The Gospels As Historical Documents The Early Use Of The Gospels 1903

First published in 1930, this second volume in a three-part series examines the Synoptic problem.

Wilbert Howard was a noted expositor of the Fourth Gospel, and in this book he proved a sure guide for students and general readers through the mazes of historical and internal criticism as these affected the interpretation of this Gospel. His untimely passing robbed the Biblical world of a sure expositor and careful investigator. C. K. Barrett added sections of his own to take proper account of following work, through 1961, on the problem of the Fourth Gospel.

Johannine Writings and Apocalyptic provides a wide-ranging and thorough annotated bibliography for John's Gospel, the Johannine letters, Revelation, and apocalyptic writings pertinent to these books. More inclusive than many other bibliographies, this volume provides reference to over 1300 individual entries, often including references to multiple works with a given description. Annotations are designed to provide guidance to a wide range of readers, from students wishing to gain entry to the subject to graduate students engaging in research to professors needing ready access to useful materials. The volume is topically organized and indexed for easy access.

"When and how may Christians first be shown to have used the Gospel of Luke and its companion volume, The Acts of the Apostles? Andrew Gregory offers the first book-length discussion of the reception of Luke and of Acts in the period before Irenaeus. The research project which was the basis of this monograph was originally conceived as a comparison of the pneumatology of Luke-Acts with the pneumatologies presented in Christian literature of the second century. Recent scholarship on Lukan pneumatology is agreed that Luke has a particular interest in the Spirit, but it is divided as to whether his pneumatology is part of a homogenous early Christian understanding or a distinctive presentation that is to be sharply differentiated from that of Matthew and Mark, of John, and of Paul. Noting a lacuna identified by Turner, the author set out to originally ask two questions. First, whether it might be possible to identify in second century pneumatologies any characteristics that New Testament scholars might label as distinctively Lukan. Second, whether such characteristics might be sufficient to indicate not only the influence of Lukan pneumatology but also a conscious appropriation of distinctively Lukan theology by other early Christians. Contents include: Introduction and methodology, Previous research, The evidence of the earliest manuscripts and notices, Do narrative outlines of episodes in the life of Jesus presuppose Luke?, Collections of the sayings of Jesus, Marcion, Justin Martyr, The reception of Luke in the Second Century, The reception of Acts in the Second Century, Early and Ambiguous Evidence, Justin Martyr, Narrative accounts explicitly concerning the Post-resurrection teaching of Jesus and the activity of Apostles and other prominent figures, The reception of Acts in the Period before Irenaeus, The reception of Luke and Acts in the Period before Irenaeus."

This book shows how Irenaeus creatively selects and develops distinctive Matthean material, within his interpretive networks of other biblical texts in order to verbally and conceptually oppose the theses of the heretics and provide helpful language for his expression of the church's faith. He is attracted to this Matthean material not because it holds an extraordinary place in the canon, but because in his view each gospel makes a distinctive, but equal contribution to the church's canon and polemic. Irenaeus sees some of Matthew's distinctive contributions in terms of language which emphasizes Christ's humanity and virgin birth, explains the theological and economical unity of the two covenants, and opposes the heretics' cosmological, anthropological, Christological, theological, and economical dualism. Although the bishop works within the framework of the church's tradition, the interpretive inter-textual networks he builds, his magnification of particular terms, and his polemic against dualism demonstrate his creative, anti-heretic innovation. Rarely, does he ever merely repeat the thought of a predecessor. Irenaeus exegetes Matthew for the church within a particular milieu, using a methodology of inter-textual connection common to his milieu, and developing theological language which counters the heretics of his milieu.