The Gospel Community Debate: State of the Question

Abstract

For the last few decades the growing assumption has been that a community exists behind each of the four canonical Gospels. Elaborate reconstructions and reading techniques have been employed to draw out the characteristics of these communities, with the assumption that if we can see ‘behind the text’, we could better interpret the text itself. Recently the scholarly reconstruction of the communities behind the Gospels has been challenged by The Gospels for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences, edited by Richard Bauckham. Since the publication of The Gospels for All Christians, several discussions have begun concerning the nature of the Gospel communities, as well as the overall methods for reading the Gospels. This article attempts to place the Gospel community debate in the current discussion and direct it toward future resolve.