Customer Reviews

Three Gospels

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The best thing about The Three Gospels, to me, is that Mr. Price's translation and exegesis adds to the mystery of Mark and John while making them real, everyday people at the same time. Mr. Price inspires a passionate study of the Gospels, not to disprove or make intellectual arguments, but to enter more deeply the divine mystery of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. This book should be required reading for any theology program.
Cynthia M. Pease

Having been away from the life of Jesus for almost 40 years, I found this book enthralling. It made me think about what Price calls "the Jesus sect" in a very different way. I recommend it to anyone who lost faith in a childhood Christianity but seeks something spiritual in their life.

Reynold Price's translations of Mark and John are good in that they try to transliterate the style and feel of their Greek originals, but truth be told they just don't read as well as the translations to be found in other Bible tranlsations. But Price's commentaries on these two Gospels are the main factor in this book. He utilizes something that's missing from the "detective kits" of most other Biblical scholars: common sense. I've read a great majority of the books on the "Historical Jesus," each of which - as the old saying goes - reveals more about the author than the subject. Instead of going off into groundless supposition, as most other Historical Jesus questors are known to do, Price gives us the evidence that we have and makes common sense conclusions on who wrote the Gospels: when, where, how, and why. He doesn't make any mention of the so-called "Secret" Gospel of Mark, true; but I think this is less Price being unaware of it and more of him just realizing it's a phony and unworthy of mention. Read Akenson's Saint Saul, which brutally brings this forgery to light. Price's extra Gospel, which he wrote himself, is interesting, but ultimately the selling point of this book are his commentaries to the two ancient Gospels themselves.

Ahem.Mr Price is not the Editor. He's the author! (I wonder if any one reads these reviews and notes its contents). Its still a wonderful book, with a fresh new look at the Gospels of Mark and John. And frankly, after reading it, one gets a new perspective of the relationship between God and man. It certainly gave me a stronger foundation and background to the two gospels and an insight into Christ.

Price has done a beautiful thing here with his dedicated and solid work on the gospels. And thank Heaven he speaks up for John bar Zebedee being the author of his gospel. The commentary is deeply moving -- some of the best writing on the gospels I've seen anywhere. I'm grateful for this book. I return to it again and again. Of late, academic scholarship has done so much to tear the gospels to shreds, to rob them of their intensity and depth, to deny their individual personality and power. Reynolds is a wonderful corrective to all this, a brilliant writer who approaches the texts we have with profound respect and fascinating insight, and his writing is truly elegant and expressive and sensitive -- an inspiration. This is a gem of a book.

Reynolds Price has done a superb job in presenting the gospels of Mark and John in an amazingly fresh style. He is the master of narrative having written scores of novels and teaching narrative writing at Duke University for over 4 decades. The freshness of the Marcan narrative will renew your love for the gospels, and give you fresh insight into the minds of first century Christians in Rome. I recommend this book for any serious Bible student or the average reader for whom the gospels have lost their luster.

Doug Smith

The essays with the translations are full of information. The translations are done by a person who is sensitive to the literary techniques of the original so the translations have a similar feel as the Greek. Unlike many translators, Price has no problem of properly using "I AM" when Jesus clearly is saying that. If you wonder who Jesus said he was, read this. It is clear.

I read this book fifteen years ago, because I love Reynolds Price's work and because I have an interest in the new testament. I found it stood up well to time. It's a well researched and beautifully written book. I had given my original copy to a friend and was glad I bought another copy.

Reynolds Price is a brilliant, prize-winning writer, an ancient languages scholar and Christian, apparently. His approach, from the literal translation of two gospels, to the writing of his own, is fresh and eye-opening. Highly recommended to those who choose to look deeper into Christianity and its founding texts.

Mr Price is the author and not the editor of this book as you've printed!!! thanks