend to offend my wife for the seven-hundredth time last week, but I did. Meaning is a delicate dance between author, symbol, receiver, in a given context, with symbols comprising of various potential significations. Stefan Alkier and Hays have done their part to bring semiotics into conversation with biblical studies, but perhaps there is always room for further dialogue.

[Read for the Gospels & Acts doctoral seminar with Dr. Pennington, Summer 2023]

[Gwilym Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to know what to say to this book. Hays is a brilliant Bible-handler, loves the gospels, and loves the Old Testament Scriptures. And, for this reason, so much of this book is good. I love his attention to detail, his assumption that the New Testament authors used the Old Testament carefully, and his assumption that the New Testament doesn't simply override the Old. In other words, I love that he thinks that deep familiarity with the Old is a prerequisite to understanding what the gospel writers are doing.

But I really didn't like the bits where he explained his hermeneutics. I was unpersuaded by the introduction, I was thoroughly nonplussed by the conclusion, I was unconvinced by his summaries of each chapter. And I thought his reading of John was strangely thin - he seemed to miss a good deal of what John is really doing with the Old Testament. And then there's the (not untypical of the New Perspective) caginess about saying 'boo' to the Pharisaical goose. The problem with the insistence of 'reading backwards' is that it makes it sound as though the Old Testament is only Christian in retrospect - that there were no 'forward' reasons for thinking that the Pharisees were wrong. And for me, that falls short of what Jesus says in John 5 and Luke 24.

And so I'm torn. As a resource for detecting echoes of the Old Testament in the gospels, brilliant. As a case-study in careful listening to the gospels, great. As an introduction to lots of the theology of the four gospels, wonderful. 4 stars would be the least it deserves. And it's well-written. As a text-book on hermeneutics, and the New Testament's use of the Old, and the boldness of the apostolic claim to represent the only right fulfilment of Israel's Scriptures? Disappointing - I'd struggle to give it 2. I'll definitely dip into this book often enough, but I don't think this is the answer. Let's split the difference: 3 stars.

[Isa Gueno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well. This is the best book I have read so far for school… the writing is very beautiful and smart! I loved every page and I was engaged. This book increased my affections for the Gospels and gave commentary into echoes of the Old Testament I have heard a million times. I can’t wait to read another book by him and I am proud to say I will be sitting in the Gospels for a while pondering

[Joey Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me over a year to read, but I enjoyed it that way

Didn't read every note in the "back," even though they make up a large % of the book. Wish they were footnoted in the body of the text instead.

[Christian Collier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Banger. Very enlightening and mind blowing and will have to reread at some point.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many Christians function with half a Bible. When we feel troubled we may go to the Psalms, or when we need an exciting story to keep children entertained we may go to Daniel or Jonah. We say the whole Bible is authoritative and inspired by God, but sadly the Old Testament remains largely a closed book.

Yet we cannot understand God or the New Testament fully without understanding the Old Testament. We can certainly read the gospels and letters, learn from them, enjoy them and benefit from them on their own. But if we read them through the lens of the Old Testament, we find richer, deeper layers of meaning--and hard to understand passages often become clear.

The reason is that the New Testament writers were saturated with the images, stories, motifs and themes of the Old. It's the world they lived in. So if we want to understand how they thought, we need to know what filled their minds and hearts.

Richard B. Hays opens up the importance of this in Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels. He shows in multiple examples how each of the four gospels writers made profound use of the Old Testament to explain who Jesus was and what he did. This was not only through direct quotation or reference, but by using associations, symbols, metaphors and narrative patterns from what John Goldingay calls the First Testament.

Each gospel writer has a distinct approach to his use of Israel's Scripture which creates a rich theological polyphony for those with ears to hear it. Mark uses indirect references to paint a picture of the mystery of the kingdom. Matthew is much more explicit about how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament, with Jesus reconfiguring "both Israel and Torah by carrying forward Israel's story" (p. 351). Luke lies between Mark and Matthew regarding Jesus' link to the Old Testament. He emphasizes promise and fulfillment, demonstrating God's faithfulness which leads to joy for the community of believers. While John is much more selective in his use of Old Testament quotations and images, he goes deeply into them, including the feasts, signs, Logos and shepherd.

This book expands on much of the excellent material found in Hays's earlier and briefer volume Reading Backwards. Both books are immensely helpful guides to reading the New Testament through Old Testament eyes.

[Scott Kercheville · Rating 5 out of 5]

The importance of this book for biblical interpreters cannot be overstated. Hays demonstrates that the gospel writers’ assumed encyclopedia of thought was the OT Scriptures and that, for us to properly understand them, we need to listen carefully to hear how they echo the Scriptures.

Ultimately, we find that the gospels are beautifully crafted pieces of literature that utilize the Scriptures in complex, overlapping, and at times unexpected and even astonishing ways.

Asking “what did this mean to the original hearers?” is an important part of Bible study, but Hays demonstrates that this is not at all the only question we should ask. Interpretation is much more of an art than that.

Every teacher, preacher, elder, etc. needs to read this book. Even if it takes a long time. It will transform how you read Scripture. Absolutely a must read.

Of course, you will at times disagree with a particular echo or interpretation of Hays. And he takes a more critical approach than I prefer. And his John chapter may not be quite as enlightening as the others (though, still helpful). That doesn’t change the must-read status.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes I teased Misael for reading a textbook when he read this. Yes I just finished and loved it! The way Hays systematically goes through how each Gospel writer alludes to, echoes, or directly quotes the Old Testament to both whisper (Mark) and shout (John) Jesus’s true identity gave me a much greater appreciation for the Gospels. It’s like analyzing literature: understanding genres and literary devices to see how they fit into the overarching narrative of redemptive history, God’s people, and who Jesus is.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

With great literary sensitivity, Hays clearly shows how the Gospels reread the Old Testament in light of what God has done in Christ as well as how Jesus’s identity and work should be read in light of the OT. Hays deftly pulls out many echoes—subtle, easily missed references—that the four Gospel writers make to the OT. We need ears to hear the OT echoes resounding in the NT. The concluding chapter is worshipful.

[Hiram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterfully done.

[Joe Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes a pretty astonishing claim: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me” (5:46, NRSV). Similarly, Luke remarks in his account of Jesus’ conversation with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that “he [Jesus] interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures” (24:27, NRSV).

In one way or another, this claim that the events of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection took place “according to the scriptures” sits at the heart of the Christian confession. But what does it mean to say that Moses wrote about Jesus? In the modern era, these sorts of claims have fallen on rather hard times. In the introduction of Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, Richard B. Hays brings up the German scholar Udo Schnelle, who brushes aside the possibility of doing “biblical theology” because “the Old Testament is silent about Jesus Christ” (p.3). Hays suggests that the writers of the New Testament would be surprised to learn this. For them, Christ’s resurrection provided the integrative “hermeneutical clue” that allowed them to reread Israel’s Scriptures with fresh eyes and find Jesus prefigured in them (p.3). Hays explains that one of the goals of his book is to offer:

[A]n account of the narrative representation of Israel, Jesus, and the church in the canonical Gospels, with particular attention to the ways in which the four Evangelists reread Israel’s Scripture—as well as the ways in which Israel’s Scripture prefigures and illuminates the central character in the Gospel stories. It is, in short, an exercise in intertextual close reading. (p.7)

Throughout the book, he seeks to demonstrate that the Evangelists interpreted the Old Testament figurally as they engaged with it in their respective accounts (p.4). What does “figural interpretation” mean? Hays (following Auerbach) explains that it demonstrates a connection between two events or characters such that “the first signifies not only itself but also the second, while the second involves or fulfills the first” (p.2). For him, the nature of figural reading is necessarily retrospective (pp.2-3). Once the figural pattern has been discerned, though, “the semantic force of the figure flows both ways,” imparting deeper significance to both the Old Testament event/character and the Gospel passage (p.3). Finally, Hays asserts that interpreting Old Testament passages figurally needn’t imply a rejection of the Old Testament in its own context:

Figural readings do not annihilate the earlier pole of the figural correspondence; to the contrary, they affirm its reality and find in it a significance beyond that which anyone could previously have grasped… [in light of the resurrection] all four Evangelists are deeply engaged in the task of reading backwards, discovering figural fusions between the story of Jesus and older and longer story of Israel’s journey with God. (p.14)

Most of the book is taken up with a close, meditative reading of each canonical Gospel account. In these chapters, Hays explores the ways in which each Evangelist uses the texts and images of the Old Testament to retell Israel’s story, narrate the identity of Jesus, and ponder the life of the church in relation to the world (p.9). Some intertextual citations in the Gospels are indirect and subtle, so reading with an attuned ear for echoes and allusions is an important aspect of Hays’ reading strategy. He divides the intertextual Old Testament references found throughout the Gospels into three broad categories: “quotation,” “allusion,” and “echo” (p.10). It’s most helpful to think of these categories as being points on a gradual spectrum, “moving from the most to the least explicit forms of reference” (p.10).

Echoes of Scripture in Each Gospel

Mark is generally agreed to be the earliest canonical Gospel. For Hays, “The Gospel of Mark tells a mysterious story enveloped in apocalyptic urgency” (p.15). Mark tends to avoid pointing explicitly to the connections between the Old Testament and the story of Jesus, preferring to be more indirect and allusive (p.98).

For those who miss the intertextual allusions, the story is still intelligible and moving. Nevertheless, Hays suggests that cultivating a more sensitive awareness of Mark’s engagement with the Old Testament opens up “new levels of complexity and significance” (p.99). A good example of this is the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a colt in chapter 11. Mark mentions this without comment, but for readers who hear the allusion to Zechariah 9:9 (Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey, NRSV), the significance of this detail will be more meaningfully understood.

Hays uses this episode as an example because it highlights the distinctive narrative styles of Matthew and Mark. In Matthew’s Gospel (unlike Mark’s), he “eagerly supplies the quotation of Zechariah” (p.99). Hays understands this episode to be just one of many indirect, yet meaningful, intertextual references in Mark’s Gospel. Because of the allusive nature of Mark’s narrative, Hays suggests that readers should be attentive lest they “miss the message of Jesus’ divine identity” (p.350).

Matthew shows little of Mark’s reticence for explicitly making claims about Jesus’ identity and linking them to Old Testament passages. Indeed, Matthew makes significant use of a prediction-fulfillment motif and “in many passages we find him supplying overt explanations to Mark’s hints and allusions” (pp.105, 107). It’s important to realize, though, that Matthew’s usage of Scripture extends beyond his explicit quotations:

[W]e also must reckon with Matthew’s use of figuration, his deft narration of “shadow stories from the Old Testament.” Through this narrative device, with or without explicit citation, Matthew encourages the reader to see Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament precursors, particularly Moses, David, and Isaiah’s Servant figure. (p.109)

Indeed, one of Matthew’s central claims regarding Jesus is that he is “Emmanuel, the embodiment of the personal presence of Israel’s God” (p.351). Stepping back and looking at Matthew’s Gospel as a whole, Hays notes that one of Matthew’s strengths consists in his hard-to-miss way of engaging with the Old Testament. “He draws clear lines of continuity with the story of Israel and overtly portrays Jesus as ‘God with us'” (p.352). He points out, though, that Matthew’s assertive manner of writing can at times become quite polemical towards other Jewish groups, and that Matthew’s willingness to make overt confessions regarding Jesus’ divine identity “stands in some tension with Mark’s reverent reticence before the divine mystery” (p.352). To me, these differences between Gospel accounts demonstrate why it is helpful for Christian readers to interpret them in light of each other—reading them canonically, as Scripture.

In Luke, maybe even more than in the other Gospel accounts, we need to grapple with the fact that his portrait of Jesus is constructed in narrative form:

[W]e cannot adequately estimate Luke’s understanding of Jesus’ identity simply by studying christological titles or by isolating direct propositional statements; rather, we come to know Jesus in Luke only as his narrative identity is enacted in and through the story. (p.244)

This brings us once again to Jesus’ conversation on the Emmaus road. Jesus doesn’t tell the disciples exactly how “all the scriptures” point to him. Instead, we are just assured that they do. Luke implicitly tells his audience that they will have to read retrospectively, going “back to the beginning of the Gospel to reread it, in hopes of discerning more clearly how… Jesus might be prefigured in Israel’s Scripture” (p.223). That, in essence, is the reading strategy that Hays is advocating throughout the book.

Luke “boldly narrates the historical continuity between Israel’s past, present, and future” (p.353). Nevertheless, Hays rightly suggests that readers of Luke should avoid understanding him to be advocating an overly-triumphant “salvation-history.” After all, Luke does spend time dwelling upon the necessity of the Messiah’s suffering and weaves the same theme into his subsequent account of the early church (p.354). Regardless, this potential pitfall of overconfidence again points to the value of reading the Gospels canonically, “we need Mark alongside Luke in the canon, as a counterweight to any possible triumphalism” (p.354).

Lastly, we come to Hays’ treatment of the John’s Gospel. John’s allusions and scriptural citations often focus less on the repetition of “chains of words and phrases” from the Old Testament and more on “images and figures” (p.284). For example, in John 3, when Jesus tells Nicodemus “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (3:14, NRSV). Hays writes that despite John’s clear allusion to Numbers 21:8-9, “the only explicit verbal links between the two passages are… ‘Moses’ and the word ‘serpent’… [John’s] intertextual sensibility is more visual than auditory” (p.284).

Like Luke, John also highlights the need to read the Old Testament afresh in light of Christ’s resurrection (p.283). This is especially apparent in John 2, where we find Jesus’ cleansing of the Jerusalem temple. In the middle of this episode, Jesus says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (2:19, NRSV). At the time, the disciples (and the other Jews) were clearly confused by this claim. However, John goes on to say that after Jesus had risen, the disciples remembered Jesus’ words and “believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken” (2:22, NRSV). In both this passage and in others, Hays argues that:

He [John] is teaching us to read figurally, teaching us to read Scripture retrospectively, in light of the resurrection. Only on such a reading does it make sense to see the Jerusalem temple as prefiguring the truth now definitely embodied in the crucified and risen Jesus. (p.312)

John is frequently described in severely dualistic terms, but Hays argues that the logic of the Fourth Evangelist “drives towards a mystical affirmation of incarnation and of God’s mysterious presence in and through creation,” thereby affirming creation as good, even if fallen (p.355). What are some potential pitfalls of John’s Gospel? There is the danger that some will find John to be anti-Jewish and/or suppersessionistic. Hays disagrees with this reading because such dualistic interpretations mistakenly deny the literal meaning of Israel’s Scriptures. Attributing a figural reading strategy to John, on the other hand, “does not deny the literal sense but completes it by linking it typologically with the narrative of Jesus and disclosing a deeper prefigurative truth within the fleshly, literal historical sense” (p.356).

Conclusion

Near the end of the book, Hays steps back to survey the results of his efforts. One of the most hard fought battlefields in biblical studies has been the debate related to the New Testament authors’ readings of the Old Testament. Especially when they interpret passages christologically in ways that would not be immediately apparent to those in the original settings of those texts. Hays thinks that both sides of this debate err by giving in to the temptations of modernistic rationalistic historicism. He suggests a potentially better option:

[T]he canonical Evangelists, through their artful narration, offer us a different way to understand the New Testament’s transformational reception of the Old… This hermeneutical sensibility locates the deep logic of the intertextual linkage between Israel’s Scripture and the Gospels not in human intentionality but in the mysterious providence of God, who is ultimately the author of the correspondences woven into these texts and events. (p.359)

It seems clear to me that this book will come to be known as a masterpiece of close theological reading, an excellent example of why it’s worth spending years thinking deeply about the writings of both the Old and New Testaments. I’m thankful for the work Hays has put into being a scholar who cares both for the Academy and the Church. Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels is a real gem, and I can’t recommend it enough.

*Disclosure: I received this book free from Baylor University Press for review purposes. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review.

**More theology book reviews can be found at Tabletalktheology.com

[Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, Richard Hays engages in an in-depth study of how the four canonical Gospel writers read, interpreted, and applied the Old Testament Scriptures in their written works. In his introduction, Hays argues that the Gospel authors practiced “figural reading,” meaning that they read the Scriptures through the perspective of Jesus’s death and resurrection, enabling them to detect images and patterns that prefigured the person and work of Christ. Hays looks at each Gospel individual, tracing how each author weaves the Old Testament into his narrative for his own literary and theological purposes. Hays then concludes the book by outlining several implications of his study for Christian exegetical practices today.

The insights I gained from reading this book are too many to recount. Hays brilliantly unpacks the biblical themes, language, and imagery that the Gospel writers expertly draw from in their depictions of Israel’s story, the identity of Jesus, and the Church’s mission in the world. While not every example he presents of an OT connection is equally compelling, I was convinced by most of them. Perhaps the key insight I gleaned from the book is how each Gospel writer incorporates Scripture in a way distinct from (though, I would argue, not contradictory to) the others. Seeing the differences between Mark’s subtlety, Matthew’s overtness, Luke’s narrative continuity, and John’s use of imagery was extremely illuminating.

The book as a whole is an exegetical feast and argues convincingly that one cannot understand much of the Gospels without a thorough knowledge of the OT Scriptures. However, there are a few areas where I would push back against Hays’s framing of the discussion. First, it seems to me that Hays’s concept of “figural reading” leaves very little room for the predictive and forward-looking nature of the OT itself. Second, Hays seems to present the distinctive approaches of the NT Gospels as, to some degree, incompatible with each other rather than complementary. Finally, Hays’s cataloguing of various supposed “weaknesses” in the Gospel writers’ approach seems to adopt the posture of a critic rather than a servant of the Word.

[Tim Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. I hope to be coming back this book often and using it as a reference for years to come.

To steal some of Hays’ own language, this book masterfully demonstrates the intertextual connections between the four Gospels and the entire Biblical narrative that consist of fine, variously colored threads and intricately woven. Each Gospel with its own distinct color palette that complements the others. The interweaving yields a surprising pattern of fresh retrospective readings of Israel’s Scripture, readings that in turn reframes and deepens our understanding and interpretation of Jesus’ identity.

[Michael Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book regarding intertextuality (echoes) and introducing the concept to those who have never engaged in the subject... It is not an easy read for the novice theologian but could be beneficial if one is willing to put in the time and the work.

Some of his theological conclusions are faulty and he is a little too matter of fact regarding Markan priority (which is beyond debatable), which I believe took a bit away of what this book could have been.

Overall, worth the read.

[Adam Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the chapter on the Gospel of Matthew for class this week and was really impressed at Hays' work. He particularly does an excellent job of describing the exegetical culture that lies behind the rich intertextual allusions of Matthew's Gospel, the same culture that we see continued in the likes of St Ephrem. Will definitely be returning to this book in the future and buying a copy for my own library.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hays escorts us on a long, careful, deep odyssey through all four Gospels to discern how each of them, in unique ways, writes the story of Jesus by dipping their pens in the ink of the Old Testament. By careful examination of the language, images, and narratives of the Evangelists, he picks up on quotes and allusions and echoes of earlier Scriptures. By placing these Gospel narratives and OT sections side-by-side, we discern how this composite picture enlarges our understand of the life and ministry of Jesus. His work is scholarly yet very accessible. For anyone interested in biblical intertextuality, this is required—and blessed—reading.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I only made it half-way through. That much took two weeks. It's an excellent book, but I don't recommend it if you're looking for some light summer reading, if you know what I mean. I will come back to it once rested from the first 250 pages of rigorous theological exercise.

[Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best works on the Gospels. Hays gives an intertextual reading of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in the process arguing for an early High Christology in the Gospels through the Gospel writer's identification of Jesus and Yahweh.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly written, thorough, and deeply insightful. This is a must read from a master NT scholar for anyone interested in the broader themes and theological trajectories of the gospels.

[Katie Gibbs]

Found the section on Mark very helpful; at the moment not planning to read the rest so don't feel like giving a rating would be fair

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic. Though, readers should note some significant liberal presuppositions in Hays’ work.

[John Coatney · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely well written, detail oriented work on the Evangelists' use of the Old Testament to do three things: 1) carry forward and renarrate the story of Israel; 2) interpret the world-changing significance of Jesus; and 3) shape the story of the church. This comprehensive look at how each of the Gospel writers cite, allude to, and echo the text of the Hebrew Bible provides and outstanding reference for study and for preaching. His assessment of both the individual hermeneutics of each author and (especially) what they share in is beneficial to anyone looking to better understand how Christ is the means by which the Scriptures in their entirety are to be understood.

[Caleb Burkhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who picks up Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels will not be able to read the Four Gospels, if not all of Scripture, the same way again. Hays masterfully shows how the OT is the fabric, the undergirding matrix, for the Fourfold Gospel witness and each of the authors unique contribution for understanding the story of Jesus. Though this book does not expound on a robust methodology like his work "Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul," Hays presupposes this method and others that he has written elsewhere to mine the riches of the Four Gospels.

This book this theologically rich and extremely well written. At so many points in this book I was left in awe of how unique and amazing the Bible really is. Often times, especially in many low-church and evangelical circles, the way Christians are taught to read Scripture results in a thin, shallow understanding of how God's providence shapes the unity and diversity of Scripture's message. Oddly enough, this hermeneutically thin reading is more of a result of modern criticism than it is the church's witness throughout the centuries. Simply put, seeing echoes in Scripture is not the result of "human intentionality but [of] the mysterious providence of God, who is ultimately the author of the correspondences woven into these texts and events, correspondences that could be perceived only in retrospect" (359). God's providence is not just a theological confession but a hermeneutical principle.

There is a call in this book to grow in our knowledge of Scripture, particularly the OT, to further understand what the Four Gospel witnesses are trying to tell us about the person and work of Christ. As Hays notes, "Such evocative hints make a serious demand on the reader-competence of the Gospel's audience, but they also offer serious hermeneutical rewards for those with ears to hear" (361). It takes time to meditate on Scripture and to take in all that it has to offer. But for those who have the ears to hear and the eyes to see, the reward surely outweighs the work.

[James Korsmo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic! Hays gives a deep reading of each of the four Gospels and makes a case (a compelling one, in my estimation) that all four of the Gospel writers use the Old Testament in explicit and implicit ways to narrate the story of Jesus as the embodiment of the God of Israel and the key figure in the continuation of God's (and Israel's) story. I found his readings continually illuminating. He shows how the Gospel writers went beyond "authorial intention" in understanding the Old Testament by reading backwards from the key events of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. Those epochal events transformed their imaginations, and they in turn found figural pointers to Jesus all throughout Scripture. (There is still room for prediction/fulfillment, but this is a deeper coherence, and one that can only be seen in hindsight.) At the foundation of it all, at the hermeneutical fork in the road, is the question of whether the God of Jesus is the living God. If he is the living God, and the Gospel writers certainly thought so, and the story of the Bible is his story, it is not at all surprising that the events and words of God have a beautiful and sometimes surprising symmetry, with unexpected echoes, convergences, and patterns. And that is just what the Gospel writers portray. And that means that the Gospels' readers, us, if we buy into that foundational conviction, are compelled and commissioned by the Gospels to take up our cross and follow Jesus and to proclaim him to the world. The conclusion of this book is some of the finest academic writing I've ever encountered: learned exegesis synthesized in simple terms that point to the living God of the gospel and to the call for us to be believers in Jesus and followers of him. Tolle lege.

[Sanjuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hays has gifted the world with a lot of excellent, careful scholarship over the years. This book is no different; between this, "Reading Backwards," and "Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul," his work on echoes and allusions will likely be his greatest legacy (though we must remember to use his other work fruitfully). This book is very well written, well argued, and full of excellent insights into echoes not always detected. Hays does an excellent job of dispelling critical arguments against figural readings of the Hebrew Bible, and he makes excellent arguments against those in the church world that see the Gospels as a rejection of the Jews in favor of the church. My copy of the book is littered with notes, and I'll return to it with great benefit.

If I had one criticism, I'd say there were moments when Hays prolonged his arguments, thinning them out, through some redundancies. His earlier book, "Reading Backwards," was the seed of this book; the first was a tad short, leaving me wanting more, but this was a tad long, leading to a slog at the end as my eyes glazed over. The book could have been tightened up, though, as an academic, I also have trouble trimming, so no judgment here!

Really, an excellent book that is of great necessity for readers of the Gospels who want to understand the hermeneutics of the Gospel writers properly.

[Frank Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I read the first two chapters very intently (took notes and all, underlined) and then skimmed the chapters on Luke and John as I needed to finish the book for a book report due the next day. I count that as reading the whole thing though right? I’m gonna roll with it.

The first chapter on Mark is actually astounding. Walking into this read, I already was thinking mark was my favorite gospel. This book just cemented that for me. It was breathtaking seeing how the gospel writers use and interweave the Old Testament in ways that are sometimes obvious, and other ways where it is subtle. But it is always intentional. Intertextuality is a wide open field with lots of great work being done. I find the work fascinating within biblical studies. It is important to weigh this work with critical scholarship on the text, but I think Hays is into something.

There was plenty about this book that I loved, and other parts where I thought Hays stretched his thesis just a bit too far. Overall, it is enlightening and a fascinating read.

Do yourself a favor. If you enjoy biblical studies, and your interested in the ways the New Testament authors use the Old Testament… snag this book. Now I’m off to read his seminal work on the same subject, but In Paul’s writings.

[Jonathan Badgley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly helpful book in terms of understanding the differences between the evangelists accounts. I had assumed that the Synoptics would approach scripture in roughly the same ways, and that is not at all the case. There are significant differences between even Matthew and Luke, which I read as very similar in many ways. I also gained a new appreciation for the John’s gospel as it distinctively relies on repeated reference to the feasts and the timing of the feasts within the narrative as waypoints, and also it distinctively and nearly exclusively quotes and makes allusions to the psalms rather than to the major prophets or Pentateuch.

Through reading Hays and spending more time in the OT, I’ve grown to appreciate that the Christian Bible is in dialogue with the Hebrew Scriptures. I can’t imagine teaching or reviewing my understanding of the gospels without reference to this book specifically or without serious consideration of how the evangelists use and interpret scripture. This is a treasured resource.

[Jacob Hudgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most helpful and insightful books I have ever read. Hays collects the scattered “echoes” of OT Scripture throughout the gospels, with special awareness on similar uses of Greek phrases with their Septuagint counterparts. Then he synthesizes these to describe each gospel writer’s unique approach to the story of Jesus and its connection to the OT. With careful reasoning and tons of evidence, he argues that all the gospels present Jesus as the God of Israel incarnate (contrary to most scholarly opinions, esp of Mark and Luke). A tremendous textual answer to Ehrman’s How Jesus Became God and its ilk.

This is a book to be read for insight, for edification, and for study of individual gospels. I again dispute a little of Hays’ thinking about gospel writers’ “editorial choices,” but this does not dilute his points. Highly recommended.

[Michael Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

What we need to be better interpreters of scripture, Hays says, is to embrace a “complex poetic sensibility.” We’ll acquire this through figural reading: “the discernment of unexpected patterns of correspondence between earlier and later events and persons within a continuous temporal stream.” This book uncovers those figural links between the OT and the gospels, so that we might learn to acquire the vocabulary of scripture and live in its reality. The study is good, if at times a bit scattered in its organization. Personally, I liked “Reading Backwards” better. It was the seed of this fuller work and a bit more compact in its presentation. But Hays has unlocked scripture in incredible ways and given me new eyes to see. I’ll continue to consult this for many years.