The Lost Gospel Q: The Original Sayings of Jesus

The sayings of Jesus according to the audience tells as much about the audience as it does about the speaker. Factoring out their known expectations and biases, one can get a glimpse of the man who is sharing a new understanding of himself, of his people and his God. A man of great personal integrity, willing to die to be faithful to himself and the Divine within him.

"The Lost Gospel Q"* is what many scholars believe to be the first Christian Gospel. Although this Gospel was never actually found, scholars surmise its existence because of over two hundred identical verses found in Matthew and Luke but not in Mark. Since most scholars don't think Matthew and Mark knew each other, this material must have come from another source, what they call the Gospel Q. Then in 1945 early Christian manuscripts were found in Nag Hammadi. Among these was the Gospel of Thomas. One third of the sayings in it were found to be similar to those in Q. This demonstrated that Q was more than a collection of quotes. It was a handbook for early Christians, or pre-Christians. The name Q comes from the German word Quelle, meaning source. It is believed this gospel was written only a couple of decades after Jesus died, and is therefore the closest thing we have to what he actually said, a real look into the spirit of Jesus. The editors insert commentary on the text and time to help the reader picture what the historical Jesus and the day he lived in were like. It is a fascinating little book for anyone wishing to go back to the beginnings of the Jesus tradition. Beth Avary [...] *Edited by Mark Powelson, Ray Riegert, and Marcus Borg consulting editor, with an introduction by Thomas Moore.

The arguments for the existence of THE LOST GOSPEL Q put forth by Marcus Borg in the Preface are the most interesting and provocative part of this book. It is easy to understand why the work of the Jesus Seminar is challenged by skeptics. However, I do think it is important not to dismiss it too quickly before it receives the attention and scrutiny it deserves. THE LOST GOSPEL Q is a serious attempt to shed light on the historical Jesus.

This book is based on the theory that the Gospel of Mark was written before any of the other synoptic Gospels. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke were then written with the help of those from Mark and another unknown source which is called the Gospel Q. In 1838 a German noticed that there were many sayings of Jesus which were common to Matthew and Luke but not included in Mark. The Lost Gospel Q is comprised of these sayings. Adding fuel to the argument was the discovery in 1945 near the Upper Nile River in Egypt of a codex called the Gospel of Thomas. It contained 114 sayings of Jesus. Over one-third of these sayings were similar to those found in the Lost Gospel Q. If you accept the idea of the probable existence of Q, then you can look forward to reading sayings of Jesus which were recorded and used by some of His earliest followers less than two decades after His death and resurrection.

Having turned away from the Bible, I discovered the Lost Gospel of Q to be a wonderful way to experience Jesus as the humane, powerful, and mystical teacher. This is a perfect companion to Jesus books by Marcus Borg and Crossan. Beautifully presented and published! Stripping away the centuries of church interpretations makes Jesus much more compelling and alive.