The earliest of the four Gospels, the book portrays Jesus as an enigmatic figure, struggling with enemies, his inner and external demons, and with his devoted but disconcerted disciples. Unlike other gospels, his parables are obscure, to be explained secretly to his followers. With an introduction by Nick Cave

The publication of the King James version of the Bible, translated between 1603 and 1611, coincided with an extraordinary flowering of English literature and is universally acknowledged as the greatest influence on English-language literature in history. Now, world-class literary writers introduce the book of the King James Bible in a series of beautifully designed, small-format volumes. The introducers' passionate, provocative, and personal engagements with the spirituality and the language of the text make the Bible come alive as a stunning work of literature and remind us of its overwhelming contemporary relevance.

Estimated to date back to the very early Jesus movement, the lost Gospel known as Q offers a distinct and remarkable picture of Jesus and his significance--and one that differs markedly from that offered by its contemporary, the apostle Paul. Q presents Jesus as a prophetic critic of unbelief and a sage with the wisdom that can transform. In Q, the true meaning of the "kingdom of God" is the fulfillment of a just society through the transformation of the human relationships within it. Though this document has never been found, John Kloppenborg offers a succinct account of why scholars maintain it existed in the first place and demonstrates how they have been able to reconstruct its contents and wording from the two later Gospels that used it as a source: Matthew and Luke. Presented here in its entirety, as developed by the International Q Project, this Gospel reveals a very different portrait of Jesus than in much of the later canonical writings, challenging the way we think of Christian origins and the very nature and mission of Jesus Christ.

Part I: The Gospel that was part of Marcion's collection in the first half of the 2nd century is the oldest of all Gospels. The author presents a meticulous reconstruction and argues that all canonical Gospels are dependent on this Gospel. This sheds new light on the formation and tradition history of the gospels, contributes new insights on the history of the New Testament text and textual criticism, and has significant consequences for how to assess the formation of the canonical edition of the New Testament and the history of earliest Christianity in general. Part I contains the methodological foundation, substantiating the hypothesis that canonical Luke is a revised edition of this oldest Gospel. On this ground, a model of the Gospels' tradition history is developed. A detailed epilogue comments on recent research on and reconstructions of Marcion's Gospel and analyzes the methodological differences of these approaches. Part II: Reconstructing the text of Marcion's Gospel is essential for the two basic tasks of establishing this Gospel's priority over canonical Luke and understanding the formation process from this oldest Gospel to the canonical Four-Gospel book. Part. II offers a reconstruction of the oldest Gospel. Its text is established on the basis of evidence provided by the heresiological witnesses and the textual variants. A detailed commentary makes every single decision of the reconstruction transparent and carefully traces the steps of the tradition history for individual sayings and pericopes. The volume includes an English translation as well as an extensive list of the correspondences between the attestations for Marcion's Gospel and the variants of canonical Luke.

Horton brings together the latest research on the origins of the gospels and their transmission, and provides the only guide to the Chester Beatty Codex P45. Provides an introduction to the gospel genre and examining literacy among early Christians and all that is known about the origins and transmission of the gospels. Also focuses on the significance of P45, its place as the earliest Christian gospel-book, its unique readings, the earliest extant version of the gospel of Mark, and how the manuscript was found piece by piece by an American collector.

Presents the original teachings of Jesus written by his contemporaries and early followers