Gospel harmony

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List of key episodes in the Canonical Gospels
)
This article is about attempts to merge, or harmonize, the Christian canonical gospels. For harmony in Christian Gospel music, see Gospel music.
The Four Evangelists by Jacob Jordaens, 1625–1630, Louvre

A gospel harmony is an attempt to compile the

canonical gospels of the Christian New 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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Event Matthew Mark Luke John
Crown of thorns Matthew 27:29 Mark 15:17 John 19:2–5
Blood curse Matthew 27:24–25
Carrying the cross Matthew 27:27–33 Mark 15:20–22 Luke 23:26–32 John 19:16–17
Crucifixion of Jesus Matthew 27:34–61 Mark 15:23–47 Luke 23:33–54 John 19:18–38

Early Church and Middle Ages

A 6th–7th-century use of the Eusebian Canons to organize the contents of the gospels in the London Canon Tables

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

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

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,

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]

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[30]

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

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

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,

four evangelists to honor them.[36]

In the 20th century, the Synopsis of the Four Gospels by

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]

This table is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Seq Event Type Matthew Mark Luke John
1 Pre-existence of Christ miscellaneous 1:1–18
2 Genealogy of Jesus nativity 1:1–17 3:23–38
3
Birth of John the Baptist
 nativity 1:5–25
4 Annunciation nativity 1:26–38
5
Visitation of Mary
 nativity 1:39–56
6 Birth of Jesus nativity 1:18–25 2:1–7
7 Annunciation to the shepherds nativity 2:8–15
8
Adoration of the shepherds
 nativity 2:16–20
9 Circumcision of Jesus nativity 2:21
10
Infant Jesus at the Temple
 nativity 2:22–38
11 Star of Bethlehem nativity 2:1–2
12
Visit of the Magi
 nativity 2:1–12
13 Flight into Egypt nativity 2:13–15
14 Massacre of the Innocents nativity 2:16–18
15 Herod the Great's death miscellaneous 2:19–20
16 Return of the family of Jesus to Nazareth youth 2:21–23 2:39
17
Finding Jesus in the Temple
 youth 2:41–51
18 Ministry of John the Baptist miscellaneous 3:1–12 1:1–8 3:1–20 1:19–34
19 Baptism of Jesus miscellaneous 3:13–17 1:9–11 3:21–22 1:29–39
20
Temptation of Jesus
 miscellaneous 4:1–11 1:12–13 4:1–13
21
Marriage at Cana
 miracle 2:1–11
22 Temple Cleansing ministry 2:13–25
23 Jesus & Nicodemus ministry 3:1–21
24 Return of Jesus to Galilee ministry 4:12–12 1:14–14 4:1–3
25
Exorcism at the Synagogue in Capernaum
 miracle 1:21–28 4:31–37
26
The Growing Seed
 parable 4:26–29
27 Rejection of Jesus ministry 13:53–58 6:1–6 4:16–30
28
First disciples of Jesus
 ministry 4:18–22 1:16–20 5:1–11 1:35–51
29
Miraculous draught of fishes
 miracle 5:1–11
30 Beatitudes sermon 5:2–12 6:20–23
31
Young Man from Nain
 miracle 7:11–17
32
The Two Debtors
 parable 7:41–43
33
The Lamp under a Bushel
 parable 5:14–15 4:21–25 8:16–18
34
Expounding of the Law
 sermon 5:17–48 6:29–42
35
Seventy Disciples
 ministry 10:1–24
36
Discourse on ostentation
 sermon 6:1–18
37 Parable of the Good Samaritan parable 10:30–37
38 Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary ministry 10:38–42
39
The Lord's Prayer
 ministry 6:9–13 11:2–4
40
The Friend at Night
 parable 11:5–8
41
The Rich Fool
 parable 12:16–21
42
Samaritan Woman at the Well
 ministry 4:4–26
43 The Birds of the Air ministry 6:25–34 12:22–34
44
Discourse on judging
 sermon 7:1–5 6:41–42
45
Discourse on holiness
 sermon 7:13–27
46
The Test of a Good Person
 sermon 7:15–20 6:43–45
47
The Wise and the Foolish Builders
 parable 7:24–27 6:46–49
48
Cleansing a leper
 miracle 8:1–4 1:40–45 5:12–16
49
The Centurion's Servant
 miracle 8:5–13 7:1–10 4:46–54
50 Healing the mother of Peter's wife miracle 8:14–17 1:29–34 4:38–41
51
Exorcising at sunset
 miracle 8:16–17 1:32–34 4:40–41
52 Calming the storm miracle 8:23–27 4:35–41 8:22–25
53
Gerasenes demonic
 miracle 8:28–34 5:1–20 8:26–39
54
Paralytic at Capernaum
 miracle 9:1–8 2:1–12 5:17–26
55 Calling of Matthew ministry 9:9 2:13–14 5:27–28
56 New Wine into Old Wineskins parable 9:17–17 2:22–22 5:37–39
57
Daughter of Jairus
 miracle 9:18–26 5:21–43 8:40–56
58
The Bleeding Woman
 miracle 9:20–22 5:24–34 8:43–48
59
Two Blind Men at Galilee
 miracle 9:27–31
60
Exorcising a mute
 miracle 9:32–34
61
Commissioning the twelve Apostles
 ministry 10:2–4 3:13–19 6:12–16
62
Not peace, but a sword
 ministry 10:34–36 12:49–53
63 Messengers from John the Baptist ministry 11:2–6 7:18–23
64
Paralytic at Bethesda
 miracle 5:1–18
65 Lord of the Sabbath ministry 12:1–8 2:23–28 6:1–5
66
Man with withered Hand
 miracle 12:9–13 3:1–6 6:6–11
67 Exorcising the blind and mute man miracle 12:22–28 3:20–30 11:14–23
68
Parable of the strong man
 parable 12:29–29 3:27–27 11:21–22
69 Eternal sin ministry 12:30–32 3:28–29 12:8–10
70
Jesus' True Relatives
 ministry 12:46–50 3:31–35 8:19–21
71 Parable of the Sower parable 13:3–9 4:3–9 8:5–8
72
The Tares
 parable 13:24–30
73
The Barren Fig Tree
 parable 13:6–9
74
An Infirm Woman
 miracle 13:10–17
75 Parable of the Mustard Seed parable 13:31–32 4:30–32 13:18–19
76
The Leaven
 parable 13:33–33 13:20–21
77 Parable of the Pearl parable 13:44–46
78
Drawing in the Net
 parable 13:47–50
79
The Hidden Treasure
 parable 13:52–52
80
Beheading of John the Baptist
 ministry 14:6–12 6:21–29 9:7–9
81
Feeding the 5000
 miracle 14:13–21 6:31–44 9:10–17 6:5–15
82
Jesus' walk on water
 miracle 14:22–33 6:45–52 6:16–21
83
Healing in Gennesaret
 miracle 14:34–36 6:53–56
84 Discourse on Defilement sermon 15:1–11 7:1–23
85
Canaanite woman's daughter
 miracle 15:21–28 7:24–30
86
Deaf mute of Decapolis
 miracle 7:31–37
87
Feeding the 4000
 miracle 15:32–39 8:1–9
88
Blind Man of Bethsaida
 miracle 8:22–26
89 Confession of Peter ministry 16:13–20 8:27–30 9:18–21
90 Transfiguration of Jesus miracle 17:1–13 9:2–13 9:28–36
91
Boy possessed by a demon
 miracle 17:14–21 9:14–29 9:37–49
92 Coin in the fish's mouth miracle 17:24–27
93 Bread of Life Discourse sermon 6:22–59
94
The Little Children
 ministry 18:1–6 9:33–37 9:46–48
95
Man with dropsy
 miracle 14:1–6
96
Counting the Cost
 parable 14:25–33
97
The Lost Sheep
 parable 18:10–14 15:4–6
98
The Unforgiving Servant
 parable 18:23–35
99
The Lost Coin
 parable 15:8–9
100 Parable of the Prodigal Son parable 15:11–32
101
The Unjust Steward
 parable 16:1–13
102 Rich man and Lazarus parable 16:19–31
103
The Master and Servant
 parable 17:7–10
104 Cleansing ten lepers miracle 17:11–19
105
The Unjust Judge
 parable 18:1–8
106
Pharisee and the Tax Collector
 parable 18:9–14
107 Divorce and celibacy ministry 19:1–15
108 Jesus and the rich young man ministry 19:16–30 10:17–31 18:18–30
109 Jesus and the woman taken in adultery ministry 8:2–11
110
The Workers in the Vineyard
 parable 20:1–16
111 Jesus predicts his death ministry 20:17–19 8:31
9:31
10:32–34		 18:31–34
112
The Blind at Birth
 miracle 9:1–12
113 Son of man came to serve ministry 20:20–28 10:35–45
114 The Good Shepherd ministry 10:1–21
115
Blind near Jericho
 miracle 20:29–34 10:46–52 18:35–43
116
Raising of Lazarus
 miracle 11:1–44
117
Jesus and Zacchaeus
 ministry 19:2–28
118 Palm Sunday ministry 21:1–11 11:1–11 19:29–44 12:12–19
119 Temple Cleansing ministry 21:12–13 11:15–18 19:45–48
120
Cursing the fig tree
 miracle 21:18–22 11:12–14
121
Authority of Jesus Questioned
 ministry 21:23–27 11:27–33 20:1–8
122
The Two Sons
 parable 21:28–32
123
The Wicked Husbandmen
 parable 21:33–41 12:1–9 20:9–16
124
The Great Banquet
 parable 22:1–14 14:16–24
125
Render unto Caesar...
 ministry 22:15–22 12:13–17 20:20–26
126 Woes of the Pharisees ministry 23:1–39 12:35–37 20:45–47
127
Widow's mite
 sermon 12:41–44 21:1–4
128
Second Coming Prophecy
 ministry 24:1–31 13:1–27 21:5–36
129
The Budding Fig Tree
 parable 24:32–35 13:28–31 21:29–33
130
The Faithful Servant
 parable 24:42–51 13:34–37 12:35–48
131
The Ten Virgins
 parable 25:1–13
132
The Talents or Minas
 parable 25:14–30 19:12–27
133 The Sheep and the Goats parable 25:31–46
134 Anointing of Jesus ministry 26:1–13 14:3–9 7:36–50 12:2–8
135 Bargain of Judas miscellaneous 26:14–16 14:10–11 22:1–6
136 The Grain of Wheat ministry 12:24–26
137 Last Supper ministry 26:26–29 14:18–21 22:17–20 13:1–31
138 Promising a Paraclete ministry 16:5–15
139 Gethsemane miscellaneous 26:36–46 14:32–42 22:39–46
140
The kiss of Judas
 passion 26:47–49 14:43–45 22:47–48 18:2–9
141 Healing the ear of a servant miracle 22:49–51
142 Arrest of Jesus passion 26:50–56 14:46–49 22:52–54 18:10–12
143
Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus
 passion 26:57–68 14:53–65 22:63–71 18:12–24
144 Blood curse passion 27:24–25
145 Carrying the cross passion 27:27–33 15:20–22 23:26–32 19:16–17
146 Crucifixion of Jesus passion 27:34–61 15:23–47 23:33–54 19:18–38
147 Myrrhbearers/Mary Magdalene at the Tomb resurrection appearance 28:1 16:1 24:1
148 Empty tomb resurrection appearance 28:2–8 16:2–8 24:2–12 20:1–13
149 Resurrection of Jesus resurrection appearance 28:9–10 16:9–11 24:1–8 20:14–16
150 Noli me tangere resurrection appearance 20:17–17
151 Road to Emmaus appearance resurrection appearance 24:13–32
152
Resurrected Jesus appears to Apostles
 resurrection appearance 16:9–12 24:36–43 20:19–20
153 Great Commission resurrection appearance 28:16–20 16:14–18
154 Doubting Thomas resurrection appearance 20:24–29
155
Catch of 153 fish
 miracle 21:1–24
156 Ascension of Jesus resurrection appearance 16:19 24:50–53
157 Dispersion of the Apostles miscellaneous 28:19–20 16:20

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^
    ISBN 0805494448
    pp. 3–4
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1498221580
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 0805494448
    p. 18
  4. ^ France, R.T. "Chronological Aspects of 'Gospel Harmony'," Vox Evangelica 16 (1986): 33–60.
  5. ^ Cox & Easley 2007, pp. 1–2.
  6. ^ a b The Encyclopedia of Christianity, vol. 4, Eerdmans, 2005, p. 39.
  7. ^
    ISBN 0664219179
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 9042910429
    pp. 28–32
  9. ^
    ISBN 0805494448
    pp. 6–8
  10. ^
    ISBN 080283860X
    p. 398
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-0872731646
  12. ^ John Barton, The Old Testament: Canon Literature and Theology Collected Essays of John Barton (Ashgate Publishing, 2013) p. 59. [ISBN missing]
  13. 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.
  14. ^ Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (1991). A Christological Catechism (quoting Augustine). Paulist Press. p. 158.
  15. ^ Carson, D.A. (1984). "Introduction to Matthew," in The Expositor's Bible Commentary vol. VIII. Zondervan. pp. 38–39.
  16. ^ Matthew 8:8–9
  17. ^ Luke 7:6–8
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ISBN 978-1548461263
    .
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ISBN 0805494448
    pp. 207–211
  22. ISBN 0664219179
    pp. 127, 211
  23. ^ Bart Ehrman, Zlatko Plese, The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations (Oxford University Press, 2011) p. 231.
  24. ^ Ron Cameron, The Other Gospels: Non-canonical Gospel Texts (Westminster John Knox Press, 1982) p. 103.
  25. ^
    ISBN 9004192891
    pp. 188–190
  26. ^
    ISBN 0802824161
    p. 41
  27. ISBN 080283843X
    p. 132
  28. ISBN 9004116796
    pp. 37–40
  29. ^ Smalley (1981), p. 250.
  30. ^
    ISBN 9004215158
    pp. 2–6
  31. ^ 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].
  32. ISBN 1931112568
    p. 50
  33. ISBN 0802808026
  34. ^
    ISBN 0814650287
    p. 35
  35. ^ Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Werke, 8.51–52, cited in Francis Watson, Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2013), p. 80.
  36. ^ "James Tissot: Saint Luke (Saint Luc) (1886)". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  37. ISBN 0826705006
  38. ISBN 056709331X [page needed
    ]
  39. ^ William Newcome (1834), Edward Robinson (ed.), A harmony of the Gospels in Greek, in the general order of Le Clere & Newcome, with Newcome's notes: Printed from the text and with the various readings of Knapp, Gould and Newman, pp. v–xviii
  40. ISBN 978-0805494440

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Thomson, Charles, A Synopsis of the Four Evangelists (1815)
  • Robinson, Edward, Greek Harmony of the Gospels (1845; second edition, 1851)
  • Robinson, Edward, English Harmony of the Gospels (1846)
  • Orville Daniel, A Harmony of the Four Gospels, 2nd Ed, Baker Books Pub, 1996.
  • R. Thomas & S. Gundry, The NIV Harmony of the Gospels, HarperCollins Pub, 1988.

External links

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