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The Many Gospels of Jesus: Sorting Out the Story of the Life of Jesus
In the wake of The DaVinci Code book and movie and the recent discovery of The Gospel of Judas, there has been an increased interest in the ancient books written about Jesus in the third century A.D. that aren't part of the Bible's canon—commonly known as the Gnostic Gospels. Decide for yourself the truth behind all the “hidden gospels.” Compare what the Gnostic Gospels have to say with the four Gospels in the Bible. Discover the truth about Jesus for yourself.
- GenresHistory
384 pages, Hardcover
First published May 14, 2008
3 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Philip W. Comfort
105 books10 followersPhilip W. Comfort, Ph.D., has studied English literature, Greek, and New Testament at the Ohio State University and the University of South Africa. He has taught these classes at a number of colleges, including Wheaton College, Trinity Episcopal Seminary, Columbia International University, and Coastal Carolina University. He is currently senior editor of Bible reference at Tyndale and served as New Testament editor for the New Living Translation. He has contributed a number of books to the Tyndale collection, both as author and editor. Among these are The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament, The Origin of the Bible, The Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Essential Guide to Bible Versions, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts (with D. Barrett), and Who's Who in Christian History�all of which are currently available at Tyndale.
Philip lives in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, with his wife, Georgia. His three children (Jeremy, John, and Peter) live nearby, as do his grandchildren. He enjoys the ocean, soccer, and writing poetry.
Philip lives in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, with his wife, Georgia. His three children (Jeremy, John, and Peter) live nearby, as do his grandchildren. He enjoys the ocean, soccer, and writing poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 11, 2013
This book presents the various gospels of Jesus. On the back, it asks, "which Gospels tell the truth about the historical Jesus?" Then in large letters, it says, "Investigate the Evidence for Yourself." Excellent, I thought. Just give me the evidence and let me decide for myself. A book like this MUST be thoroughly vetted to eliminate any ideological editorial and sampling bias, to ensure the author keeps his own views from tainting the "evidence," right?
I was shocked at how clearly this was not done, nor even attempted. It's just the author's podium for foisting his beliefs through the veil of objectivity. He was obviously troubled by all the various gospels popularized in recent years, and knew his fellow Christians probably were too, so I'm guessing he wrote this book to reassure himself and his fellow believers.
I first became suspicious when he started out by telling his own story of how he came to Christ in the 60's, having mystical experiences that showed him the truth of Jesus Christ. It sounded a little loony tunes. It became really clear on page 6, when he said: "The inspiration for writing the Gospels didn't begin when the authors set pen to papyrus; the inspiration began when the disciples Matthew, Peter (for whom Mark wrote), and John were enlightened by their encounters with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The apostles' experiences with him altered their lives forever, imprinting on their souls' unforgettable images of the revealed God-man, Jesus Christ." Wow. Talk about drinking the Kool Aid. By this point it was obvious that he had an axe to grind, and I was about to be the grindstone.
Then he portrays the early Catholic Church as being practically democratic, not decreeing and persecuting unorthodox Christian groups, but simply letting the people decide for themselves. As Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John bubbled to the surface as the de facto gospels, the Church declared them canonical. He makes it sound like the early Christians voted on which gospels to include in the canon, which laughably contradicts what we know of how the early Church behaved. He makes several other claims that contradict what I've read elsewhere, particularly that the canonical gospels were the earliest, predating all the others, written by eyewitnesses.
And all this crap is just how this book was introduced! The vast majority is just a verbatim reproduction of the four canonical gospels, straight from the Bible, along with some unhelpful footnotes to make it look like he was helping us analyze this work somehow. Then, at the very end, he briefly glosses over the non-canonical gospels: the Gnostic Gospels, Infancy Gospels, and Passion and Resurrection. Not much verbatim reproduction here, just a few snippets. The really juicy parts of the Gnostic Gospels were left out entirely. For the most part, all we get is the author's biased summaries. Whatever happened to investigating the evidence for myself? It's kind of hard to investigate evidence if I'm not given any.
If you're a Christian who doesn't want your beliefs challenged, and just want reassurance that the Bible is all you need to trust, rather than learning the facts, this book is perfect. I'm quite sure that's the target audience for this book.
I was shocked at how clearly this was not done, nor even attempted. It's just the author's podium for foisting his beliefs through the veil of objectivity. He was obviously troubled by all the various gospels popularized in recent years, and knew his fellow Christians probably were too, so I'm guessing he wrote this book to reassure himself and his fellow believers.
I first became suspicious when he started out by telling his own story of how he came to Christ in the 60's, having mystical experiences that showed him the truth of Jesus Christ. It sounded a little loony tunes. It became really clear on page 6, when he said: "The inspiration for writing the Gospels didn't begin when the authors set pen to papyrus; the inspiration began when the disciples Matthew, Peter (for whom Mark wrote), and John were enlightened by their encounters with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The apostles' experiences with him altered their lives forever, imprinting on their souls' unforgettable images of the revealed God-man, Jesus Christ." Wow. Talk about drinking the Kool Aid. By this point it was obvious that he had an axe to grind, and I was about to be the grindstone.
Then he portrays the early Catholic Church as being practically democratic, not decreeing and persecuting unorthodox Christian groups, but simply letting the people decide for themselves. As Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John bubbled to the surface as the de facto gospels, the Church declared them canonical. He makes it sound like the early Christians voted on which gospels to include in the canon, which laughably contradicts what we know of how the early Church behaved. He makes several other claims that contradict what I've read elsewhere, particularly that the canonical gospels were the earliest, predating all the others, written by eyewitnesses.
And all this crap is just how this book was introduced! The vast majority is just a verbatim reproduction of the four canonical gospels, straight from the Bible, along with some unhelpful footnotes to make it look like he was helping us analyze this work somehow. Then, at the very end, he briefly glosses over the non-canonical gospels: the Gnostic Gospels, Infancy Gospels, and Passion and Resurrection. Not much verbatim reproduction here, just a few snippets. The really juicy parts of the Gnostic Gospels were left out entirely. For the most part, all we get is the author's biased summaries. Whatever happened to investigating the evidence for myself? It's kind of hard to investigate evidence if I'm not given any.
If you're a Christian who doesn't want your beliefs challenged, and just want reassurance that the Bible is all you need to trust, rather than learning the facts, this book is perfect. I'm quite sure that's the target audience for this book.
October 2, 2012
In the wake of The Da Vinci Code book and movie and the recent discovery of The Gospel of Judas, there has been an increased interest in the ancient books written about Jesus in the third century A.D. that aren't part of the Bible's canon—commonly known as the Gnostic Gospels. Decide for yourself the truth behind all the “hidden gospels.” Compare what the Gnostic Gospels have to say with the four Gospels in the Bible. Discover the truth about Jesus for yourself.
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August 2, 2011Presents the canonical and noncanonical Gospels side by side for the reader's comparison. It is obvious reading the canonical Gospels and the Gnostic Gospels why Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were included in the New Testament and why others were not. This is an excellent book for those interested in the many Gospels of Jesus brought to the fore by The Da Vinci Code et al.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews