The Gospels and Jesus

by Graham N. Stanton

Jesus of Nazareth and the four New Testament gospels continue to fascinate people from many cultural and religious backgrounds. Here, Stanton assesses the reliability of the evangelist's portraits of Jesus, and explores his teaching, intentions, and the reasons for his downfall. A leading specialist on the gospels, Stanton sheds new light on the topic.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Christianity, Nonfiction, Christian, Faith, New Testament

338 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 1989

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another book I have just finished for my New Testament: Gospels class. I wasn't a huge fan of this one, though I respect it. Stanton is clearly a dedicated, thoughtful Biblical scholar. I appreciated how he portrays many perspectives and interpretations other than his own, and I feel I learned a lot about contemporary scholarly opinion. However, he has some habits which rubbed me the wrong way. For one, he often makes statements along the lines of, "We can be confident that..." without offering any evidence for his point. Similarly, he on several occasions tries to recreate Jesus' original statements as he argues they would have been before later modification, but his recreations seem loaded with assumptions and highly questionable.

[Matthew Prydden · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the whole this was a really good introduction to how the Gospels work together in depicting the Person of Jesus. The individual Gospel summaries were clear and helpful and the exploration of the various themes found within the Gospels were also a good introduction to the various ideas and conclusions that are generally made. My big complaint is that the author seemed to be trying to "play it safe" with some of his own summaries, so as not to offend either higher criticism biblical scholars or those who hold more fastly to the inspiration of the Word of God. As such the appeasement of higher criticism (which may very well be reflective of the author's considered position) erodes into the authority of the Bible and as such the effected summaries and conclusions were a disappoint to myself.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began reading this book on Christmas Day, and found it hard to put down. Graham Stanton's portraits of the four evangelists gospels are so well balanced and excellently constructed. Here is a book that must be of equal value to the Christian, as it is for historical research.
The author is so accomplished and at home in the N.T., hence he is able to present such a vast amount of research into a coherent and clear format. The gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John are each set out and chronologically analysed as well as showing what is known of their individual origins and purposes. The 2nd edition of this work includes an updated treatment of the Apocraphal Gospels, as well as a fair assessment of modern works in the historical Jesus genre. It's hard to find any stone unturned here, and the understanding of Jesus of Nazareth, that the author refines from the early Christian texts is a fair and well balanced image.
The final sentences of this book sum things up; The historian will find it difficult if not impossible to offer explanations for these startling developments. The first followers of Jesus, however, had their own answers. Only in the light of Resurrection faith and of the gift of the Spirit was it possible to understand the full significance of the story of Jesus.

[Cj Guth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction from a balanced and thoughtful perspective. He draws heavily on redaction criticism, and starts each chapter on the "historical Jesus" with a discussion of the individual gospels' testimony, how they relate to each other, the redaction purposes of the evangelists, etc. Interestingly Stanton makes something of a big point that John's gospel now IS regarded as historically valuable, but does not really engage with it much in his own discussion of the historical Jesus. Also somewhat interesting are his chapters on the individual gospels. Rather than provided an "outline" per se, he gives a sketch of the book as a whole, and then gives a few pages to exegesis of a few key passages in the gospel, which serves to illustrate his point about the whole. The advantage is depth, the disadvantage is a sense of unevenness. Overall, a very sensible textbook.

[Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful for understanding the different views of Jesus presented in the Four Gospels. Provides good historical background for understanding the context in which the books were written. Definitely worthwhile for anyone studying the Gospels.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Straight up historical-critical method baby.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

we shall see...

[Collin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very solid overview of the themes and differences between the gospels and how they talk about Jesus (christology). Extremely careful to avoid controversy.

[David Campton · Rating 3 out of 5]

good overview of the gospels/historical Jesus studies, if a little dull.

[Brent Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introductory text.