What is a gospel? /Francis Watson.
- Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, (c)2022.
- xvii, 335 pages ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographies and index.
1. What Is a Gospel? -- 2. Seven Ways to Dispose of Judas Iscariot -- 3. How Did Mark Survive? -- 4. Does Luke Need Q? -- 5. Q and the Logia -- 6. Luke Rewriting and Rewritten -- 7. The Gospel of the Apostles -- 8. Jesus versus the Lawgiver -- 9. Making Sense of the Betrayer -- 10. Reception as Corruption -- 11. Toward a Redaction-Critical Reading of the Diatessaron Gospel -- 12. Lindisfarne and the Art of the Fourfold Gospel -- 13. Eschatology and the Twentieth Century -- 14. A Reply to My Critics.
When Christians speak of "the gospels" they're usually referring to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Other ancient writings about the life of Jesus are generally considered noncanonical or heretical. But what if these other gospel writings-including the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Judas, and the Protevangelium of James-aren't fundamentally different from the four canonical gospels? In this follow-up to Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective, noted biblical scholar Francis Watson makes the case that viewing early gospel literature as a unified genre-sharing significant similarities in sources, content, and goals-allows us to discern important interrelated aspects that are lost amid the usual categories. Watson's critical approach enables modern readers of the Bible to break free of fraught scholarly assumptions in order to better understand early Christian identity formation and beliefs.
9780802872920
2021048533
Jesus Christ.
Bible.--Gospels--Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Apocryphal books (New Testament)--Criticism, interpretation, etc. Christian literature, Early--History and criticism.