The Gospels According to Michael Goulder: A North American Response

By Christopher A. Rollston

Book Overview

A variety of noted scholars respond to Michael Goulder's reading of the Gospel as Midrash on the liturgies of the Jewish festivals and calendar.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1563383780
• ISBN13: 9781563383786
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

North American scholars reflect on Goulder's work

Michael Goulder's writings have heavily influenced the work of famed liberal priest John Shelby Spong, and they have also challenged the dominant positions of the Society of Biblical Literature. This book begins with an introductory essay by Goulder himself, where he traces the origins of his ideas. Following this are five essays on themes that Goulder has discussed through the years. Bruce Chilton has a charitable paper that engages Goulder's view that Matthew was constructed around the Jewish festal year. John Kloppenborg vigorously defends the prevailing idea in NT scholarship that Luke and Matthew drew upon another source other than the Gospel of Mark (called Q), an idea that Goulder rejects. Robert Derrenbacher has a strange article where he argues that Luke could have composed his Gospel on a table with a copy of Matthew on one knee and a copy of Q on the other knee, an idea that Goulder pokes fun at while admitting its possibilities. There is also an article by Gary Gilbert where he notes that the table of nations in Acts two is meant to illustrate the universal reign of Chrust in the same way Roman table of nations illustrated the universal supremacy of the emperor, an idea that was neither convincing to me or to Goulder, who felt that Acts 2 was constructed with Genesis 10 and 11 in mind. Finally, there is an essay by Alan Segal where he tries to prove that the man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12 was none other than the apostle Paul himself, a view that Goulder has argued against. There is an appreciative summary of the five articles by Harvard professor Krister Stendahl, followed by brief responses by Goulder. This is a scholarly book that won't appeal to the average layperson, though it may interest those who are interested in Gospel studies or those who have read Bishop Spong's books. I enjoyed it.