Synopsis of the Four Gospels-FL [Hardcover]

Kurt Aland (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Greek

Product Details

• Hardcover: 361 pages
• Publisher: United Bible Societies; 3 edition (1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3438054051
• ISBN-13: 978-3438054050
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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77 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Valuable Resource, June 9, 2000

By 

John Noodles (A Field in ND, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Completely Revised on the Basis of the Greek Text of the Nestle-Aland, 26th Edition, and Greek New Testament, 3rd Edition, English Edition (Hardcover)

Presumably, anyone looking for a synoptic parallel knows what what it's for, but in case not, a brief description might be useful. This book lines up the various pericopes from each gospel in parallel columns, so that their rendition in each can be compared. This allows readers better to discern small, subtle differences among them, and to determine more easily, for instance, who used what source, redaction, theology, and so forth...for instance, Q material is readily apparent when you see that Matthew and Luke contain identical material that isn't present in Mark, and to see this, you don't have to flip back and forth from one gospel to another, because they're all lined up for you, side by side.

One confusing thing about this book is that there is notational nomenclature our the kazoo, which isn't very well explained. For instance, you will notice that the Gospel names at the head of each column is occasionally bolded. Sometimes all of them are. Sometimes they're bracketed. I couldn't find anything in the book to explain this. Had my seminar prof. not explained them, I'd still be in the dark.

That said, the text is well referenced. This isn't a "study" guide, so it isn't glossed, but it is footnoted with plenty of relevant citations. Dubious text--or text that is widely accepted as having been added by later copyists--is footnoted...for instance, the "sweat like blood" verse in Luke's rendition of the Gethsemane pericope.

For anyone embarking on a serious of analysis of the synoptic gospels (and John), this book is a great tool.

78 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars just to clarify, June 5, 2002

By 

Matthew Westerholm (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Completely Revised on the Basis of the Greek Text of the Nestle-Aland, 26th Edition, and Greek New Testament, 3rd Edition, English Edition (Hardcover)

just to clarify some of the other reviews, please note that this book is the "ENGLISH-ONLY TEXT", and it does not have the Greek features that some of the reviewers claim that it has. There is a greek/english version as well, and THAT is what they refer to.

:-)

67 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and useful, November 29, 2003

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Completely Revised on the Basis of the Greek Text of the Nestle-Aland, 26th Edition, and Greek New Testament, 3rd Edition, English Edition (Hardcover)

This synopsis edition of the four canonical gospels follows the text of the Revised Standard Version, one of the more accepted versions of the Bible in the scholarship of the last generation of Biblical scholars. It presents the four canonical gospels in parallel format, following the text from the beginning, and going more or less in chronological order (there are places where the combination of texts is ambiguous at best).

Kurt Aland, the editor of this text, is also one of the major editors of note of the Greek New Testament - most authoritative versions of the Greek New Testament have Aland's work in it somewhere, if not as the chief editor, then certainly as an influence. Aland used the Greek New Testament (Nestle-Aland 26th Edition) as the basis for revising the text here, although the bulk of the text comes from the RSV. This text is an English-only version - there is an edition that couples the English version with the Greek.

One of the most useful features of this text, as opposed to other synopses, is that it includes all four gospels, rather than just the three synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Synoptic is a word that can be readily understood by taking it apart into pieces - syn-, as in synonym, meaning roughly 'the same', and optic, as in the optic nerve, meaning roughly 'to see' or even 'eye' - synoptic can mean 'seeing with the same eye.' Yet, those who read the three synoptics know that, even though they parallel, they are far from exact matches. The gospel of John has a different eye on the gospel topic altogether - including it in a text such as this shows where parallels can be drawn, and highlights the unique quality of John, as well as the unique attributes of the synoptics.

Throughout the text, just as in any good study bible, Aland marks the references and possible attributions to Hebrew scripture texts. There are indexes to the gospels and the complete New Testament at the end.

One of the uses of this kind of text for the 'average' user (as opposed to the scholar or student, who might be more interested in minor textual variants) is examining the gospels side-by-side to see what is included and omitted from the different books. For example, we are using this text at my retirement centre as part of the Advent Bible Study, looking at the Christmas stories in the gospels. One can see immediately the variations in the text are significant. Mark has no Christmas story at all - the first appearance of Jesus is as a full-grown man, from Galilee (not Bethlehem), being baptised by John. Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus (via Joseph) going back to Abraham, paralleled a few chapters later in Luke, who has a genealogy going back to Adam (with different names scattered throughout). Matthew lacks the travel from Galilee to Bethlehem - the family is already there; Matthew also lacks the manger scene and the shepherds. Luke lacks the wise men, but includes extensive and poetic monologue/dialogue from Mary, who is silent in the early portion of Matthew. Smaller differences also appear - in Matthew, angels always speak to people in dreams; in Luke, they seem to make 'real life' appearances.

The variations can go on and on; rather like taking down the stories of different people who witness the same event, or recording the impressions of people who read the same book, the records might be different but each valid and possessing integrity in its own right.

This is a very practical and handy text to have, examining the four gospels in a way that encourages further study and reflection.