The gospels are the four books recording the life of Christ. I have elected to place Acts with the gospels for two reasons. First of all, given that Luke wrote not only his eponymous book but Acts as well, we can make a strong argument that Acts is essentially Luke, Part Two. Second, placing Acts alone in a "History" category would risk making it lonely.
The first three gospels are known as the synoptic (or seen together) gospels since they cover a great deal of the same territory and often use almost identical language. John's gospel, on the other hand, stands quite apart from the first three.For some scholars, the so-called Synoptic Problem provides a great opportunity for an endless parade of speculative work. They postulate the existence of a lost source document, Q, talking about this work as if it were as well known as the dictionary. Some go to even greater extremes, envisioning multiple source documents. A second area of interest for scholars is the attempt to discern which gospels used which other(s) as source material. These theories, too, can grow quite fanciful.
Most conservative scholars will accept the possibility--even the likelihood--that two of the evangelists used their predecessor as a source. They frequently will not utterly discount the possibility of a Q document, but, since no real evidence of Q exists, they do not invest much time in speculating on its possible contents.
The Four Gospels
- Why Four Gospels?
- This is a book-length manuscript by Arthur L. Pink.
- Harmony of the Gospels
- How about a synthesis of the four gospels translated from Spanish into English? That's what you'll find here.
- Gospels at a Glance
- A chart that contains a number of quick facts on the four gospels.
- Comparison Chart of Gospel Authors
- A four-column comparison leads this document off. Then it goes into the key differences between the Synoptics and John. This guy seems reasonably fact-based here, although his overall project leaves me a bit iffy.
- Clavis Biblica: The Four Gospels
- A section from an 1820 book by Adam Clarke.
- Symbols of the Four Evangelists
- A page of explanation, well produced, by Felix Just, S.J.
- A Comparison of the Four Gospels
- Another document by Felix Just, S.J. This one provides a handy chart covering a host of facts among the four gospels.
- Five Gospel Parallels
- This site provides side-by-side-by-side, etc. viewing of five gospels, the four canonicals and the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas.
- The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
- A 1883 online book by Alfred Edersheim.
The Synoptic Gospels
- Synoptic Gospels: Harmony and Disharmony
- A lengthy paper which overviews the various views of the synoptics without needing to discredit the scriptures.
- A Synoptic Gospels Primer
- A hypertext guide to the various theories regarding synoptic origins. Written by Rutgers' Mahlon Smith.
- The Synoptic Problem: The Literary Relationship of Matthew, Mark, and Luke
- A study from the Christian Resource (not Research) Institute.
- The Two-Source Hypothesis
- A brief overview of the most widely accepted theory on the synoptics.
- Two Gospel Hypothesis Page
- A page that supports the 2GH or Griesbach synoptic theory.
- THe Present State of the Synoptic Problem
- A paper by 2GH proponent William Farmer.
- The Case Against Q
- A site by Mark Goodacre that follows the revisionary theory of Austin Farrer.
- Synoptic Gospel Sources
- Written by Ron Price, this site attempts to rebut various other theories while promoting a three-source theory.
- The Hebrew Synopic Gospels
- A page that uses 38 different English translations to support the theory that the gospels were originally written not in Aramaic or Greek as is commonly supposed but in Hebrew.
- Jesus in the First Three Gospels
- A 1977 book, published by Abingdon, written by Millar Burrows.
Special Topics
- Medical Aspects of Crucifixion
- David Terasaka is a medical doctor, who knows both the Lord, and from his medical background what excruciating pain our Lord Jesus went through as God's Sin Offering for us.
Bibliography and Books
- Bibliography: The Gospels
- A bibliography of the individual gospels and certain common issues. Created by William Harmless, S.J.
- The Modern Reader's Guide to the Gospels
- William Hamilton's 1960 book, available online at Religion Online.
- Using Literary Criticism on the Gospels
- An article by Robert M. Fowler, first appearing in Christian Century in 1982.