The Fourth Synoptic Gospel

 

I have written a new book! I'm afraid it takes me a while, especially as I have been in university administration for some years. Even without that, it does not come easy, and I don't even write these massive books like my friends and colleagues write. This one is about John's knowledge of the Synoptics. 

I joke in the preface that it's the third part of my trilogy. The first part, The Case Against Q (2002), argued that Luke knew Matthew and Mark. The second part, Thomas and the Gospels (2012), argued that the Gospel of Thomas knew the Synoptics. This book argues that John's Gospel likewise used all three Synoptic Gospels. 

It's a joke because I had no plan at all, but rather followed the research wherever it lead. My interest in Gospel interrelations helped me to see, I hope, some links between the Gospel of Thomas and the Synoptics that others might have missed. And this book is not a million miles away from that.

I argue in the new book that John's Gospel knew the Synoptics, presupposed their narratives, dramatically transformed them, and Christologically absorbed them. 

The Fourth Synoptic Gospel actually began as the Speaker's Lectures in Biblical Studies in Oxford in 2017. There are only seven chapters in the book, and four of the them are expansions of those lectures. I also tried my ideas out in multiple other forums, and I promise to acknowledge those in future blogs. 

I hope to blog and podcast about the book some more in the coming weeks. 

In the meantime, here are some links:

The Fourth Synoptic Gospel (Amazon)

The Fourth Synoptic Gospel (Eerdmans)