The Gospels and Jesus

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An exciting book! - Rated
1 found The Gospels and Jesus by Graham N. Stanton to be an exciting book. Full of facts that I needed for my study and a good read as well.

This book is easy to read and understand, has a good layout and loads of great facts.

A super buy.

Wonderful, easy to read resource in an equally wonderful series - Rated
This second edition of Graham Stanton's `The Gospels and Jesus' excels in every way: it's written in a very comfortable style, wide ranging, and is laid out in a clear, simple, very effective way.

Amazon's `Search Inside' feature will illustrate how Stanton has divided the two parts of this book - Part 1 focusing on the gospels and Part II on Jesus himself - and the eighteen chapters therein.

After an introductory chapter, Stanton first defines what a gospel actually is (i.e. a unique style of literature of its own) before investigating each gospel in turn. He avoids a commentary style verse-by-verse analysis and focuses instead on key sections to illustrate his points. Here Stanton details such issues as: date when each gospel was written, likely identity of the gospel authors (`evangelists') and their aims in writing, sources of information, individual themes and the over all context of each gospel's composition. This works very well indeed; we get a comprehensive overview without being weighed down with information. Stanton also gives brief information about other gospel writings which never made it into the NT (like the highly regarded Gospel of Thomas (p123), etc.).

The importance of non-canonical writings (i.e. Jewish scriptures, apocrypha, etc.) is emphasised in Part II also; for instance, `Josephus' (p148) and `Son of Man... in later Jewish writings' (p248).

On the whole Stanton presents a fairly conservative, evangelical outlook but he always mentions the alternatives, usually emphasising why he may prefer one way of understanding a topic over another. The clear, easy to follow layout, excellent `Contents' section and wonderfully accessible writing style make this an essential purchase for gospel (and Jesus) study. If any criticism is to be found, I would only mention that it is a cheap soft back cover where you might expect better for the price. But the content more or less makes up for it - maybe ½ a star could be deducted, but no more.

A Comprehensive Guide to the Subject - Rated
I have recently started studying Christianity on the quest for the real Jesus. After having a grounding on the subject based around Hugh Schonfield's books, I found that "The Gospels and Jesus" reinforced what I had read as well as giving particular emphasis to the individual gospels.

G. Stanton explores in each gospel its historical context, the author's individual style, the themes that are characteristic of each, and the methods in gospel assessment both within the gospel traditions and externally through the apocryphal gospels and non-Christian writings. His style is fluent and for the most part easily comprehensible although I noticed that here and there his quoting of sources was not always accurate. Stanton does not take any wild and controversial steps in his approach, but stays within conventional boundaries and explores the subject's multi-faceted theories with a rational approach. I was disappointed that the resurrection was not more comprehensive, with the sub-chapter of 'On the third day' only just creeping past three pages. Stanton is a contributer in "The Cambridge Companion to Jesus", however his chapter 'Message and Miracles' is a simply condensed form of several chapters in "The Gospels and Jesus".

Overall, the book provides a comprehensive and thorough guide to the four gospels in digestible format. Despite having a well-rounded knowledge on the subject I found "The Gospels and Jesus" helpful in my studying especially in relation to each Evangelist's style and motives.