The Cambridge Companion to the Gospels

Cambridge Companions to Religion

by Stephen C. Barton (Editor)

The four gospels are a central part of the Christian canon of scripture. In the faith of Christians, this canon constitutes a life-giving witness to who God is and what it means to be truly human. This volume treats the gospels not just as historical sources, but also as crucial testimony to the life of God made known in Jesus Christ. This approach helps to overcome the sometimes damaging split between critical gospel study and questions of theology, ethics and the life of faith. The essays are by acknowledged experts in a range of theological disciplines. The first section considers what are appropriate ways of reading the gospels given the kinds of texts they are. The second, central section covers the contents of the gospels. The third section looks at the impact of the gospels in church and society across history and up to the present day.

Genres: Religion, History, Christianity, Theology, Nonfiction

314 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2006

Reviews

[[Name Redacted] · Rating 3 out of 5]

The trouble with the field of religious studies is that books with a genuinely religious bent are expected to identify themselves as such, while books with an anti-religious bent aren't -- the latter are allowed to portray themselves as objective and unbiased when they are, in fact, as mired in dogma and personal belief systems as those written by theologians and ministers (this may come as a surprise to many scholars, but the assertion that there is no god or that the Gospels are fabrications BOTH constitute theological and dogmatic statements). This book is part of the former camp, a book discussing the history and contents of the four canonical Gospels but also containing interpretations and exegesis. It can serve as a window into certain religious perspectives on these foundational Christian texts, and it never pretends to be an objective, unbiased, theologically-unmotivated document. While it is not universally useful, it is certainly refreshing to have an openly-religious approach to the material published by a respected press.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of essays starts off rather studious, with a lot of notes on the scriptural sources of Christological doctrines. Then the later essays explore the theme of how the Gospels have changed history. And here we see a record of people moved, not by doctrines and creeds, but by what Jesus actually taught. I'd especially recommend two inspiring essays, "The gospels embodied: The lives of saints and martyrs," by David Matzko McCarthy, and "Living the gospels: Morality and politics," by Scott Bader-Saye.

[Billie Pritchett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Cambridge Companion to the Gospels introduces conceptions of the gospels, describe the four main gospels, and touches on the impact of the gospels. The reader learns that a 'gospel' is a unique literary genre, that the four major gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were not used and read together until the second century, and that bringing together the gospels in that way allowed for a limited plurality of ideas related to Jesus. The gospels are described as follows: Matthew is a gospel designed to demonstrate that Jesus is the fulfillment of the old covenant with Israel, Mark shows how while Jesus's ministry was misunderstood his crucifixion paradoxically was necessary to allow that all of the people who misunderstood him could be saved, Luke is a gospel that pushes the point that God's kingdom has come through Jesus and is being fulfilled through his people and apostles, and John is utterly unique in claiming that Jesus was there at the beginning of the world and so is God in the flesh. The other half of the book was not very interesting in my view, but maybe other readers could find something in there.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book for my New Testament class. As with other Cambridge Companion books, the articles cover a variety of authors and topics, and thus were kind of hit or miss. Some, like the one on the Gospel of John, were very engaging. Others were just plain boring. Overall, I found the book interesting, and much more enjoyable than some other assigned reading. The scholarship was well presented and usually seemed fair-minded, even when presenting controversial opinions.