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The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
Paperback
Published November 16, 2007
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About the author
Craig L. Blomberg
83 books99 followersDr. Craig Blomberg joined the faculty of Denver Seminary in 1986. He is currently a distinguished professor of New Testament.
Dr. Blomberg completed his Ph.D. in New Testament, specializing in the parables and the writings of Luke-Acts, at Aberdeen University in Scotland. He received an MA from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a BA from Augustana College. Before joining the faculty of Denver Seminary, he taught at Palm Beach Atlantic College and was a research fellow in Cambridge, England with Tyndale House.
In addition to writing numerous articles in professional journals, multi-author works and dictionaries or encyclopedias, he has authored or edited 20 books, including The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, Interpreting the Parables, commentaries on Matthew, 1 Corinthians and James, Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey, From Pentecost to Patmos: An Introduction to Acts through Revelation, Christians in an Age of Wealth: A Biblical Theology of Stewardship, Neither Poverty nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions, Making Sense of the New Testament: Three Crucial Questions, Preaching the Parables, Contagious Holiness: Jesus' Meals with Sinners, and Handbook of New Testament Exegesis.
Dr. Blomberg completed his Ph.D. in New Testament, specializing in the parables and the writings of Luke-Acts, at Aberdeen University in Scotland. He received an MA from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a BA from Augustana College. Before joining the faculty of Denver Seminary, he taught at Palm Beach Atlantic College and was a research fellow in Cambridge, England with Tyndale House.
In addition to writing numerous articles in professional journals, multi-author works and dictionaries or encyclopedias, he has authored or edited 20 books, including The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, Interpreting the Parables, commentaries on Matthew, 1 Corinthians and James, Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey, From Pentecost to Patmos: An Introduction to Acts through Revelation, Christians in an Age of Wealth: A Biblical Theology of Stewardship, Neither Poverty nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions, Making Sense of the New Testament: Three Crucial Questions, Preaching the Parables, Contagious Holiness: Jesus' Meals with Sinners, and Handbook of New Testament Exegesis.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 8, 2024
A NEW TESTAMENT PROFESSOR LOOKS CRITICALLY (BUT IN AN "ORTHODOX" MANNER) AT THE GOSPELS,
Craig L. Blomberg is Professor of the New Testament at Denver Seminary in Colorado; he has also written other books such as 'Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey,' 'Introduction to Biblical Interpretation,' 'The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, etc.
'
He wrote in the Preface to this 1987 book, "From 1980 to 1986 a series of six volumes entitled 'Gospel Perspectives' has appeared from Sheffield University's JSOT Press. All six address the question of the historical reliability of the gospels at a technical, scholarly level... The present book was born out of the desire to disseminate the findings of 'Gospel Perspectives' to a wider audience at a somewhat more popular level. It is geared especially for the new theological student and the educated lay person, but its wide-ranging survey may be of value to scholars and pastors as well."
He says in the Introduction about C.S. Lewis's famous "trilemma" [found in Mere Christianity], "The problem with this argument is that it assumes what is regularly denied, namely, that the gospels give entirely accurate accounts of the actions and claims of Jesus. One can preserve Lewis's alliteration and introduce a fourth option---the stories about Jesus were legends. This option represents the most common current explanation of the more spectacular deeds and extravagant claims of Jesus in the gospels: they were the product of the early church's desire to glorify him, and so it exaggerated its portraits of him above and beyond what the facts permitted. Unless one can successfully dismiss this alternative, one cannot appeal to Lewis's apologetic. An examination of the gospels' historical reliability must therefore precede a credible assessment of who Jesus was." (Pg. xx)
He provides "a working hypothesis for the entire Synoptic tradition: there is every reason to believe that many of the sayings and actions of Jesus would have been very carefully safeguarded in the first decades of the church's history, not so slavishly as to hamper freedom to paraphrase, explain, abbreviate and rearrange, but faithfully enough to produce reliable accounts of those facets of Christ's ministry selected for preservation." (Pg. 30-31)
He admits, "Why the evangelists omitted certain stories or episodes from the life of Christ which their sources contained is almost always an impossible question to answer. Did Luke pass over all of Jesus' 'withdrawal from Galilee' (Mk 6:45-8:26) because he was structuring his gospel along the lines of a geographical outline ... Or did he delete it for a more practical reason, knowing that he wanted to add a lot of non-Marcan material to his gospel and that the typical size scroll could contain little more than the amount of detail which he finally did include? Both suggestions are plausible but neither is demonstrable." (Pg. 130)
He points out, "the style of John's writing differs markedly from that of the Synoptics. Jesus' language is indistinguishable from John's. Both refer regularly to such themes as light, life, witness, truth, glory, election, knowledge, abiding, the word, and the world, topics which are relatively uncommon in the first three gospels. In the discussion with Nicodemus, for example, one cannot even be sure at what point Jesus' words end and John's narrative resumes... Further, John's Jesus regularly speaks in extended discourses rather than the short, proverbial sayings so well-known to readers of the Synoptics... So also John 21 reads like an afterthought appended to the original conclusion of the gospel in 20:30-31." (Pg. 155)
Blomberg doesn't avoid the "hard" questions, even though he ultimately arrives at entirely "orthodox" conclusions. This book will be of great value to a great variety of Christians, looking for a critical treatment of the gospels.
Craig L. Blomberg is Professor of the New Testament at Denver Seminary in Colorado; he has also written other books such as 'Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey,' 'Introduction to Biblical Interpretation,' 'The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, etc.
'
He wrote in the Preface to this 1987 book, "From 1980 to 1986 a series of six volumes entitled 'Gospel Perspectives' has appeared from Sheffield University's JSOT Press. All six address the question of the historical reliability of the gospels at a technical, scholarly level... The present book was born out of the desire to disseminate the findings of 'Gospel Perspectives' to a wider audience at a somewhat more popular level. It is geared especially for the new theological student and the educated lay person, but its wide-ranging survey may be of value to scholars and pastors as well."
He says in the Introduction about C.S. Lewis's famous "trilemma" [found in Mere Christianity], "The problem with this argument is that it assumes what is regularly denied, namely, that the gospels give entirely accurate accounts of the actions and claims of Jesus. One can preserve Lewis's alliteration and introduce a fourth option---the stories about Jesus were legends. This option represents the most common current explanation of the more spectacular deeds and extravagant claims of Jesus in the gospels: they were the product of the early church's desire to glorify him, and so it exaggerated its portraits of him above and beyond what the facts permitted. Unless one can successfully dismiss this alternative, one cannot appeal to Lewis's apologetic. An examination of the gospels' historical reliability must therefore precede a credible assessment of who Jesus was." (Pg. xx)
He provides "a working hypothesis for the entire Synoptic tradition: there is every reason to believe that many of the sayings and actions of Jesus would have been very carefully safeguarded in the first decades of the church's history, not so slavishly as to hamper freedom to paraphrase, explain, abbreviate and rearrange, but faithfully enough to produce reliable accounts of those facets of Christ's ministry selected for preservation." (Pg. 30-31)
He admits, "Why the evangelists omitted certain stories or episodes from the life of Christ which their sources contained is almost always an impossible question to answer. Did Luke pass over all of Jesus' 'withdrawal from Galilee' (Mk 6:45-8:26) because he was structuring his gospel along the lines of a geographical outline ... Or did he delete it for a more practical reason, knowing that he wanted to add a lot of non-Marcan material to his gospel and that the typical size scroll could contain little more than the amount of detail which he finally did include? Both suggestions are plausible but neither is demonstrable." (Pg. 130)
He points out, "the style of John's writing differs markedly from that of the Synoptics. Jesus' language is indistinguishable from John's. Both refer regularly to such themes as light, life, witness, truth, glory, election, knowledge, abiding, the word, and the world, topics which are relatively uncommon in the first three gospels. In the discussion with Nicodemus, for example, one cannot even be sure at what point Jesus' words end and John's narrative resumes... Further, John's Jesus regularly speaks in extended discourses rather than the short, proverbial sayings so well-known to readers of the Synoptics... So also John 21 reads like an afterthought appended to the original conclusion of the gospel in 20:30-31." (Pg. 155)
Blomberg doesn't avoid the "hard" questions, even though he ultimately arrives at entirely "orthodox" conclusions. This book will be of great value to a great variety of Christians, looking for a critical treatment of the gospels.
Displaying 1 of 1 review