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The Complete Gospels Introduction

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Abbreviations The Complete Gospels Introduction I i Acts Acts 1-2 Kgs 1-2 Kings The Complete Gospels offers its readers several unique features. Amos,Am Amos Lam Lamentations This volume is the premier publication of the Scholars Version translation Bar Baruch Lev,Lv Leviticus of the gospels. SV, as it will be known, is a fresh translation of the original B.C.H. before the Common Era Luke, Lk Gospel of Luke languages into idiomatic American En~lish and is entirely free of eccle- C.H. of the Cpmmon Era LXX the Septuagint, the Greek 1-2 Chr 1-2 Chronicles translation of the OT siastical control. J ., Col Colossians 1-2 Macc,Mc 1-2 Maccabees The Complete Gospels is also the only publication including both the can- 1-2 Cor 1-2 Corinthians Mal Malachi onical gospels and their principal extracanonical counterparts under one i Mark,Mk Gospel of Mark I Dan,Dn Daniel cover. The other gospels are presented in fresh translations and with informa- I Deut,Dt Deuteronomy Mary Gospel of Mary DialSav, DSav Dialogue of the Savior Matt, Mt Gospel of Matthew tive notes prepared for the general reader. Eccl Ecclesiastes Mic,Mc Micah The Complete Gospels is the first publication for the general reader of the EgerG Egerton Gospel ms(s) manuscript(s) Signs Gospel, which many believe underlies the canonical Gospel of John. Ephesians Nah,Na Nahum Eph The Signs Gospel is thus older than John. 2 Esd 2 Esdras Neh Nehemiah Esth, Est Esther NT New Testament The Complete Gospels is also the first publication of the miscellaneous Exod,Ex Exodus Num,Nm Numbers collection we call "Orphan Sayings and Stories" -anecdotes and sayings that Ezek, Ez Ezekiel Obad,Ob Obadiah never found a firm place in the manuscript tradition of any particular gospel, Ezra, Ezr Ezra OT Old Testament but which nevertheless survived as notes in one or more manus~ripts. Gal Galatians Pet Gospel of Peter GEbi Gospel of the Ebionites 1-2 Pet 1-2 Peter The Complete Gospels also contains the Sayings Gospel Q laid out in parallel Gen,Gn Genesis Phil Philippians columns, with matched lines. By including both the Matthean and Lukan ver- GHeb Gospel of the Hebrews Phlm Philemon sions of the underlying Q text, the reader is able to see the basis on which Gospel of the Nazoreans POxy Papyrus Oxyrhynchus GNaz scholars have reconstructed the Q gospel. • GOxy 840 Gospel Oxyrhynchus 840 Prov,Prv Proverbs GOxy 1224 Gospel Oxyrhynchus 1224 Ps(s) Psalms GrThom,GrTh Greek fragments of Thomas Rev,Rv Revelation Hab,Hb Habakkuk Rom Romans What is a gospel? Ruth,Ru Ruth Hag,Hg Haggai The word "gospel" translates the Greek which literally means Heb Hebrews 1-2 Sam, Sm 1-2 Samuel euangelion, Hos Hosea SecJas, SJas Secret Book of James "good news." The term first appears in Christian literature in the letters of InJas Infancy James SecMk,SMk Secret Gospel of Mark Paul, where it already has a technical sense, referring to the message about the InThom Infancy Thomas SG Signs Gospel death, resurrection, and return of Jesus Christ (e.g., 1 Cor 15:1-5). While two Sir Sirach Isa, Is Isaiah of the New Testament gospels use the word "gospel" (it is missing in Luke and Jas James Sus Susanna .Idt Judith SV the Scholars Version .John), they use it to indicate not the written works themselves, but rather the IN Jeremiah translation message preached either by Jesus (in Matthew) or about him (in Mark). Not Job, Jb Job 1-2 Thess, Thes 1-2 Thessalonians lIntil the middle of the second century are documents about the words and Thorn, Th Gospel of Thomas Jocl Joel deeds of Jesus called gospels. .Iohn, .In Gospel ofJohn 1-2 Tim, Tm 1-2 Timothy I l· ~ .Iohn, Jn 1-2-3 John Titus, Ti Titus The New Testament gospels are complex works of literature that draw on a 101luh, Jon Jonah Tob Tobit variety of oral and written sources of tradition, some from Jesus and some IlIlh, .Ios Joshua Wis Wisdom IIbout him, such as miracle stories, collections of his parables and sayings, Zech,Zec Zechariah IudI' Jude traditions about his birth and childhood, and stories about his death and IUdll, JII' Judllrl Zeph,7.ep Zephaniah xvi 1 2 The Complete Gospels Introduction 3 resurrection. These different formats for preserving and transmitting Jesus Oxyrhynchus Gospels 840 and 1224. One gospel (Dialogue of the Savior) has traditions influenced the shape of the New Testament narrative gospels. But numerous gaps in the manuscript and another one (Gospel of Mary) is missing in addition, they each crystallized into distinct literary works in their own about half of its pages. The Gospels of the Hebrews, Ebionites, and N azoreans right, also called gospels, not all of which took the form of narratives. are preserved only in fragments, in the writings of the early Christian authors The Complete Gospels presents examples of these different gospel forms. who quoted from them. The Secret Gospel of Mark is available only in a Besides the four New Testament gospels, there is what may be called a miracle transcription made by an 18th-century scholar. gospel (the Signs Gospel), infancy gospels (the Infancy Gospels of Thomas The other two gospels in this volume (the Signs Gospel and Q) are not even and James), and a passion gospel (Gospel of Peter). There are sayings gospels: "texts" in the strict sense, since we have no manuscript copies of them at all. "Q" (the shorthand designation for the Synoptic Sayings Source), the Gospels They have been reconstructed by being isolated from the larger texts in which of Thomas and Mary, the Secret Book of James, and the Dialogue of the they are embedded: the Signs Gospel from John, and Q from Matthew and Savior. Also included are fragments of gospels whose full character and an­ Luke. cient titles are unknown (the Gospels of the Hebrews, Nazoreans, and Ebionites, the Egerton Gospel and the Oxyrhynchus Gospels 840.and 1224), an esoteric edition of a New Testament gospel (Secret Gospel of Mark), and Beyond the holy four some free-floating Jesus traditions (our so-called Orphan Sayings and Stories). Most who have sought to understand the words and deeds of Jesus and the traditions about him have confined their attention to the New Testament What records have survived? gospels. Those texts are readily available and have been intensively studied. Many interested in Jesus were not even aware of the existence of other gospels, No manuscripts from the hands of the original authors of the gospels survive. or if they knew of them, did not know where to find them. While scholars had All of our gospels, then, come to us at several removes from their authors. access to these documents-they aie called extracanonical gospels because Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John are preserved in about 3,500 manuscripts. 1hey were not included among the so-called canonical gospels-and could Best represented among these manuscripts is the Gospel of John, which was a study them in the original languages, the vast majority tended to dismiss them favorite in the ancient Christian community as it is in modern times. The as unimportant, on the hasty assumption that all of them were fanciful elab­ Greek texts behind our English translation is a reconstruction produced by orations based on the New Testament gospels, or at least came from a much patient and exacting comparison of thousands of differences in wording later period. However, research in the last several decades has significantly among the numerous copies. Most ofthe other gospels, however, come to us hroadened our understanding of the diversity and complexity of the early Jesus from the ancient world on the most meager of surviving records. traditions. Scholars now find it necessary to turn to the extracanonical gospels • Of the sixteen other gospels in this volume, only two are amply represented to learn about the development of even the earliest Jesus traditions. These by surviving manuscripts. They are the two infancy gospels, Thomas and t("xts disclose to us how Christian communities gathered, arranged, modified, James. The number of extant copies witnesses to the popularity of stories (·mbellished, interpreted, and created traditions about the teachings and deeds about the birth of Mary, Jesus, and the wondrous activities of the young Jesus. of Jesus. All of the intracanonical and extracanonical texts in'this volume are Seven of our gospels are known to us on the basis of a single precious witnesses to early Jesus traditions. All of them contain traditions independent manuscript each: Gospel of Peter, Secret Book of James, Dialogue of the of the New Testament gospels. Savior, the Egerton Gospel, Secret Gospel of Mark, and the Oxyrhynchus Gospels 840 and 1224. The Gospel of Thomas is preserved in full form only in Coptic, but it has also survived in three important Greek fragments, which A uthorized and canonical attest to the fact that it was originally written in Greek. The Gospel of Mary is I luring the first few centuries after Jesus, most Christian communities, if they known in both Coptic and Greek fragments. w("n· fortunate enough to possess written gospels at all, contented themselves Some of our gospels are not even preserved in their original language. All wilh one or more of the four major gospels. These predominant narratives but one of them originally were written in Greek, but the Gospel of Thomas ("v("lltually gained formal ecclesiastical approval in the fourth century with a (t'xccpt for the Greek fragments), the Secret Book of James, and the Dialogue IlIlill~ by the Greek-speaking hierarchy that the only gospels authorized for of tht' Savior are known to us only in Coptic translation.
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