The NIV Harmony of the Gospels: The Classic Robertson/Broadus Harmony, Newly Revised for Students

by Robert L. Thomas, Stanley N. Gundry

The classic Robertson/Broadus Harmony of the Gospels, newly revised for students of the New International Version.

Genres: Reference, New Testament, Christianity, Theology, Christian

352 pages, Hardcover

First published July 27, 1988

Reviews

[Maja Reads]

invaluable imo

[Grant Davis]

essays in the rear of this book were very insightful and having the scriptures lined up in this harmony format was very helpful

[Joe Cox]

How do you give a controversial approach to reading the Gospels five stars? Simply, it’s not controversial but pure genius. Thomas and Guidry have done the painstaking work of paralleling the four accounts of Jesus in chronological order in a way that honors the historicity of Jesus yet preserving the integrity of the four individual accounts which are preserved in their columns. After reading the individual accounts all of my life, this study almost felt like reading them for the first time again.

[SusanwithaGoodBook]

This is *very* similar to Robertson's "Gospel in Life." Parallel passages are presented in column format, but they are only used when necessary. There are extensive and detailed footnotes throughout, which are extremely helpful in analyzing the chronology and text. Even better, there are several very thorough essays on different topics in the appendices. These cover various chronological quandaries, as well as some of the history and philosophy of harmonies and blends. I found these essays particularly fascinating and helpful in many ways.

[Christen]

I’ve always wanted to read a harmony of the gospels and am glad I finally did. The layout of this book was easy to follow and I appreciated and enjoyed all the footnotes and essays.

There were quite a few typos/mistakes which I hate see in a book of such importance. I also would be careful with some of the essays if you find yourself in a place of doubt.

[Michael Schmid]

A helpful and clear harmony of the gospels with extra comments in footnotes on almost every page. Also includes several essays on the history, science and problems of harmonisation at the end of the book.

[Chris Zaharis]

great way to compare the gospels easily, good commentary also

[Dan Absalonson]

It was super cool to read the gospels side by side in chronological order. The footnotes were great too.

[Brandon Gunn]

I only read the scripture sections and skipped all the essays in the last third of the book. I liked having all the verses side by side.

[Barry]

A harmony of the Gospels is where the four accounts of the life of Jesus are placed side by side (when the Gospels tell the same story) and in chronological order. In this way we see the whole life of Jesus laid out as He lived it out, and we can compare the different versions to get additional details and more insight as we read through the Gospels. The advantage of this system is that it makes it much easier to follow the life of Jesus, and it rounds out the stories the Gospel writers tell.

This particular book is based on previous harmonies that contain more than 100 years of scholarship. The editors add in numerous insights and conjectures as footnotes to help us better understand the culture of the day and the reasons why certain things happened, as well as smoothing out varying differences between the Gospels. Additionally, this harmony has 12 essays at the conclusion that are quite insightful, especially pertaining to the chronology of Jesus' life and the genealogies of His birth.

Like any version of the Bible, as well as any commentary, people won't agree with every comment or conjecture the editors make, but this harmony is a great addition to any library to better track the life of Jesus and to better understand the culture of Jesus' day.

[Rob]

For anyone wondering how the four Gospels compare to and complement each other, Gundry and Thomas have provided an enlightening harmony. Footnotes resolve many difficulties and offer further insights, as do several essays at the end. The book serves as a useful tool for in-depth study of the Gospels (and related passages in Acts and 1 Corinthians), though the NIV is not as literal as one would like for word-for-word comparisons (see Gundry and Thomas's NASB harmony for that). Moreover, the essays serve as a good introduction (and response) to criticism of the Gospels. This update to A. T. Robertson's classic harmony (and to their NASB harmony) is a valuable resource for Biblical studies.