Early Christian Gospels: Origins, History and Conflict

Catalog description

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the familiar "canonical" gospels. In the early centuries of Christianity other gospels circulated: the Gospel of Peter, "Q", Infancy Gospels and the so-called Gnostic gospels. This course examines the origins of the canonical and non-canonical gospels, the historical and theological factors at work in the emergence of the canonical gospels to a position of primacy, and the struggles within early Christianity to define its authoritative tradition.