GOSPEL WRITING

A Canonical Perspective

Francis Watson

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.

© 2013 Francis Watson

All rights reserved

Published 2013 by

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /

P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Watson, Francis, 1956–

Gospel writing: a canonical perspective / Francis Watson.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8028-4054-7 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Bible. N.T. Gospels—Criticism, interpretation, etc.

2. Bible. N.T. Gospels—Canon. I. Title.

BS2555.52.W38 2013

226′.066—dc23

2012046193

www.eerdmans.com

Contents

Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Prologue

PART ONE

The Eclipse of the Fourfold Gospel

1. Augustine’s Ambiguous Legacy

Perspectives Historical and Theological

The Illusions of Harmony

The Old and the New

2. Dismantling the Canon: Lessing/Reimarus

A Controversy in the Making

A Parable and a Proposal

Against the Fourth Gospel

The Lost Original

PART TWO

Reframing Gospel Origins

3. The Coincidences of Q

Luke, Papias, and Gospel Origins

Two Annunciations

Q’s Uncertain Start

Mark, the Mount, and the Plain

4. Luke the Interpreter

Rewriting Matthew

A New Sayings Collection

Luke’s Matthean Sequence

From Sayings Collection to Text

5. Thomas versus Q

De-gnosticizing Thomas

Thomas and the Sayings Collection Genre

Before Mark

6. Interpreting a Johannine Source (Jn, GEger)

Moses, Jesus, and Two Evangelists

(i) Searching the Scriptures

(ii) Moses the Accuser

(iii) Moses against Jesus

(iv) Moses’ True Theme

(v) A Hostile Response

(vi) “As Moses Commanded”

The Johannine Interpreter

(i) Two Communities

(ii) A Mosaic Stratum

7. Reinterpreting in Parallel (Jn, GTh, GPet)

Modelling Reception

Seeking and Finding

The Crucified King

Locating the Risen Lord

PART THREE

The Canonical Construct

8. The East: Limiting Plurality

Clement: The Inclusive Gospel

Eusebius: Constructing the Boundary

9. The West: Towards Consensus

Irenaeus: The Politics of Gospel Origins

Rome and the Gospel from Asia

Contested Beginnings

10. Origen: Canonical Hermeneutics

Commentary as Pilgrimage

Scripture’s Firstfruits

Gospel Difference

11. Image, Symbol, Liturgy

On the Cherubim

Jerome in Ravenna

Imaging the One Christ

In lieu of a Conclusion: Seven Theses on Jesus and the Canonical Gospel

Bibliography

Index of Patristic Authors

Index of Modern Authors

Index of Subjects

Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Texts

Abbreviations

AB Anchor Bible

ABR Australian Biblical Review

ACT Ancient Christian Texts

AJA American Journal of Archaeology

Aland K. Aland, Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum

ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers

ArtB Art Bulletin

AYB Anchor Yale Bible

BEThL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium

BHT Beiträge zur historischen Theologie

Bib Biblica

BZ Biblische Zeitschrift

BZNW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CCSA...