Reverberations of Good News

George van Kooten is the Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity (1502) at the University of Cambridge and fellow of Clare Hall.

In this rich and wide-ranging study, George van Kooten offers a new interpretation of the origins of the gospels, the relationships between them, and their visions of the ‘good news’ of Jesus Christ, and draws fresh insights from them for the present day. A beautifully written book which offers food for thought for scholars, students, and people of faith alike.

• Map of the ancient Near East, first centuries bce/ce, with places featured in this book xAcknowledgements xiIntroduction xiiiTimeline of the most important events mentioned in this book xix1 Mark – ‘Good News’: Inner Catharsis as the Third Way Between Religion and Politics 1‘Good news’ 1Mark in time and place 5A new understanding of religion and politics 21A new understanding of purity and purification: An inner catharsis 48Jesus as innovator 57The death of an innovator: The end, or a whisper of divinity? 59An open ending: ‘And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid’ 70The figure of Mark, according to Papias, bishop of Hierapolis (c. 101–110 ce) 74Postlude – A poetic reverberation: W. H. Auden’s ‘Kairos and Logos’ (1941) 792 Matthew – Beyond the Roman West and the Parthian East: The ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ and its Constitution 96The antithesis between West and East: The Magi from the East 97The constitution of an alternative kingdom between West and East: The Sermon on the Mount 108The return to the mountain of the Sermon on the Mount 119Readership and place of writing 121The destruction of Jerusalem 123The quest for the kingdom 124The figure of Matthew, also according to Papias of Hierapolis 126Postlude – A poetic reverberation: T. S. Eliot’s ‘Journey of the Magi’ (1927) 1273 Luke – ‘The Way of Peace’: The Gospel as Journey Through the World 135The Gospel of Luke, the last of the Synoptics 135The location where Luke’s Gospel was written, Part I: Rome 140The location where Luke’s Gospel was written, Part II: The Library of Peace 144The relationship between the Gospels of Luke and Matthew 153A SWOT analysis of Luke’s Gospel 168Writing for a Roman Readership: Luke’s Romanization, Stoicization, and juridicization 202Luke: Paul’s co-worker? 208Postlude – A reverberation in prose: Maurice Laurentin’s Notebooks of an Infantryman (1914) 210Postlude – A poetic reverberation: W. H. Auden’s ‘For the Time Being’ (1941–1942) 214 John – Spectators of the Truth: The Incarnation of the Logos on the Stage of Life 228The Gospel engages its readers: Prologue, literary turning point, and direct second-person address 228The date, location, and author of John’s Gospel 249The Gospel’s themes 260The purpose of John’s Gospel 273Postlude – A poetic reverberation: Goethe’s Faust: A Tragedy(1808/1832) 2755 Conclusion: The Circular Ripples of Jesus’ Historical Impact 286The first ripple effect of Jesus’ impact: The Gospels of John and Mark 287Abolishing the nineteenth-century distinction between John’s Gospel and the ‘historical’ Gospels 294The second ripple effect of Jesus’ impact: The Gospel of Matthew 298Placing Papias and Paul in the concentric circles 303The third ripple effect of Jesus’ impact: The Gospel of Luke 305After Luke: Various possible responses to the four Gospels 308The various degrees of relationship between the Gospel authors and Jesus 309The Jewish, Roman, and Greek identities of the Gospel authors and their distinctive emphases 313Postlude – A poetic reverberation: Edward Shillito’s ‘Jesus of the Scars’ (1919) 314List of Illustrations 321Index of Names and Subjects 329Index of Biblical References 355