The Cambridge Companion to the Gospels

This introduction focuses not only on historical questions - authorship, date, historical setting and literary genre - but also considers the gospels as texts of Christian scripture which have inspired the faith and worship of the church down the ages. The contributors include theologians and ethicists as well as New Testament scholars.

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The four gospels are a central part of the Christian canon of scripture. In the faith of Christians, this canon constitutes a life-giving witness to who God is and what it means to be truly human. This volume treats the gospels not just as historical sources, but also as crucial testimony to the life of God made known in Jesus Christ. This approach helps to overcome the sometimes damaging split between critical gospel study and questions of theology, ethics and the life of faith. The essays are by acknowledged experts in a range of theological disciplines. The first section considers what are appropriate ways of reading the gospels given the kinds of texts they are. The second, central section covers the contents of the gospels. The third section looks at the impact of the gospels in church and society across history and up to the present day.