The Gospels for All Christians

John Goldingay
"This is a wonderful book, a bombshell in the playground of New Testament study. In writing on interpretation I have felt vaguely uneasy about the notion that the unmentioned specific congregation is of key importance to understanding Gospel narrative, but I lacked the imaginative spark to query this universal 'given.' Now Richard Bauckham and his friends have called the bluff. 'Obvious' after 'obvious' point (for instance, Gospels are different from Epistles; why should anyonewrite a narrative for their own congregation?) draws forth a grin, a 'Yes,' and a punch into the air from the reader. They also tell us lots of fascinating things about the real world in which the Gospels were written and disseminated, and point out some of the presuppositions of the consensus they explode and the significance of the case they press. I look forward to watching the fallout. "

D. A. Carson
"Not many books on the canonical Gospels are truly groundbreaking, but this one is. Richard Bauckham and his colleagues convincingly challenge one of the most deeply rooted assumptions of contempoary scholarship, namely, that the Gospels were written out of and for fairly restrictive early communities that enjoyed relatively little contact with the whole church. This book persuasively argues that both in intent and in reality the Gospels were written for 'all Christians.' It deserves the widest possible circulation among pastors, students, and scholars alike, and it promises to revamp more than one shibboleth."

Peter Stuhlmacher
"The thesis that from the very beginning the four Gospels were intended not only for specific communities but also, and above all, for a general early Christian readership is substantiated by Bauckham and his coauthors in a historically clear and plausible fashion. This thesis is immediately obvious exegetically and hopefully will win quick acceptance. Bauckham's view helps overcome a whole range of problems left unsolved by the form- and redaction-critical investigation of the Gospels that has been dominant until now, and it gives us a new perception of the Gospels' significance as narrative proclamations of the life and messianic deeds of Jesus. "

I. Howard Marshall
"Unexamined assumptions are the bane of Gospel criticism. In this easily accessible, very readable symposium a group of leading scholars argues against the assumption that the Gospels were written for specific communities and reasserts that they were meant for reading by Christians everywhere. This thesis has important implications for the fashionable pursuit of reconstructing the readerships of the Gospels and then trying to explain the Gospels' contents in terms of their readers' needs; the way back to taking the Gospels seriously as biographies of Jesus is freed from yet another obstacle. This is a major work that could seriously alter the character of contemporary Gospel study for the better. "

The Bible Today
"A serious and helpful contribution to New Testament study that deserves to be engaged by other scholars."

Clergy Journal
"Bauckham and his colleagues write persuasively against the consensus of modern Gospel scholarship. Fascinating reading."

America
"[One] assumption of much modern Gospel study is the idea that each Gospel was written for a specific church or group of churches. This challenge to the current consensus . . . contends that the Gospels were really intended for more general circulation . . . A challenge that ought not to be ignored. "

Restoration Quarterly
"On occasion, books or articles appear that are truly groundbreaking or paradigm shifting . . . The Gospels for All Christians is one of these foundational works."