Who Chose The Gospel?

Author: C E Hill
Publisher: Oxford University Press
A lively explanation of how and when only four gospels came to be part of the biblical canon Critically examines some of the foundational scholarship used to support and promote the impression that many popular gospels were forceably excluded from the canon Gives pointers to the context in which the early copies of the gospels survived, drawing on archaeological evidence and current understandings of manuscript traditions Uses many extracts from the writings of the Early Christian Fathers to question how the early church viewed the gospel texts The Bible contains four Gospels which tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth. And yet, many more Gospels once existed. Who, then, determined which Gospels would, for the next two thousand years, serve as the main gateways to Jesus and his teaching? Recent books and films have traced the decision to a series of fourth-century councils and powerful bishops. After achieving victory over their rivals for the Christian name, these key players, we are now told, conspired to 'rewrite history' to make it look like their version of Christianity was the original one preached by Jesus and his apostles: the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John became the prime tools for their re-sculpting of the Christian story, leading to the destruction of previously treasured writings like the Gospels of Judas, Mary, and Thomas. Are the four canonical Gospels, then, in the Bible as the result of a great, ecclesiastical conspiracy? Or does this explanation itself represent another 'rewriting of history', this time by a group of modern academics? Who Chose the Gospels? takes us to the scholarship behind the headlines, examining the great (and ongoing) controversy about how to look at ancient books about Jesus. How the four Biblical Gospels emerged into prominence among their competitors is a crucial question for everyone interested in understanding the historical Jesus and the development of the Christian church. Readership: General readers with an interest in the origins of the Bible: students and scholars of New Testament studies; of early Christianity