Four Gospels, One Jesus?: A Symbolic Reading

I wrote to Dr. Burridge recently that I wish I found the volume when I was a seminarian studying the Gospels. I am ministering youth and teens at a local Mennonite church in Indonesia. The volume is extremely enlightening. I prefer to reading Anglo-Saxon scholars to North American who are so often too simplistic and pragmatic (pardon me). Yet many times I find Anglo-Saxon writers are deep in exploring something but dry in nurturing soul. This book is an exception. It helps much in my ministry. Here is Dr. Burridge's reply: "I'm glad to hear that you feel that the scholarship helps with your ministry - this is indeed the driving force behind most of my writing." I humbly invite those who are keen on correct doctrinal teachings and preachings to submit once again to the study of the Gospels and grasp the book. He himself was to come back to the Gospels having written a massive monograph: WHAT ARE THE GOSPELS? to help his personal struggle in spiritual life. The monograph is a groundbreaking study in the study of the Gospels. He is a classicist turned New Testament scholar. His graduate study in classic was done in Oxford, and the doctorate in Nottingham. He aptly demonstrates that the Gospels are a kind of ancient "Bioi." Find what the ancient "Bioi" with contemporary biographies. The technical work has been strongly condensed in FOUR JESUS, ONE GOSPELS?: A SYMBOLIC READING. I am really happy to find the popular volume, since the explanation are employing the most popular literary and visual art works--as C. S. Lewis' NARNIA and Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS. Recently I wrote a paper for an academic journal on how to read the Bible with imagination, and I was helped by Tolkien's LOTR. And Dr. Burridge aptly provides me with samples. Come to hear again the roar of the Lion in Mark, to sit under the wise teaching of the Israel Teacher in Matthew, to contemplate on the burden-bearer ox in Luke , and to soar high with the flying eagle in John. You and I will find that our lives are worth living!!! Thanks so much, Dr. Burridge.

Great book! This book really helped my biblical studies course, its really accessible but doesnt dumb down. So many of the academic theological books are really hard to read but this says everything in a real concise style and good for people like me who have a short attention span.

This book changed the way I view the Four Gospels...and has deepened my faith in the one Jesus to whom they witness. The book is academic in its approach, addressing the most important areas of textual and theological criticism, and yet it reads like a devotional. Good stuff for scholars and laypeople alike!

This book has been one of my re-reads, and I don't have time for many. I recommend this as a balanced, intelligent reading of the varried stories of Jesus, without "liberal" or "conservative" bias.

This is one of the most concise yet comprehensive books I've read on the subject, a book that effectively combines scholarship and faith. As Michael Green writes," Few academics emerge from the ivory tower to write in an attractive way for the general reader. Few theologians combine academic rigour with spiritual sensitivity. Richard Burridge does both these things,..." My students agree. They use and treasure their copy.