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Life of Christ in Stereo: The Four Gospels Combined As One

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Unbelievers never tire of alleging contradictions between the Gospels. Yet if one actually takes the time to read the Gospels, it becomes obvious that the discrepancies between them are, in any case, so trivial that they do not undermine the veracity of the accounts in any way. Otherwise, one would have to discard all newspaper accounts for comparable "contradictions" between news accounts. Since the Gospel writers wrote independently, it is inevitable that there are superficial discrepancies between the Gospels. Cheney beautifully shows how the different Gospel accounts flow together once one realizes that the writers "saw" things from different angles, so to speak. Cheney correctly calls this supplementation.

Cheney's harmony is a must for the bookshelf of any serious Bible student. This work, which accounts for every word in the original language texts, demonstrates the sequential consistency and compositional integrity of the four Gospel accounts and brings them to life in a special way. What a shame that its out of print!

What a masterpiece of arranging and translating. Mr. Cheney took 20 years to finish this project and it's a wonderful way to study the life of Jesus in chronological order with all the details from the gospels blended together. You have to read it to see it's value. It is out of print -- thus the high prices for used copies -- so it's too bad it couldn't be revised to bring the words a little more up to date.

As a student of the Greek and Hebrew I can say it's a very accurate translation though a bit uncontemporary in it's vernacular after 30+ years.

I don't think it was ever published in hard cover. It's paperback is extremely sturdy.

I got my first copy in 1980 at a Goodwill store for $.99!! I've gotten many, many fine books from the thrift shop book racks.

I was moved by the chronological rendering of all 4 gospels. With the time lines worked together and the annotations marking the change in gospel accounts, this is a powerful study tool. My deepest regret has been loaning it out and losing track of who had it.

This was one of the major books I had to use in a seminary class years ago. It is by far the best of it's kind. Johnston M. Cheney's labor of love is a must have for any pastor and/or serious Bible student. I need another copy as I lent mine out to a fellow pastor. Never got it back. David Burzynski

I sm so sorry this book is out of print. It is truly great and makes the life of Christ most vivid. Every word of all Gospels is included in a fresh translation. I'm using it in my work on the subject: tks.org

This was one of the major books I had to use in a seminary class years ago. It is by far the best of it's kind. Johnston M. Cheney's labor of love is a must have for any pastor and/or serious Bible student. I need another copy as I lent mine out to a fellow pastor. Never got it back. David Burzynski

There have been any number of so-called "harmonies of the gospels" that have been published over the years, where the author/editor either places all four gospel accounts side-by-side, or (more ambitiously) attempts to weave them into a single account. Some previous attempts include the following:

A Harmony of the Gospels for Historical Study: An Analytical Synopsis of the Four Gospels- 1st Ed.[1894]
A Harmony Of The Gospels (1903) [1903]
A Harmony Of The Synoptic Gospels In Greek (1920)
A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ: Based on the Broadus Harmony in the Revised Version [1922]
Harmony of the Gospels [1933].
A Harmony of the Gospels [1947]
Davies' Harmony of the Gospels [1976]
Harmony of the Four Gospels, A: The New International Version [1986]

Johnston ("Jack") M. Cheney spent many years (while bedridden and suffering from tuberculosis, it should be noted) to create a "scrapbook" of the four gospels, in which he merged all four accounts into a single narrative. The work was originally published in 1969 under the title, "The Life of Christ in Stereo - the Four Gospels Speak in Harmony," and has also been republished under the title, "Jesus Christ: The Greatest Life - A Unique Blending of the Four Gospels." It remains a very popular "Harmony" of the gospels, and many preachers and ministers and students swear by it. It is particularly popular when used for apologetic purposes, to attempt to resolve seeming "contradictions" between the four gospels, and it achieves this purpose.

In this book, Cheney has succeeded in including virtually every word in the four gospels, and putting them together into a single narrative. He has created his own translation from the Greek (although many students might have preferred he use a standard translation, such as the KJV or RSV) for this purpose. Cheney uses numerals in superscript to indicate which gospel he is quoting (e.g., "1" for Matthew, "2" for Mark, etc.; unfortunately, he does not identify when two or more gospels contain the same exact wording), and includes explanatory footnotes to discuss particular problems at greater length.

Of course, one can question whether "merging" the four gospel accounts into "one" is even the proper approach to take with respect to the gospels, as it seems to ignore the unique message that each gospel writer is attempting to convey. For example, the gospels of Luke, Matthew and John certainly have different intended audiences, and their particular skill as writers/evangelists in their own right is ignored by trying to "harmonize" them with another writer. (Would one "harmonize" Shakespeare and Bacon? Or Homer and Ovid?)

Still, Cheney's work is perhaps the finest example of its genre. It is definitely worth a place in any complete theological library.

Our bible study group took our time (2 1/2 yrs) to go through this book in great detail. Excellent. Created lots of discussion and we all learned more detail to the things we have read all our lives but have seen in a different light.

This very unique but rare work I have had the blessing of owning since the mid-70's. I've never seen another work like it, although there are several "parallel N.T." works.
Unlike those, this work compiles the four gospels into one complete, unified, continuous narrative. The author obviously spent countless hours doing it! And yet, there is value & interpretive advantage in reading each gospel in its own context & purpose of writing, but this work is truly unique and beneficial, as you're getting all four gospels' accounts of the miraculous life of The Lord Jesus Christ. Highly recommended if you can find a copy!