A gospel harmony is an attempt to compile the canonical gospels of the ChristianNew Testament into a single account.[1] This may take the form either of a single, merged narrative, or a tabular format with one column for each gospel, technically known as a synopsis, although the word harmony is often used for both.[1]
Harmonies are constructed for a variety of purposes: to create a readable and accessible piece of literature for the general public,[2] to establish a scholarly chronology of events in the life of Jesus as depicted in the canonical gospels, or to better understand how the accounts relate to each other.[3]
Among academics, the construction of harmonies has been favoured by conservative scholars, though one scholar, B. S. Childs, opposes this.[4] Students of higher criticism see the divergences between the gospel accounts as reflecting the construction of traditions by the early Christian communities.[5] Among modern academics, attempts to construct a single story have largely been abandoned in favour of laying out the accounts in parallel columns for comparison, to allow critical study of the differences between them.[6]
The earliest known harmony is the Diatessaron by Tatian in the 2nd century and variations based on the Diatessaron continued to appear in the Middle Ages.[7][8] The 16th century witnessed a major increase in the introduction of gospel harmonies and the parallel column structure became widespread.[9] At this time visual representations also started appearing, depicting the life of Christ in terms of a "pictorial gospel harmony", and the trend continued into the 19th–20th centuries.[10][11]
Overview
A gospel harmony is an attempt to collate the Christian canonical gospels into a single account.[1] Harmonies are constructed by some writers in order to make the gospel story available to a wider audience, both religious and secular.[2] Harmonies can be studied by scholars to establish a coherent chronology of the events depicted in the four canonical gospels in the life of Jesus, to better understand how the accounts relate to each other, and to critically evaluate their differences.[3][6]
The terms harmony and synopsis have been used to refer to several different approaches to consolidating the canonical gospels.[1] Technically, a "harmony" weaves together sections of scripture into a single narrative, merging the four gospels. There are four main types of harmony: radical, synthetic, sequential and parallel.[1] By contrast, a "synopsis", much like a parallel harmony, juxtaposes similar texts or accounts in parallel format, synchronized by time, while preserving their individual identity, usually in columns.[1] Harmonies may also take a visual form and be undertaken to create narratives for artistic purposes, as in the creation of picture compositions depicting the life of Christ.[10]
The oldest approach to harmonizing consists of merging the stories into a single narrative, producing a text longer than any individual gospel.[3] This creates the most straightforward and detailed account, and one that is likely to be most accessible to non-academic users, such as lay churchgoers or people who are reading the gospels as a work of literature or philosophy.
There are, however, difficulties in the creation of a consolidated narrative. As John Barton points out, it is impossible to construct a single account from the four gospels without changing at least some parts of the individual accounts.[12]
One challenge with any form of harmonizing is that events are sometimes described in a different order in different accounts – the Synoptic Gospels, for instance, describe Jesus overturning tables in the Temple at Jerusalem in the last week of his life, whereas the Gospel of John records a counterpart event only towards the beginning of Jesus's ministry. Harmonists must either choose which time they think is correct, or conclude that separate events are described. Lutheran theologian Andreas Osiander, for instance, proposed in Harmonia evangelica (1537) that Jesus must have been crowned with thorns twice, and that there were three separate episodes of cleansing of the Temple.[13] On the other hand, commentators have long noted that the individual gospels are not written in a rigorously chronological format.[14][15] This means that an event can be described as falling at two different times and still be the same event, so that the substantive details can be properly brought together in a harmony, although the harmonist will still have the task of deciding which of the two times is more probable.
A less common but more serious difficulty arises if the gospels diverge in their substantive description of an event. An example is the incident involving the centurion whose servant is healed at a distance. In the Gospel of Matthew the centurion comes to Jesus in person;[16] in the Luke version he sends Jewish elders.[17] Since these accounts are clearly describing the same event, the harmonist must decide which is the more accurate description or else devise a composite account.[18][19]
The modern academic view, based on the broadly accepted principle that Matthew and Luke were written using Mark as a source, seeks to explain the differences between the texts in terms of this process of composition. For example, Mark describes John the Baptist as preaching the forgiveness of sins, a detail which is dropped by Matthew, perhaps in the belief that the forgiveness of sins was exclusive to Jesus.[20]
The modern popularizing view, on the other hand, while acknowledging these difficulties, deemphasizes their importance. This view suggests that the divergences in the gospels are a relatively small part of the whole, and that the accounts show a great deal of overall similarity.[1] The divergences can therefore be sufficiently discussed in footnote in the course of a consolidated narrative, and need not stand in the way of conveying a better overall view of the life of Jesus[1] or of making this material more accessible to a wider readership.
To illustrate the concept of parallel harmony, a simple example of a "synopsis fragment" is shown here, consisting of just four episodes from the Passion.[21] A more comprehensive parallel harmony appears in a section below.
Tatian's influential Diatessaron, which dates to about AD 160, was perhaps the very first harmony.[1][7][22] The Diatessaron reduced the number of verses in the four gospels from 3,780 to 2,769 without missing any event of teaching in the life of Jesus from any of the gospels.[1] Some scholars believe Tatian may have drawn on one or more noncanonical gospels.[23] The Gospel of the Ebionites, composed about the same time, is believed to have been a gospel harmony.[24]
Variations based on the Diatessaron continued to appear in the Middle Ages, e.g. Codex Sangallensis (based on the 6th century Codex Fuldensis) dates to 830 and has a Latin column based on the Vulgate and an Old High German column that often resembles the Diatessaron, although errors frequently appear within it.[8] The Liege harmony in the Limburg dialect (Liege University library item 437) is a key Western source of the Diatessaron and dates to 1280, although published much later.[8][25] The two extant recensions of the Diatessaron in Medieval Italian are the single manuscript Venetian from the 13th or 14th century and the 26 manuscript Tuscan from the 14th–15th century.[8][25]
In the 3rd century Ammonius of Alexandria developed the forerunner of modern synopsis (perhaps based on the Diatessaron) as the Ammonian Sections in which he started with the text of Matthew and copied along parallel events.[1][26] There are no extant copies of the harmony of Ammonius and it is only known from a single reference in the letter of Eusebius to Carpianus.[26] In the letter Eusebius also discusses his own approach, i.e. the Eusebian Canons in which the texts of the gospels are shown in parallel to help comparison among the four gospels.[26]
In the 5th century, Augustine of Hippo wrote extensively on the subject in his book Harmony of the Gospels.[27] Augustine viewed the variations in the gospel accounts in terms of the different focuses of the authors on Jesus: Matthew on royalty, Mark on humanity, Luke on priesthood and John on divinity.[28]
Clement of Llanthony's Unum ex Quatuor (One from Four) was considered an improvement on previous canons at the time,[29] although modern scholars sometimes opine that no major advances beyond Augustine emerged on the topic until the 15th century.[9] Throughout the Middle Ages harmonies based on the principles of the Diatessaron continued to appear, e.g., the Liege harmony by Plooij in Middle Dutch, and the Pepysian harmony in Middle English.[25][26] The Pepysian harmony (Magdalene college, Cambridge, item Pepys 2498) dates to about 1400 and its name derives from having been owned by Samuel Pepys.[25]
15th–20th centuries
The cover of Branteghem's 1537 visual gospel harmony, Antwerp
In the 15th and the 16th centuries some new approaches to harmony began to appear, e.g. Jean Gerson produced a harmony which gave priority to the Gospel of John.[26]Cornelius Jansen (Bishop of Ghent) also published his harmony (1549), focusing on the four gospels and even referring to the Acts of the Apostles.[31] On the other hand John Calvin's approach focused on the three synoptic Gospels, and excluded the Gospel of John. [32][33]
By this time visual representations had also started appearing, for instance, the 15th-century artist Lieven de Witte produced a set of about 200 woodcut images that depicted the Life of Christ in terms of a "pictorial gospel harmony" which then appeared in Willem van Branteghem's harmony published in Antwerp in 1537.[10][30] The importance of imagery is reflected in the title of Branteghem's well known work: The Life of Jesus Christ Skillfully Portrayed in Elegant Pictures Drawn from the Narratives of the Four Evangelists[30]
The 16th century witnessed a major increase in the introduction of gospel harmonies. In this period the parallel column structure became widespread, partly in response to the rise of biblical criticism.[9] This new format was used to emphasize the trustworthiness of the gospels. It is not clear who produced the very first parallel harmony, but Gerhard Mercator's 1569 system is a well-known example.[9][34] In terms of content and quality, Johann Jacob Griesbach's 1776 synopsis was a notable case.[9][34]
At the same time, the rise of modern biblical criticism was instrumental in the decline of the traditional apologetic gospel harmony. The Enlightenment writer, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, observed:
Oh that most excellent Harmony, which can only reconcile two contradictory reports, both stemming from the evangelists, by inventing a third report, not a syllable of which is to be found in any individual evangelist![35]
W. G. Rushbrooke's 1880 Synopticon is at times considered a turning point in the history of the synopsis, as it was based on Markan priority, i.e. the assumption that the Gospel of Mark was the first to be written.[9] Thirteen years later, John Broadus used historical accounts to assign priorities in his harmony, while previous approaches had used feasts as the major milestones for dividing the life of Christ.[9]
Towards the end of the 19th century, after extensive travels and study in the Middle East, James Tissot produced a set of 350 watercolors which depicted the life of Christ as a visual gospel harmony.[11] Tissot synthesized the four gospels into a singular narrative with five chapters: "the Holy Childhood, the Ministry, Holy Week, the Passion, and the Resurrection". He also made portraits of each of the four evangelists to honor them.[36]
In the 20th century, the Synopsis of the Four Gospels by Kurt Aland[37] came to be seen by some as "perhaps the standard for an in-depth study of the Gospels."[9] A key feature of Aland's work is the incorporation of the full text of the Gospel of John.[9]John Bernard Orchard's synopsis (which has the same title)[38] was of note in that it took the unusual approach of abandoning Markan priority and assuming the synopics were written with Matthean priority and Markan posteriority .[9]
An example parallel harmony
The following table is an example of a parallel harmony. The order of events, especially during the ministry period, has been the subject of speculation and scholarly debate. The order below is based on those of Anglican William Newcome in 1778[39] and Baptists Steven L. Cox and Kendell H Easley in 2006.[40]
The Diatessaron is the most prominent early gospel harmony, and was created in the Syriac language by Tatian, an Assyrian early Christian apologist and ascetic. Tatian sought to combine all the textual material he found in the four gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - into a single coherent narrative of Jesus's life and death. However, and in contradistinction to most later gospel harmonists, Tatian appears not to have been motivated by any aspiration to validate the four separate canonical gospel accounts; or to demonstrate that, as they stood, they could each be shown as being without inconsistency or error.
Gospel originally meant the Christian message, but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words and deeds of Jesus, culminating in his trial and death and concluding with various reports of his post-resurrection appearances. Modern biblical scholars are cautious of relying on the gospels uncritically, but nevertheless, they provide a good idea of the public career of Jesus, and critical study can attempt to distinguish the original ideas of Jesus from those of the later Christian authors.
Justin Martyr, also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher.
Tatian of Adiabene, or Tatian the Syrian or Tatian the Assyrian, was an Assyrian Christian writer and theologian of the 2nd century.
The Gospel of Thomas is an extra-canonical sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate that the works were buried in response to a letter from Bishop Athanasius declaring a strict canon of Christian scripture. Scholars have proposed dates of composition as early as 60 AD and as late as 250 AD. Since its discovery, many scholars have seen it as evidence in support of the existence of a "Q source" which might have been very similar in its form as a collection of sayings of Jesus without any accounts of his deeds or his life and death, referred to as a sayings gospel.
The Gospel of Peter, or the Gospel according to Peter, is an ancient text concerning Jesus Christ, only partially known today. It is considered a non-canonical gospel and was rejected as apocryphal by the Church's synods of Carthage and Rome, which established the New Testament canon. It was the first of the non-canonical gospels to be rediscovered, preserved in the dry sands of Egypt.
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose content is largely distinct. The term synoptic comes via Latin from the Greek σύνοψις, synopsis, i.e. "(a) seeing all together, synopsis"; the sense of the word in English, the one specifically applied to these three gospels, of "giving an account of the events from the same point of view or under the same general aspect" is a modern one.
In Christianity, Jesus is believed to be the Son of God as written in the Bible's New Testament, and in mainstream Christian denominations he is God the Son, part of the Trinity of God.
The Aramaic original New Testament theory is the belief that the Christian New Testament was originally written in Aramaic.
The life of Jesus is primarily outlined in the four canonical gospels, which includes his genealogy and nativity, public ministry, passion, prophecy, resurrection and ascension. Other parts of the New Testament – such as the Pauline epistles which were likely written within 20 to 30 years of each other, and which include references to key episodes in the life of Jesus, such as the Last Supper, and the Acts of the Apostles, which includes more references to the Ascension episode than the canonical gospels also expound upon the life of Jesus. In addition to these biblical texts, there are extra-biblical texts that Christians believe make reference to certain events in the life of Jesus, such as Josephus on Jesus and Tacitus on Christ.
The Gospel of the Ebionites is the conventional name given by scholars to an apocryphal gospel extant only as seven brief quotations in a heresiology known as the Panarion, by Epiphanius of Salamis; he misidentified it as the "Hebrew" gospel, believing it to be a truncated and modified version of the Gospel of Matthew. The quotations were embedded in a polemic to point out inconsistencies in the beliefs and practices of a Jewish Christian sect known as the Ebionites relative to Nicene orthodoxy.
The parables of Jesus are found in the Synoptic Gospels and some of the non-canonical gospels. They form approximately one third of his recorded teachings. Christians place great emphasis on these parables, which they generally regard as the words of Jesus.
The New Testament narrative of the life of Jesus refers to a number of locations in the Holy Land and a Flight into Egypt. In these accounts the principal locations for the ministry of Jesus were Galilee and Judea, with activities also taking place in surrounding areas such as Perea and Samaria.
The Codex Fuldensis, also known as the Victor Codex, designated by F, is a New Testament manuscript based on the Latin Vulgate made between 541 and 546. The codex is considered the second most important witness to the Vulgate text; and is also the oldest complete manuscript witness to the order of the Diatessaron. It is an important witness in any discussion about the authenticity of 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 and the Comma Johanneum. It is one of the earliest dated manuscripts of the New Testament. It was corrected until 2 May, 546 AD.
The ministry of Jesus, in the canonical gospels, begins with his baptism near the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and ends in Jerusalem in Judea, following the Last Supper with his disciples. The Gospel of Luke states that Jesus was "about 30 years of age" at the start of his ministry. A chronology of Jesus typically sets the date of the start of his ministry at around AD 27–29 and the end in the range AD 30–36.
Matthew 17 is the seventeenth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. Jesus continues his final journey to Jerusalem ministering through Galilee. William Robertson Nicoll identifies "three impressive tableaux" in this chapter: the transfiguration, the epileptic boy and the temple tribute.
Dura Parchment 24, designated as Uncial 0212, is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament. The manuscript has been assigned to the 3rd century, palaeographically, though an earlier date cannot be excluded. It contains some unusual orthographic features, which have been found nowhere else.
Nicholas Perrin is an American academic administrator and religious scholar, currently serving as the 16th president of Trinity International University, a Christian university located in Deerfield, Illinois.
Jesus predicts his betrayal three times in the New Testament, a narrative which is included in all four Canonical Gospels. This prediction takes place during the Last Supper in Matthew 26:24–25, Mark 14:18–21, Luke 22:21–23, and John 13:21–30.
1 2 The Encyclopedia of Christianity, vol.4, Eerdmans, 2005, p.39.
1 2 Aune, David Edward (2003), The Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Literature, Westminster John Knox Press, p.190, ISBN0664219179 .
1 2 3 4 Tatian and the Jewish Scriptures by Robert F. Shedinger (2002) ISBN9042910429 pp. 28–32
↑ John Barton, The Old Testament: Canon Literature and Theology Collected Essays of John Barton (Ashgate Publishing, 2013) p. 59. [ISBNmissing]
↑ Graham Stanton, Gospel Truth? New Light on Jesus and the Gospels (HarperCollins, 1995) p. 8; John S. Kloppenborg Verbin, "Is There a New Paradigm?", in Horrell, Tuckett (eds), Christology, Controversy, and Community: New Testament Essays in Honour of David R. Catchpole (Brill, 2000), p. 39.
↑ Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (1991). A Christological Catechism (quoting Augustine). Paulist Press. p.158.
↑ Carson, D.A. (1984). "Introduction to Matthew," in The Expositor's Bible Commentary vol. VIII. Zondervan. pp.38–39.
↑ Mark Allan Powell, Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee (Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), pp. 12–13.
↑ Zegarelli, Gregg (2017). ONE: The Unified Gospel of Jesus, Second Ed. OUG Press. ISBN978-1548461263.
↑ Francis Watson, "Must the Gospels Agree?" in Stuart G. Hall, Jesus Christ Today: Studies of Christology in Various Contexts (Walter de Gruyter, 2009) pp. 72–73.
↑ Steven L. Cox, Kendell H Easley, 2007 Harmony of the GospelsISBN0805494448 pp. 207–211
↑ The Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Literature by David Edward Aune (2003) ISBN0664219179 pp. 127, 211
↑ Bart Ehrman, Zlatko Plese, The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations (Oxford University Press, 2011) p. 231.
↑ Ron Cameron, The Other Gospels: Non-canonical Gospel Texts (Westminster John Knox Press, 1982) p. 103.
1 2 3 4 Patristic and Text-Critical Studies by Jan Krans and Joseph Verheyden (2011) ISBN9004192891 pp. 188–190
1 2 3 The Authority of the Word: Reflecting on Image and Text in Northern Europe, 1400–1700 by Celeste Brusati, Karl A. E. Enenkel and Walter S. Melion (2011) ISBN9004215158 pp. 2–6
↑ François, W. (2012). Augustine and the Golden Age of Biblical Scholarship in Louvain (1550–1650). In: Gordon B., McLean M. (Eds.), bookseries: Library of the Written Word, vol: 20, Shaping the Bible in the Reformation: Books, Scholars and Their Readers in the Sixteenth Century. Leiden: Brill, 235–289 [252].
↑ John Calvin And the Printed Book by Jean François Gilmont (2005) ISBN1931112568 p. 50
↑ A Harmony of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke by John Calvin, David W. Torrance, (1995) ISBN0802808026
1 2 What Have They Done to the Bible?: A History of Modern Biblical Interpretation by John Sandys-Wunsch (2005) ISBN0814650287 p. 35
↑ Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Werke, 8.51–52, cited in Francis Watson, Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2013), p. 80.
↑ Steven L. Cox; Kendell H. Easley (2006), "Analytical Outline of the Harmony", HCSB Harmony of the Gospels, B&H Publishing, p.xviii, ISBN978-0805494440
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