Gospel of Tatian, The: Exploring the Nature and Text of the Diatessaron (The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries)($25.23Value)

Description

This volume combines some of the leading voices on the composition and collection of early Christian gospels in order to analyze Tatian’s Diatessaron. The rapid rise and sudden suppression of the Diatessaron has raised numerous questions about the nature and intent of this second-century composition. It has been claimed as both a vindication of the fourfold gospel’s early canonical status and as an argument for the canon’s on-going fluidity; it has been touted as both a premiere witness to the earliest recoverable gospel text and as an early corrupting influence on that text. Collectively, these essays provide the greatest advance in Diatessaronic scholarship in a quarter of a century. The contributors explore numerous questions: did Tatian intend to supplement or supplant the fourfold gospel? How many were his sources and how free was he with their text? How do we identify a Diatessaronic witness? Is it legitimate to use Tatian’s Diatessaron as a source in New Testament textual criticism? Is a reconstruction of the Diatessaron still possible? These queries in turn contribute to the question of what the Diatessaron signifies with respect to the broader context of gospel writing, and what this can tell us about how the writing, rewriting and reception of gospel material functioned in the first and second centuries and beyond. Matthew R. Crawford is Associate Professor and Director of the Program in Biblical and Early Christian Studies at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia. Chris Keith is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway. He is the author of The Pericope Adulterae , the Gospel of John and the Literacy of Jesus , a winner of the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, and Jesus' Literacy: Scribal Culture and the Teacher from Galilee . He is also the co-editor of Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels , and was recently named a 2012 Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar. Nicholas J. Zola is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Pepperdine University, USA, where he teaches New Testament. His research focuses on ancient manuscripts, the development of the biblical canon, and early Christian gospels. He is currently preparing an edition and first-ever English translation of the oldest surviving gospel harmony in the world. He has taught courses on the Gospels, Paul, Second Temple Judaism, biblical interpretation, and the making of the Bible, among others. Helen K. Bond is Professor of Christian Origins and Head of the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the social and political history of Judaea under Roman rule, the historical Jesus, and the canonical gospels. She is the author of Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation (1998), Caiaphas: High Priest and Friend of Rome? (2004), The Historical Jesus: A Guide for the Perplexed (2012), Jesus: A Very Brief History (2017), The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark's Gospel (2020), and a number of shorter studies and articles. Jens Schroeter is Chair and Professor of Exegesis and Theology of the New Testament and New Testament Apocrpyha at the Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.