The Cambridge Companion to the GospelsStephen C. Barton 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. |
Contents
| 13 | |
The fourfold gospel | 34 |
The canonical matrix of the gospels | 53 |
The gospels and the historical Jesus | 76 |
The Gospels and the reader | 97 |
The Gospel according to Matthew | 121 |
The Gospel according to Mark | 139 |
The Gospel according to Luke | 158 |
The Gospel according to John | 182 |
The gospels and the development of doctrine | 203 |
The gospels embodied the lives of saints and martyrs | 224 |
Praying the gospels spirituality and worship | 245 |
Living the gospels morality and politics | 264 |
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Acts apostles Augustine beginning Bible biblical text biography birth Cambridge University Press canonical gospels century christology church claim context cross Crossan David death Diatessaron disciples discipleship divine doctrine Early Christian embodied ethic evangelists example faith Father first-century followers Fortress four gospels fourfold gospel framework Gentiles God’s Gospel of John Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Thomas gospel texts Greek healing heaven hermeneutical historical Jesus Holy human Ibid interpretation Irenaeus Israel Israel’s scripture Jerusalem Jewish Johannine John’s Judaism Kant King kingdom literary living Lord Lord’s Lukan Luke Luke’s gospel Marcion Mark’s Mark’s gospel Markan material Matt Matthean Matthew meaning Messiah moral Moses narrative Old Testament one’s original Papias parable Peter Pharisees prayer present promise prophetic reader reading resurrection saints scholars significance spiritual story of Jesus symbolic synoptic gospels Tatian teaching Temple theological understanding words writing written