The Gospel and the Gospels

By Simon J. Gathercole,

Book cover of The Gospel and the Gospels: Christian Proclamation and Early Jesus Books

Book description

A robust scholarly defense of the distinctiveness of the canonical Gospels. 

Do the four New Testament gospels share some essence that distinguishes them from noncanonical early Gospels? The tendency among biblical scholars of late has been to declare the answer to this question no—that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Gospel and the Gospels as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Many people claim these days that many gospels outside the New Testament are just as old and valuable as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, if not more so. 

Simon, a friend who is a professor at the University of Cambridge, analyzes these four books in detail alongside another seven that well represent ancient gospels not in the canon and shows that only the canonical four closely conform to the earliest known Christian creed (1 Corinthians 15:3-5), which stressed Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, his atoning death and bodily resurrection, both according to the Hebrew Scriptures.

The depth with which Simon…

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