The Gospels

1. What is the most persuasive view of the literary relationships, or lack thereof, among the Synoptic Gospels, and what is at stake in the search for a solution to the Synoptic Problem?

A synopsis, which prints parallel texts from the Gospels in parallel columns, may be helpful: Aland, Kurt, ed. Synopsis of the Four Gospels (Greek/English; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994). This resource may be found at the Bodleian and Theology Faculty libraries.

Note: Mark Goodacre, who does not find the theory of Q persuasive, has a comprehensive website of sources for studying Q: http://www.ntgateway.com/synoptic-problem-and-q/websites/, as well as several excellent podcasts that introduce the debate: http://podacre.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Q

*Baum, A. D. “Synoptic Problem.” Pages 911-19 in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. 2d. ed.Ed. Joel B. Green. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2013.           

*Fitzmyer, Joseph A. “The Priority of Mark and the ‘Q’ Source in Luke.” Pages 3-40 in To Advance the Gospel: New Testament Studies. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

Foster, Paul, Andrew Gregory, John S. Kloppenborg, and Joseph A. Verheyden, eds. New Studies in the Synoptic Problem. BETL 239. Leuven: Peeters, 2011

*Goodacre, Mark S. The Synoptic Problem: A Way through the Maze. London: T&T Clark, 2001.

Goodacre, Mark S. and Nicholas Perrin, eds. Questioning Q. London: SPCK, 2004.

Kloppenborg, John S. Excavating Q: The History and Setting of the Sayings Gospel. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000. (Especially chapter 1)

*Kloppenborg, John S. and Joseph Verheyden, eds. Theological and Theoretical Issues in the Synoptic Problem. London: T&T Clark, 2020. On SOLO (Especially chapter 1 by Tuckett)

Parks, Sara. Gender in the Rhetoric of Jesus: Women in Q. London: Lexington/Fortress, 2019. On SOLO

*Porter, Stanley E. and Bryan R. Dyer, eds. The Synoptic Problem: Four Views. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2016. On SOLO

Strickland, Michael. “When (and How) English-speaking Evangelicals Embraced Q.” Themelios 43 (2018): 72-86. On SOLO

Tuckett, C. M. Q and the History of Early Christianity. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996. (especially pp. 16-40)

Tupamahu, Ekaputra. “The Stubborn Invisibility of Whiteness in Biblical Scholarship.” (https://politicaltheology.com/the-stubborn-invisibility-of-whiteness-in-biblical-scholarship/

1. What is the relationship between Jesus’ teaching and Torah in the Gospel of Matthew?

*Blanton, Thomas R. “Saved by Obedience: Matthew 1:21 in Light of Jesus’ Teaching on the Torah.” JBL 132 (2013): 393-413. On SOLO

Carlston, Charles E. and Craig A. Evans. From Synagogue to Ecclesia: Matthew’s Community at the Crossroads. WUNT 334. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014. On SOLO  (Especially part two)

*Deines, Roland. “Not the Law but the Messiah: Law and Righteousness in the Gospel ofMatthew–An Ongoing Debate.” Pages 53-84 in Built upon the Rock: Studies in the Gospel of Matthew. Eds. Daniel M. Gurtner and John Nolland. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.

Foster, Paul. Community, Law and Mission in Matthew’s Gospel. WUNT II/177. Tübingen: MohrSiebeck, 2004.

*Hays, Richard B. Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016. (especially ch. 2)

Loader, William R. G. Jesus’ Attitude Towards the Law: A Study of the Gospels. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. On SOLO

Luz, Ulrich. The Theology of the Gospel of Matthew. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. On SOLO 

Pennington, Jonathan T. The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2018. On SOLO 

*Runesson, Anders and Daniel M. Gurtner, eds. Matthew within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel. Atlanta: SBL, 2020. On SOLO (especially part I, essays by Crossley, Ryan, and Cohen)

1. What is ‘the church’ supposed to look like according to Matthew?

*Ascough, Richard S. “Matthew and Community Formation.” Pages 96-126 in The Gospel of Matthew in Current Study: Studies in Memory of William G. Thompson, S.J. Ed. D. E. Aune. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.

Brown, Jeannine K. The Disciples in Narrative Perspective: The Portrayal and Function of the Matthean Disciples. SBLAB 9. Atlanta: SBL, 2002.

Carlston, Charles E. and Craig A. Evans. From Synagogue to Ecclesia: Matthew’s Community at the Crossroads. WUNT 334. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014. On SOLO (Especially part three)

*Hagner, Donald A. “Holiness and Ecclesiology: The Church in Matthew.” Pages 40-56 in Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament. Eds. K. Brower and A. Johnson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007. On ORLO

Henning, Bruce. “The Church’s One Foundation? Peter as the Messianic Temple Stone in Matt 16:18.” Pages 77-90 in Practicing Intertextuality: Ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman Exegetical Techniques in the New Testament. Eds. Max J. Lee and B. J. Oropeza. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021.

*Konradt, Matthias. Israel, Church, and the Gentiles in the Gospel of Matthew. Translated by Kathleen Ess. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2014. On SOLO

Runesson, Anders and Daniel M. Gurtner, eds. Matthew within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel. Atlanta: SBL, 2020. On SOLO (especially part II, essays by Runesson, Turner, and Donaldson)

*Sechrest, Love L. “Enemies, Romans, Pigs, and Dogs: Loving the Other in the Gospel of Matthew.” ExAud 31 (2015): 71-105.

Westerholm, Stephen. Understanding Matthew: The Early Christian Worldview of the First Gospel. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.     

1. Is Matthew’s Christ a new David, Moses, Elijah or something altogether greater?

Allison, Dale C. 1993. The New Moses: A Matthean Typology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Beaton, Richard. 2002. Isaiah’s Christ in Matthew’s Gospel. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

Carlston, Charles E. and Craig A. Evans. 2014. in From Synagogue to Ecclesia: Matthew’s Community at the Crossroads. WUNT 334. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.

Gathercole, Simon J. 2006. The Pre-existent Son: Recovering the Christologies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).

Goodacre, Mark. 2008. “Mark, Elijah, the Baptist and Matthew: The Success of the First Intertextual Reading of Mark” in Biblical Interpretation in Early Christian Gospels, Volume 2: The Gospel of Matthew. London: T&T Clark. p73-84.

Keener, Craig. 2009. The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Kingsbury, J. D. 1976. Matthew: Structure Christology and Kingdom. London: SPCK.

Stendahl, K. ‘Quis et unde? An analysis of Matthew 1-2’ in G.N. Stanton (ed), The Interpretation of Matthew (London: SPCK, 1983), 56-66; orig. 1960.

Tuckett, C. M. 2001. Christology and the New Testament: Jesus and his earliest followers Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Wainwright, Elaine M. 2011. ‘Who Do You Say That I Am? A Matthean Response’ in D. R. Burkett (ed.) The Blackwell Companion to Jesus. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 30-46.

1. Compare and contrast the motif of purity in the Gospels of Matthew and John.

Blidstein, Moshe. Purity, Community, and Ritual in Early Christian Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. On SOLO

Repschinski, Boris. “Purity in Matthew, James, and the Didache.” Pages 379-95 in Matthew, James, and Didache: Three Related Documents in Their Jewish and Christian Settings. Eds. Jurgen K. Zangenberg and H. W. M. van de Sandt. Atlanta: SBL, 2008. On SOLO

Rogan, Wil. “Purity in Early Judaism: Current Issues and Questions.” CBR 16 (2018): 309-39. On SOLO

*Rogan, Wil. Purity in the Gospel of John: Early Jewish Tradition, Christology, and Ethics. LNTS 679. London: Bloomsbury, 2023. On SOLO

Runesson, Anders. “Purity, Holiness, and the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew’s Narrative World.” Pages 144-80 in Purity, Holiness, and Identity in Judaism and Christianity: Essays in Memory of Susan Haber. Eds. Carl S. Ehrlich, Anders Runesson, and Eileen M. Schuller. WUNT 305. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013.

*Thiessen, Matthew. Jesus and the Forces of Death: The Gospels’ Portrayal of Ritual Impurity within First-Century Judaism. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2020.

*Wassén, Cecilia. “Moral Impurity in the Gospel of Matthew.” Pages 285-308 in Matthew within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel. Eds. Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner. Atlanta: SBL, 2020. On SOLO

1. What is the fourth evangelist’s attitude to the miracles of Jesus?

*Attridge, Harold A. “Ambiguous Signs, an Anonymous Character, Unanswerable Riddles: The Role of the Unknown in Johannine Epistemology.” NTS 65 (2019): 267-88. On SOLO

*Coloe, Mary L. “John’s Portrait of Jesus.” Pages 64-80 in The Blackwell Companion to Jesus. Ed. Delbert Burkett. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. On SOLO

Fortna, Robert T. The Gospel of Signs: A Reconstruction of the Narrative Source Underlying the Fourth Gospel. SNTSMS 11. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970.

Morgan, Teresa. Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. On SOLO (especially ch. 10, “Pisteuein and Its Relations in the Johannine Corpus)

*van Belle, Gilbert. “The Signs of the Messiah in the Fourth Gospel: The Problem of a ‘Wonder-Working Messiah.’” Pages 159-78 in The Scriptures of Israel in Jewish and Christian Tradition: Essays in Honour of Maarten J. J. Menken. Eds. B. Koet, S. Moyise, and J. Verheyden. NovTSup 148. Leiden: Brill, 2013. On SOLO

Smith, D. Moody. Johannine Christianity: Essays on Its Setting, Sources, and Theology. London:T&T Clark, 2006. On SOLO

Thompson, Marianne Meye. “Word of God, Messiah of Israel, Savior of the World: Learning theIdentity of Jesus from the Gospel of John.” Pages 166-79 in Seeking the Identity of Jesus: A Pilgrimage. Eds. B. R. Gaventa and R. B. Hays. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.

*Thompson, Marianne Meye. “Signs and Faith in the Fourth Gospel.” BBR 1 (1991): 89-108.

Warren, Meredith J. C. “‘When the Christ Appears, Will He Do More Signs Than This Man Has Done?’ (John 7:31): Signs and the Messiah in the Gospel of John?” Pages 229-47 in Reading the Gospel of John’s Christology as Jewish Messianism: Royal, Prophetic, and Divine Messiahs. Eds. Benjamin Reynolds and Gabriele Boccaccini. AJEC 106. Leiden: Brill, 2018. On SOLO

1. “You, though only a human being, are making yourself God” (John 10.33) Does John’s Gospel make Jesus God?

Anderson, Paul N. Riddles of the Fourth Gospel: An Introduction to John. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2011. On SOLO

*Bauckham, Richard J. “Monotheism and Christology in the Gospel of John.” Pages 148-66 in Contours of Christology in the New Testament. Ed. R. N. Longenecker. MNTS 7. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005. On ORLO 

Bauckham, Richard.  J. and Carl Mosser, eds. The Gospel of John and Christian Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008. On ORLO 

*Bieringer, Reimund. “‘…Because the Father Is Greater Than I’ (John 14:28): Johannine Christology in Light of the Relationship between the Father and the Son.” Pages 181-204 in Gospel Images of Jesus Christ in Church Tradition and in Biblical Scholarship: Fifth International East-West Symposium of New Testament Scholars: Minsk, September 2 to 9, 2010. Eds. C. Karakolis, K.-W. Niebuhr, and S. Rogalsky. WUNT 288. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012. On ORLO

*Coloe, Mary L. “John’s Portrait of Jesus.” Pages 64-80 in The Blackwell Companion to Jesus. Ed. Delbert Burkett. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. On SOLO

Heath, Jane. “‘Some Were Saying, ‘He is Good’ (John 7.12b): ‘Good’ Christology in John’s Gospel.” NTS 56 (2010): 513-35. On SOLO

McGrath, James F. John’s Apologetic Christology: Legitimation and Development in Johannine Christology. SNTSMS 111. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. On SOLO

Porter, Stanley E. and Andrew W. Pitts. Johannine Christology. Johannine Studies 3. Leiden: Brill, 2020.  On SOLO

Reynolds, Benjamin and Gabriele Boccaccini, eds. Reading the Gospel of John’s Christology as Jewish Messianism: Royal, Prophetic, and Divine Messiahs. AJEC 106. Leiden: Brill, 2018. On SOLO (especially the essays in part 5)

*Thompson, Marianne Meye. “Word of God, Messiah of Israel, Savior of the World: Learning the Identity of Jesus from the Gospel of John.” Pages 166-79 in Seeking the Identity of Jesus: A Pilgrimage. Ed. B. R. Gaventa and R. B. Hays. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.

1. What does Jesus’ death accomplish in John?

Ajer, Peter C. The Death of Jesus and the Politics of Place in the Gospel of John. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2016. On SOLO in dissertation form

De Boer, Martinus C. Johannine Perspectives on the Death of Jesus. BET 17. Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1996.

*Dennis, John. “Jesus’ Death in John’s Gospel: A Survey of Research from Bultmann to the Present with Special Reference to the Johannine Hyper-Texts.” BBR 4 (2006): 331-63. On SOLO

*Green, Joel B. and John T. Carroll. The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007.

Koester, Craig R. “Why Was the Messiah Crucified? A Study of God, Jesus, Satan, and Human Agency.” Pages 163-80 in The Death of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Ed. Gilbert van Belle. BETL 200. Leuven: Peeters, 2007. On ORLO

Koester, Craig R. and Reimund Bieringer, eds. The Resurrection of Jesus in the Gospel of John. WUNT 222. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008.

Morris, Leon. “The Atonement in John’s Gospel.” CTR 3 (1988): 49-64. Google drive

Ripley, Jason. “Atonement and Martyrdom in the Gospel of John.” HBT 42 (2020): 58-89. On SOLO

*Sousa, Matthew E. Sin, the Human Predicament, and Salvation in the Gospel of John. LNTS 647. London: T&T Clark, 2021. On SOLO

Williams, Catrin H. “‘Seeing,’ Salvation, and the Use of Scripture in the Gospel of John: Intertextual Perspectives on the Johannine Understanding of Jesus’ Death.” Pages 131-54 in Atonement: Jewish and Christian Origins. Eds. Max Botner, Justin Harrison Duff, and Simon Dürr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020. On SOLO

2103: Recommended Reading

Commentaries on Matthew

Davies, W. D. and Dale C. Allison. 1988-97. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew. ICC 3 vols. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.

Evans, Craig A. 2012. Matthew. New Cambridge Bible commentary. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

France, R. T. 2007. The Gospel of Matthew. NICNT. Grand Rapids/Cambridge: Eerdmans.

Luz, Ulrich. 2001-2007. Matthew. Trans. J. E. Crouch. Hermeneia. 4 vols. (Vol. 1, rev. edn.). Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress.

Nolland, John. 2005. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Wilson, Walter T. The Gospel of Matthew. 2 vols. Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids:            Eerdmans, 2022.

Commentaries on John

Brant, Jo-Ann A. 2011. John. Paideia. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Barrett, C. K. 1978. The Gospel According to St. John. 2nd edn. London: SPCK.

Keener, Craig S. 2003. The Gospel of John. 2 vols. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers.

Lincoln, Andrew T. 2005. The Gospel according to Saint John. Peabody/London/New York: Hendrickson/Continuum.

Michaels, J. Ramsey. 2010. The Gospel of John. New International Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Thompson, Marianne Meye. John: A Commentary. New Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2015.