This book is the result of astonishing textual detective work on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and is an attempt, quite successful, of ferreting out the words of Jesus as laid down in these three Gospels. It is a "lost Gospel" in the sense that it was a collection of his words, or logia, the collection itself never found, because the collector of them has never been identified.
But we know who collected them, even though we do not know his name. As a matter of fact, there is not only one "Q",there are three. Every rabbi at the time of Jesus had a scribe, who took down his words(logia), his deeds(praxeis),.and his "signs" or miracles(dynameis). That was true of the Rabbi Hillel, another rabbi of the time; of Shammai, another, and of many others whose names are mentioned in the Talmud.
Often, the logia were in the form of "halakah", logia that had to do with right living or acting, similar to the Sermon on the Mount.
In rabbinical times, it was important to know how the "halakah" of Rabbi Hillel differed from the "halakah" of Rabbi Shammai, and which was more authoritative. The "Q" document in this book is showing how the "halakah" of Jesus differs from that of other rabbis, and it is certainly one of the sources of the Gospelsl.
But there are three other sources: Jesus' deeds, his miracles, and the preaching of the Apostles. It is from these four sources that the Gospels were written, each one for a different audience.
So "Q" is not a "lost" Gospel; it is one of the written sources of three Gospels and contains his words, his spoken teaching, his logia. The Gospels themselves are a written syntheis, a written account of the historical and cultural setting of the life of Jesus, together with the triadic "Q" : the words, deeds and miracles of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospels also contain the preaching of the Apostles about Jesus, and, in the case of Mark, Peter's preaching and memories.
So the book,valuable as it is, is not complete, and it gives the impression that "Q" is a primitive Gospel. It is simply a collection of Jesus' words, sayings and spoken teaching, and as such is a valuable source for understanding the Gospels: what he said, where he said it, when he said it, and to what audience.
The Gospels are written documents, for a different audience than those who listened to Jesus, and tailored to the needs and understanding of those for whom they were written. They bear the mark of each of their authors and, in some cases, an indication of the audience for which they were written. That is why we have a tetramorphic Gospel, a many-faceted diamond of Jesus of Nazareth, for the simple reason that one pen was not sufficient to herald the "Good News" of Jesus - - - as it is written in the Appendix of the Gospel of John: "There are many other things that Jesus did. If it were written down, I don't suppose the whole world could contain all the books that would have to be written.
Father Clifford Stevens
Boys Town, Nebraska
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Not Bob
Fresh look at Jesus without the theological overlay.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2013
