Studying the Synoptic Gospels [Paperback]

E. P. Sanders (Author), Margaret Davies (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1989

The author of the highly acclaimed study on Jesus and Judaism and his wife, also an experienced New Testament teacher, have collaborated to produce the most comprehensive and up-to-date book yet on the first three Gospels. Among others, the book addresses beginning New Testament students and, in one volume, provides all the background, analyses, exegetical aids, and methodology necessary for synoptic studies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 374 pages
• Publisher: Trinity Press International; First Edition edition (October 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0334023424
• ISBN-13: 978-0334023425
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Searching for the Gospel Truth, January 12, 2001

By 

George R Dekle "Bob Dekle" (Lake City, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Studying the Synoptic Gospels (Paperback)

Sanders and Davies survey the entire field of Gospel scholarship.
When they finish weighing and sifting the various theories and
methodologies, they come away with some striking conclusions.
Although these conclusions do not always accord with the weight of
scholarly authority, they are always well-reasoned and well-defended.
Sanders and Davies state the Synoptic Problem, and then analyze the
various theoretical solutions. Then they address form criticism,
redaction criticism, and Gospel genres. Finally they embark upon a
quest for the historical Jesus.

The analysis of the Synoptic Problem
is particularly good. Each theory is studied in detail, its strong
and weak points weighed and assessed, and a final judgment
passed. They finally settle upon a modified form of the Goulder
hypothesis, sometimes known as Mark without Q. Of the currently
fashionable literature on the reconstruction of Q, they say:
"This work is mostly of curiosity value, since it shows how far a
hypothesis can be pushed despite its lack of fundamental
support."

The middle sections on the various types of criticism
and Gospel genre are not as good, the analysis being turgid and
sometimes opaque, but they redeem themselves when they go questing for
the historical Jesus. They "cross examine" the Gospels,
using four precise tests for historicity. The four tests put one in
mind of the Jesus Seminar's "seven pillars of scholarly
wisdom". The Jesus Seminar's seven pillars are not nearly as
well-conceived nor as well-applied as Sanders and Davies' four tests.
The conclusions Sanders and Davies draw at the end of their quest are
astonishingly circumspect when compared to the findings of most
contemporary questers after the historical Jesus.