Reading the Gospels Today.Reading the Gospels Today. Edited by Stanley E. Porter. Grand Rapids Grand Rapids, city (1990 pop. 189,126), seat of Kent co., SW central Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1850. The second largest city in the state, it is a distribution, wholesale, and industrial center for an area that yields fruit, dairy products, farm produce, , MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2004. xvii and 211 pages. Paper. $24.00. This sixth volume of the McMaster New Testament series includes papers presented at the 2002 Bingham Colloquium col·lo·qui·um n. pl. col·lo·qui·ums or col·lo·qui·a 1. An informal meeting for the exchange of views. 2. An academic seminar on a broad field of study, usually led by a different lecturer at each meeting. at McMaster Divinity College McMaster Divinity College is a Christian seminary in Hamilton, Ontario. It is affiliated with the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, although in practice it is interdenominational, and could be said to more closely align with the broader Evangelical tradition. in Hamilton, Ontario. All except two of the contributors teach in Canada. The first offering by Craig A. Evans, "Sorting Out the Synoptic Problem The synoptic problem concerns the literary relationships between and among the first three canonical gospels (the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke), known as the Synoptic Gospels. Similarity in word choices and event placement shows an interrelationship. : Why an Old Approach Is Still Best," argues for the ongoing benefits of redaction criticism Redaction Criticism, also called Redaktionsgeschichte, Kompositionsgeschichte, or Redaktionstheologie, is a critical method for the study of Bible texts. Redaction criticism regards the author of the text as editor (redactor) of his source material. . In the second paper, "Reading the Gospels and the Quest for the Historical Jesus," Stanley E. Porter investigates the genre of the Gospels, the language of Jesus, and the criteria of authenticity as part of his basic conclusion that the quest for the historical Jesus enriches the reading of the Gospels. Michael Knowles's "Reading Matthew: The Gospel as Oral Performance" and Allan Martens's "Salvation Today: Reading Luke's Message for a Gentile Audience" are both thoughtful essays. Less insightful is Yong-Eui Yang's "Reading Mark 11:12-25 from a Korean Perspective." By far the most creative and even profound contribution, worth the price of the book in my judgment, is "Reading John: The Fourth Gospel under Modern and Postmodern Interrogation interrogation In criminal law, process of formally and systematically questioning a suspect in order to elicit incriminating responses. The process is largely outside the governance of law, though in the U.S. " by Andrew T. Lincoln, Portland Professor of New Testament at the University of Gloucestershire The University of Gloucestershire is a university in Gloucestershire, England, with campuses in Cheltenham and Gloucester. The current Vice-Chancellor is Professor Patricia Broadfoot who succeeded Dame Janet Trotter on 1 September 2006. in the United Kingdom. Lincoln agrees with many scholars that the Fourth Gospel's truth claims about Jesus are inextricably in·ex·tri·ca·ble adj. 1. a. So intricate or entangled as to make escape impossible: an inextricable maze; an inextricable web of deceit. b. tied to the context and struggle of the Johannine community as a "marginalized group" and that "it is not plausible to defend any consistent or detailed one-to-one correspondence between John's narrative and what is likely to have happened in the ministry of Jesus According to the Canonical Gospels, the Ministry of Jesus began when Jesus was around 30 years old, and lasted a period of 1-3 years. In the Biblical narrative, Jesus' method of teaching involved parables, metaphor, allegory, sayings, proverbs, and a small number of direct sermons. " (p. 132). The bulk of Lincoln's essay seeks to demonstrate how the Johannine claim to truth has to be understood in light of ancient biographies' flexibility to incorporate the concerns of the present situation (John's community) by giving voice to these concerns through the words of the founding figure of the past (Jesus) and how the Gospel's repeated "testimony" to the larger truth of who Jesus is as the one sent from the Father can make sense of its "alleged anti-Judaism." "In its original context it is the language of reproach in the face of violence" (p. 141) and as a polemic is designed to push those who did not believe in Jesus to repentance and a new vision. Finally, in the face of the assertion that claims to truth are always related to the power of the group making the claim, Lincoln argues that in John "the power of truth is a quite different sort of power" (p. 145) from that represented in the figure of Pilate who asks "What is truth?" Jesus' power is revealed in "self-giving love" and is confirmed in the nature and life of the Christian community. The final two essays in the book are Lee Martin McDonald's "The Gospels in Early Christianity: Their Origin, Use, and Authority" (tracing their use in the second to fourth centuries C.E.) and Al Wolters's "Reading the Gospels Canonically: A Methodological Dialogue with Brevard Childs" (demonstrating the limitations of Childs's canonical criticism). On the whole, the teaching scholars represented in this volume are less suspicious of the historical value of the Gospels than many published scholars in the United States. Though the other essays were worth reading, I found Lincoln's essay on John by far the most valuable. James L. Bailey, Professor Emeritus Wartburg Theological Seminary Wartburg Theological Seminary is a Lutheran (ELCA) seminary located in Dubuque, Iowa. Mission Statement Wartburg Theological Seminary serves the mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America by being a worship-centered community of critical theological reflection |
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