This extended review of Francis Watson, Gospel Writing, engages critically with some of the major arguments of the book, including Watson’s case against Q and for Luke’s use of Matthew, his claim that the Gospel of Thomas preserves a very early genre of gospel writing, his argument that the Gospel of John is dependent on the Egerton Gospel, and his account of the process (‘normativization’) that produced the canon of the four gospels. His work is criticized generally for neglecting the wider literary context of the gospels in ancient Jewish and Graeco-Roman literature.
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DowningF. Gerald1980a ‘Redaction Criticism: Josephu’ Antiquities and the Synoptic Problem, Is’, JSNT8: 46-65.
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DowningF. Gerald1980b ‘Redaction Criticism: Josephus’ Antiquities and the Synoptic Problem, II’, JSNT9: 29-48.
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DowningF. Gerald1988 ‘Compositional Conventions and the Synoptic Problem’, JBL107: 69-85; reprinted with an ‘appended Note’ in Downing 2000: 152-73.
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DowningF. Gerald2011 ‘Writers’ Use and Abuse of Written Sources’, in Foster, Gregory, Kloppenborg and Verheyden 2011: 523-48.
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GathercoleSimon J.2012The Composition of the Gospel of Thomas: Original Language and Influences (SNTSMS, 151; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
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MoessnerDavid P.1999 ‘The Appeal and Power of Poetics (Luke 1:1-4): Luke’s Superior Credentials (παρακολουθηκότι), Narrative Sequence (καθεξῆς), and Firmness of Understanding (ἡ ἀσφάλεια) for the Reader’, in MoessnerDavid P. (ed.), Jesus and the Heritage of Israel (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International): 84-123.
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MoessnerDavid P.2002 ‘Dionysius’s Narrative “Arrangement” (οἰκονομία) as the Hermeneutical Key to Luke’s Re-Vision of the “Many”’, in AlfChristophersonClaussenCarstenFreyJörgLongeneckerBruce (eds.), Paul, Luke and the Graeco-Roman World: Essays in Honour of Alexander J. M. Wedderburn (JSNTSup, 217; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press): 149-64.
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