BOOK REVIEW

The Written Gospel

The Written Gospel, Markus Bockmuehl & Donald A. Hagner (ed.), Cambridge: CUP, 2005, 386 pp

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1. Introduction
2. Content
3. The three most notable articles
4. Importance of the publication for the pastor or seminary student
5. Evaluation: Strengths
6. Evaluation: Weaknesses

Introduction
This book was written by friends and colleagues of Prof Graham Stanton ( London) on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Stanton is an expert in the gospels and has written about 75 publications during his 35 year career.

Content
The main theme of the book is the written form of the gospel of Jesus. There are three main divisions describing the period before the four gospels were written; the process of writing them; and commentaries and other gospels after the four were written.

The section concerning before the four were written deals with the themes of the idea of the gospel in Herodian Judea, the gospel or message of Jesus, the introductory material for the background document Q and the contribution of eye-witness’ memories of Jesus.

After this, the section dealing with the writing of the gospels describes: the different styles and methods of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; why they wrote; and the form in which the authors introduce and conclude their gospels.

The last section, after the writing of the gospels, consists of articles on the reception of the gospels amongst Jews and amongst pagans; the existence of gospels outside of the four and how the four relate to them; and finally an essay on the first commentaries on the gospels.

The three most notable articles
Morna Hooker´s essay showing the significance of the beginnings and endings of the gospels is most helpful in interpreting these books. She shows that the introductions touch on themes which are subsequently developed in the gospel. The gospel conclusions are written in an open-ended way which produces a response on the part of the reader. It is interesting how she describes John´s supposed appendix, John 21, as actually an example of the many other things that Jesus did, as John concludes in 20:30,31.

Loveday Alexander writes about the reception of the gospels in the pagan world and shows how ridiculous the story of Jesus at first appeared. The earliest pagan artistic representation of Jesus was a graffiti of the crucifixion, showed Christ with an ass’s head, with the inscription, “Alexamenos is worshipping his god”. However the philosophers noted that Christ’s teachings could enable uneducated Christians to reach the three cardinal virtues of courage, temperance and justice.

Craig Evans’ article is on “How Mark writes” contains much interesting material. The writer notes for example, Mark’s Semitic style; his “sandwich” technique in interrupting a narrative account to introduce some contrasting material; and the dividing the gospel into two main sections each introduced by the voice of the Father from heaven (1:11; 9:7).

A number of other articles would vie to be included amongst the best three. The ones on the first commentaries on the gospels and on the existence of other extra conoical gospel accounts, were excellent.

Importance of the publication for the pastor or seminary student
The publication introduces readers to current academic thinking on the gospels but with insights that are useful for teaching and writing on the gospels. Although written from a University environment, it is of help to the pastor in understanding the evangelists and how they wrote.

And for the evangelist, some of the articles show the apologetic value of the gospels in the ancient world and the difficulty of their reception amongst Jews, and as being treated as idiocy by the pagans. This book also touches indirectly on some much debated subjects today, such as the Gospel of Judas, and the Da Vinci Code.

Evaluation

Strengths

1. Provides a good introduction to different themes concerning the gospels and their setting in the ancient world.

2. All the articles are of high academic quality. An indicator of this is that there are more than 700 titles in the bibliography.

3. At least half the articles are particularly of interest for the pastor, student or evangelist. The publication is academic but retains its relevancy simply because of the theme it deals with.

Weaknesses

1. About four of the articles either do not deal with their subject in the best way or are not that relevant. For example, the question of whether the introductory material for Q was written or oral.

2. Approximately 20% of the book consists of bibliographies, indices or footnotes. It is a pity that this could not have been compressed to allow space for another article.

3. The publication suffered from the common problem associated with works compiled from multiple authors. There tends to be a lack of fluidity of thought connecting the chapters resulting in a lack of overall purpose.

David E. C. Ford,   lecturer,   Seminario Evangélico de Lima,   Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia