Z Crook, Parallel Gospels (2014) CBQ 76

BOOK REVIEWS

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ZEBA A. CROOK, Parallel Gospels: A Synopsis of Early Christian Writing (New York/ Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). Pp. xv + 320. $39.95. Zeba A. Crook intends this volume to replace Burton Throckmorton's Gospel Parallels: A Comparison ofthe Synoptic Gospels (5th ed.; Nashville: Thornas Nelson, 1992). Whereas Throckmorton shows only the Synoptic Gospels, C. includes Matthew, Mark, Q, Luke, John, and Thomas. In addition, Throckmorton uses the NRSV, thereby creating Synoptic agreements in English that do not appear in Greek while suppressing agreements in English that do appear in Greek; for example, C. shows that in the Synoptics' account of Jesus' baptism, Throckmorton makes Matthew and Mark look more similar than they actually are while making Mark and Luke look less similar (pp. x-xii). By contrast, C. creates a distinctive, literal translation ofthe canonical Gospels that shows agreements in English only where there are agreements in the tmderlying Greek text. C. also consistently renders each Greek word with the same English word and even uses hyphenation to signiiy that multiple English words are one Greek word. For the Gospel of Thomas, C. reprints Stephen Patterson and Marvin Meyer's translation (in The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version [ed. Robert J. Miller; Sonoma, CA: Polebridge, 1992]), which unfortunately does not allow for close comparison with C.'s literal translations. Concerning the relationships among the texts, C. gives seventeen helpftjl study guides covering important theories and issues (e.g., "Two-Document Hypothesis," "Griesbach/ Two-Gospel Hypothesis," "Farrer Hypothesis," "Mark-Q Overlaps," "Minor Agreements," "Gospel of Thomas and the Synopfics," and "John's Relationship to the Synoptics"). He does not discuss the "Augustinian" hypothesis or Jerusalem perspective (i.e., Lucan priority), even though he acknowledges the latter in the preface. Although he places Q as a main column between Matthew and Luke, he denies that "simply including Q here in a column prejudices the source-critical debate" (p. ix). In my reading, the Q column seems to do just that. For example, for Jesus' salt saying, C. presents Mark-Q overlap (Matt 5:13 ; Mark 9:50; Q 14:34-35; Luke 14:34-35; pp. 26,154,198), which seems to overrule a minor agreement; that is, Matthew and Luke's "if-ever the salt might-become tasteless" lines up against Mark's "if-ever the salt might happen [= becomes] unsalty," hut the reader of the synopsis sees Matthew and Luke independently reproducing Q verbatim rather than Luke preferring one of Matthew's phrases over Mark's. Crook presents extensive text-critical data, which are of limited use to an audience that cannot read Greek. Numerous errors in transcription will likely go unnoticed by these readers: for example, for the variant Gergesenes in Mark 5:1 C. lists 782 insteadof 892, and for the parallel Gadarenes in Luke 8:26, C. has English 'Y' instead of Greek 'Psi' (pp. 69, 118). C. claims not to cite lectionaries (p. xviii), but he does cite lectionary 2211—albeit without the siglum for "lectionary"—for the omission of "Son of God" in Mark 1:1 (pp. xvi, 1). Overall, C. 's synopsis helpñiUy includes more data than Throckmorton's, but C. 's text is not as user-fi'iendly. When all six Gospels appear on a single page (e.g., pp. 105-7, 12124), the columns have between one and four words per line, which makes comparison difficult. Pericopae frequently cross multiple pages, but the names of the Gospels are not reproduced in the column headings, and so it is often difficult to see which Gospels are

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being compared. At times the translations are awkward; for example, C. translates Luke 13:11 as, "And look! [a] woman having [a] spirit of-illness [for] eighteen years and she-was bending-over and being-able to-straighten-up no [= not] into the completely [= fully]" (p. 189). Perhaps the book will find its most productive results if used in the classroom with an instmctor helping students slowly work through the details. James W. Barker, Luther College, Decorah, LA 52101

ARTHUR J. DEWEY and ROBERT J. MILLER, The Complete Gospel Parallels (Salem, OR:

Polebridge, 2012). Pp. xii + 417. Paper $45. Arthur Dewey and Robert Miller's synopsis contains the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Thomas, Peter, Hebrews, and Nazoreans, as well as Egerton Papyms 2 and Oxyrhynchus Papyms 1224. The volume divides into six parts: (1) a synopsis of the Synoptic Gospels, also including parallels from the Gospel of John and the extracanonical Gospels and papyri; (2) a synopsis of the Fourth Gospel and its canonical and extracanonical parallels; (3) a synopsis of Q, that is, a reconstmcting of Q between Matthean and Lucan parallels; (4) a synopsis of Thomas; (5) a synopsis oí Peter; (6) short (five pages or fewer) synopses of Egerton Papyms 2, Gospel of the Hebrews, Gospel of the Nazoreans, and Oxyrhynchus Papyms 1224, as well as three Gospel parallels to 1 Corinthians, in addition to Marcan, Lucan, and Petrine parallels to the account of Jesus' ascension in the Acts of the Apostles. D. and M. do not enumerate the 527 total pericopae in a table of contents, but they do provide an exhaustive Scripture index. The synopsis is remarkably user-friendly. Only one pericope (#245; pp. 191-93) comprises more than two pages. A maximum of four columns of text appears on a single page. Rarely does a single pericope tum frotn a right-hand to a left-hand page, but in such instances the names of the Gospels appear as column headings on both pages. For readers unfamiliar with Greek, D. and M. provide manageable text-critical data by listing "only those variants that materially affect the comparison of parallel texts" (p. 4); for example, "Some mss read either 'Gergesenes' or 'Gadarenes'" in Luke 8:26" (p. 71). The translation is eminently readable. D. and M. use the 2010 revision of the Scholars Version, a long-standing project of the Jesus Seminar {The Complete Gospels [ ed. Robert J. Miller; 4th ed.; Salem, OR: Polebridge, 2010]). The translators intend to recreate in contemporary American English "the language of everyday life" reflected in the Gospels' original language (p. 1 ). Some readers may not appreciate the Scholars Version's thoroughgoing colloquialisms, suchas "Look pal, how'd you get in here . . ."in Matt 22:12 (p. 133) and "Anyone here with ears, use 'em!" in Matt 11:15 (p. 138). Other tendencies include translating Ioudaioi as "Judeans" rather than "Jews," huios tou anthropou as "Human One" rather than "Son of Man," basileia as "empire" rather than "kingdom," and ouai as "damn" rather than "woe." The translation is also useful for comparing the Gospels because the 2010 revision of the Scholars Version was intended to preserve similarities and differences in English that match the underlying Greek. Synopses using the NRSV {e.g.. Burton Throckmorton's Gospel Parallels: A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels [5* ed.; Nashville: Thomas Nelson,

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