The Lost Gospel Q: The Original Sayings of Jesus (Paperback)

by Marcus Borg (Editor), Thomas Moore (Introduction) "During the decades immediately following the death of Jesus, small bands of believers wandered the countryside around Galilee..." (more)
Key Phrases: John the Baptist, New Testament, Book of Mark

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
So many particularly pithy passages appear in both Matthew and Luke that scholars believe those Gospels are based on an earlier compilation of the sayings of Jesus, designated Q, after the German word Quelle, which means "source." Scoring modern-day scholars for not previously presenting the general public with an edition of this hypothetical first gospel, editor-translators Powelson and Riegert make up the lack. They base their work, as have the Bible's English-language translators since even before the King James Version, on the wordings of previous renditions. (Why? Because Q exists entirely within the texts of Matthew and Luke.) Their versions of these, to Christians and the Christian-bred, very familiar words are crystalline and contemporary and may inspire new insight for many a reader. Meanwhile, their introduction and those by best-selling inspirational writer Thomas Moore and Jesus Seminar scholar Marcus Borg, respectively, put Q in inspirational, historical, and critical context. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
Trinity Press, dist. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Ulysses Press, Seastone (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569751897
• ISBN-13: 978-1569751893
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #228,249 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #17 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Authors, A-Z > ( M ) > Moore, Thomas
  #26 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Borg, Marcus

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Unknown Source, December 5, 2001

By	Patrick Doherty (Birmingham, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lost Gospel Q: The Original Sayings of Jesus (Hardcover)

This book is based on the theory that the Gospel of Mark was written before any of the other synoptic Gospels. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke were then written with the help of those from Mark and another unknown source which is called the Gospel Q. In 1838 a German noticed that there were many sayings of Jesus which were common to Matthew and Luke but not included in Mark. The Lost Gospel Q is comprised of these sayings. Adding fuel to the argument was the discovery in 1945 near the Upper Nile River in Egypt of a codex called the Gospel of Thomas. It contained 114 sayings of Jesus. Over one-third of these sayings were similar to those found in the Lost Gospel Q.

If you accept the idea of the probable existence of Q, then you can look forward to reading sayings of Jesus which were recorded and used by some of His earliest followers less than two decades after His death and resurrection.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Lost Gospel Q", A Review, October 11, 2005

By	Beth Avary (Boulder Creek, California, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"The Lost Gospel Q"* is what many scholars believe to be the first Christian Gospel. Although this Gospel was never actually found, scholars surmise its existence because of over two hundred identical verses found in Matthew and Luke but not in Mark. Since most scholars don't think Matthew and Mark knew each other, this material must have come from another source, what they call the Gospel Q. Then in 1945 early Christian manuscripts were found in Nag Hammadi. Among these was the Gospel of Thomas. One third of the sayings in it were found to be similar to those in Q. This demonstrated that Q was more than a collection of quotes. It was a handbook for early Christians, or pre-Christians.
The name Q comes from the German word Quelle, meaning source. It is believed this gospel was written only a couple of decades after Jesus died, and is therefore the closest thing we have to what he actually said, a real look into the spirit of Jesus.
The editors insert commentary on the text and time to help the reader picture what the historical Jesus and the day he lived in were like. It is a fascinating little book for anyone wishing to go back to the beginnings of the Jesus tradition.

Beth Avary
[...]

*Edited by Mark Powelson, Ray Riegert, and Marcus Borg consulting editor, with an introduction by Thomas Moore.

47 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars QUELLE: source, December 16, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lost Gospel Q: The Original Sayings of Jesus (Hardcover)

The whole concept behind "Q" was to reconstruct the original sayings of Jesus. Many quotes of Jesus found in scripture might very well have been embellished or outright forged. And so it is of interest to some to endeavor to find the original or "lost" sayings of Jesus. This can be achieved by digging through the gospels and comparing/contrasting their contents until a common thread is found which might better reveal Jesus' true words. Thus, the quelle or source of Jesus' sayings is found. This little book is a fine work and effort. It certainly lives up to its concept.