The Written Gospel (review)

Though not indicated within the title, this volume was compiled in honor of Graham N. Stanton, Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, for his sixty-fifth birthday. Its editors have gathered a fine collection of articles with broad reference to the compilation, nature, content, and setting of the New Testament Gospels. The text is well edited, featuring fifteen essays together with a list of Stanton's publications, a copious bibliography of sources, and extensive indices.

The reader will recognize a notable list of contributors, including a preponderance of British scholars and, hence, perspectives primarily associated with schools of thought from that tradition. At the same time, there are several contributions by North American scholars and a single voice from the German tradition.

The volume has been divided into three sections entitled "Before Writing" on the status of gospel questions prior to publication, "Writing the Four Gospels" on specific New Testament Gospels and their features, and "After Writing" on the early history of canonical gospel texts and their non-canonical influences. "Before Writing" includes four contributions. In an opening essay, "'Gospel' in Herodian Judaea," William Horbury presents an impressive study of semantic meanings for the term "gospel" as understood in the Hebrew-Aramaic-Greek world of the first century and concludes that the idea was widely recognized by the time of our canonical gospels. This is followed by Klyne Snodgrass's "The Gospel of Jesus," which identifies and reviews four particular foci of Jesus' own gospel message: celebration, compassion, the role of Israel, and (most importantly) the Kingdom of God. James D. G. Dunn ("Q¹ as Oral Tradition") thereafter explores John Kloppenborg's earliest stratum of the hypothetical Q source, arguing for the oral nature of the tradition rather than for a strictly literary format. Finally, the volume's lone continental voice, Martin Hengel ("Eye-Witness Memory and the Writing of the Gospels: . . ."), endorses the value of community memory and oral testimony behind the preservation of the teachings of Jesus against the limitations of traditional analyses of the gospels, with a special critique of form criticism's restrictions.

The middle portion of the volume, "Writing the Four Gospels," includes six impressive studies. In an analysis of the persistent problems that confront readers about the background of the gospels, Richard A. Burridge ("Who Writes, Why, and for Whom?") explores varied approaches to the issue, remaining with his long-held view that the gospels belong in some sense to the ancient biographical genre. Four essays follow, each dedicated to a specific gospel text. Richard C. Beaton ("How Matthew Writes") assesses compositional technique in Matthew in comparison with Mark, concluding that the author preserves tradition yet reinterprets it to create a new gospel. Craig A. Evans ("How Mark Writes") examines the evangelist's use of misplaced gar phrases, the so-called Markan sandwich phenomenon, and the bipartite structure of the text. David P. Moessner ("How Luke Writes") reflects on what and why the author wrote, focusing upon beginnings and endings, the nature of travel motifs, and the role of the dual Gospel-Acts narrative. And Judith Lieu ("How John Writes") wrestles with the spiritual dimension of the text's reinterpretation of the gospel message as suggested by Clement of Alexandria. These articles provide a useful introduction to the nature of the canonical gospels. Lastly, Morna D. Hooker ("Beginnings and Endings") deftly inspects the openings and closings of the gospels, noting their traditional nature and unique elements strewn throughout.

The final portion of the book, "After Writing," focuses on the reception of the canonical gospels within the Mediterranean setting. Companion pieces open the section. James Carleton Paget ("The Four among Jews") reviews the varied, if limited, Jewish reaction to early Christians, noting the broadly negative response found there, while...