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Thesis

Combining gospels in early Christianity: the one, the many, and the fourfold

Abstract:
How and why did the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John begin to keep exclusive company with one another as the authoritative collection of Jesus books? The present study seeks to answer this question by investigating gospel combinations of the second century. I focus on the textual identities, mode, integrity, interactions, and authority of gospels as they are combined by second-century Christian authors and readers. I examine gospel combinations in interpretive rewriting (the Gospel of Thomas and the Epistula Apostolorum), gospel orchestration (the Diatessaron), pericope interpolation (the Longer Ending of Mark), second-order Christian discourse about gospel books, and artifactual juxtapositions (e.g. P45). My first major conclusion is that the four proto-canonical gospels were keeping congenial company as early as Papias, and consistently throughout the second century. This is seen in the way that the Gospel of Thomas synthesizes material from Matthew and Luke. It is demonstrated in the gospel epitome of the Epistula Apostolorum, which integrates material from all four proto-canonical gospels and situates them in a Johannine-Synoptic sequence. Tatian’s Diatessaron showcases a tapestry of all four proto-canonical gospels, intricately sequenced. The Longer Ending of Mark does the same on a smaller scale. Papias is the first explicitly to mention gospel authors, and throughout the rest of the second century, gospel authors become the literary symbols by which Christians describe the pluriform nature of the one gospel. Multi-gospel codices of the second and third centuries CE corroborate these patterns, combining proto-canonical gospels in ways that manifest their intertextual connectedness. My second major conclusion is that noncanonical traditions were also valued for their contribution to the collective memory of Jesus, but they functioned mainly as ancillary to the fourfold gospel core. Thus, while it may be anachronistic to speak of a fourfold gospel “canon” before Irenaeus, it is certainly accurate to speak of a fourfold gospel “center of gravity” in the first half of the second century.

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HUMS
Department:
Theology Faculty
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Author

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Programme:
FOSTER Scholarship in New Testament. This scholarship paid full tuition and fees for 2018-2021, with a £15,000 stipend per year for these three academic years.

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Type of award:
DPhil
Level of award:
Doctoral
Awarding institution:
University of Oxford

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