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2 - The Fourfold Gospel

from Part I - Approaching the Gospels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2021

By
Francis Watson
Edited by
Stephen C. Barton  and
Todd Brewer
Stephen C. Barton
Affiliation:
University of Durham
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Summary

Investigates the proliferating texts and traditions about Jesus in the early church and the decision in favour of the canonical four. By examining the competing options, the decision in favour of a fourfold gospel is seen as a decision for plurality within limits: the limits sustaining the coherence of the apostolic testimony to Jesus, and the plurality allowing the richness and complexity of the truth about Jesus to be displayed.

Keywords

fourfold gospelnon-canonical gospelsMarcionTatianOrigenAugustineNew Testament canonGospel of ThomasDiatessaron
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Gospels , pp. 29 - 49
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Bockmuehl, Markus, and Hagner, Donald A., eds., The Written Gospel (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005).Google Scholar
Bockmuehl, Markus, Ancient Apocryphal Gospels (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2017).Google Scholar
Ehrman, Bart D., Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).Google Scholar
Ehrman, Bart D., and Pleše, Zlatko, The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).Google Scholar
Gamble, Harry Y., The New Testament Canon: Its Making and Meaning (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985).Google Scholar
Hengel, Martin, The Four Gospels and the One Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Investigation of the Collection and Origin of the Canonical Gospels, ET (London: SCM Press, 2000).Google Scholar
Watson, Francis, Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013).Google Scholar
Watson, Francis, The Fourfold Gospel: A Theological Reading of the New Testament Portraits of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016).Google Scholar
Watson, Francis, and Parkhouse, Sarah, eds., Connecting Gospels: Beyond the Canonical/Non-canonical Divide (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).Google Scholar

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