I’ve just finished reading “The Gospel for All Christians” (ed. Richard Bauckman). First published in 1998, I wished I’d read it 10 years ago.
This easily readable 217 page volume argues convincingly against the common notion that the gospels were written for specific Matthean, Markan, Lukan and Johannine communities. Marshalling a whole host of reasons it makes the case that the gospels unlike, say, the Pauline letters, were deliberately written for all Christians, as opposed to specific churches.
Fascinating chapters include those on communication between churches of the early period, ancient book production and the ancient concept of biography. The chapter “John for Readers of Mark” argues very convincingly that such parenthetical explanations as John 3:24 and 11:2 are specifically intended for readers of John who were already familiar with Mark’s gospel.
If a theology prof tries to tell you that each gospel is the specific product of the unique ”sits im leben” of a particular (semi) isolated early Christian community (a la Davies & Allison, T. Weeden, J.A. Fitzmyer, H. Kee, W.A. Meeks, J. L. Martyn, et. al.), then read this book…
April 28, 2008 at 8:38 am |
Very interesting site. Thank you!
Regarding “John for readers of Mark”, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if comments in John were for the benefit of those already familiar with Mark, as it’s probable that many readers of John would indeed have been familiar with Mark already. There’s nothing new about that observation.
However, John is a rather different case to the synoptics (Matt, Mark and Luke). Does Bauckman suggest, for example, that the author of Matthew wrote as if he were writing with a Jewish audience in mind, when in actual fact he wasn’t writing for such an audience?
It seems to me that there’s a lot of room between the extremes of, on the one hand, the gospels having been “written for specific Matthean, Markan, Lukan and Johannine communities”, or on the other hand, having been “deliberately written for all Christians.”