The Gospel according to the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Ebionites

Edited by Andrew Gregory

Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts

Offers an up-to-date introduction to research on Jewish-Christian gospels traditions, and makes an original contribution to knowledge and research
Argues for two gospels, and introduces and comments on the fragments that may be attributed to each gospel
Illuminates the literary context of the quotations, which has all too often been ignored, and distinguishes carefully between these gospels as literary texts, deserving of study in themselves, and as sources for the history of Jewish Christianity

The Gospel according to the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Ebionites

Edited by Andrew Gregory

Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts

Description

Scholars are divided on the number of gospels to which fragmentary Jewish-Christian gospel traditions should be attributed. In this book Gregory attributes them to two gospels: the Gospel according to the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Ebionites, with no need for any postulated Gospel of the Nazoraeans. As two distinct texts, each gospel is treated on its own terms, with its own introduction, followed by a text, translation and commentary on each fragment, and further discussion about what we may conclude about the overall character of the text on the basis of the fragments that survive. Yet they share certain common features that warrant them being treated together in one volume with an introduction that discusses certain critical issues that are relevant to them both. One common factor is the partial and indirect way in which these texts have been preserved. No independent manuscript tradition survives for either text, so they have been transmitted only to the extent that they were quoted or discussed by a number of early Christian authors, none of whom claims to be the author of the text from which he appears to quote or to which he appears to refer. This raises a number of questions of a literary nature about how excerpts from these texts may be interpreted. Another common factor is that these gospel traditions are usually referred to as Jewish-Christian, which may raise questions about their historical origins and theological outlook. Any judgment about the historical origins or theological nature of these gospels must rest upon prior examination of what may be reconstructed of their texts, and Gregory is careful to distinguish between what we may conclude from these gospels as texts and how they might contribute to our knowledge of early Christian history. The book also includes a number of appendices in which he discusses issues that have been prominent in the history of scholarship on these texts, but which he argues are not relevant to these two gospels as he presents them. These include claims about an original Hebrew gospel of Matthew, the postulated Gospel of the Nazoraeans and the so-called 'Jewish gospel', as well as what may be known about the Nazoraeans and the Ebionites.

The Gospel according to the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Ebionites

Edited by Andrew Gregory

Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts

Part I: Introduction: 'Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition'
Literary issues
- 'Jewish-Christian Gospel Tradition': Its sources and its scope
- From quotations to texts: preliminary methodological observations
- From quotations to texts: determining the number of gospels
Theological and historical issues
- Artefacts or texts?
- A note on terminology: 'Jewish Christianity', 'Jewish Christians' and 'Jewish-Christian gospel traditions'
- The date of Jewish-Christian gospels, and the question of their value as historical witnesses to Jesus
The structure of this book
Part II: The Gospel according to the Hebrews
Witnesses to the text
- The Alexandrians: Clement, Origen, and Didymus
- Eusebius
- Jerome
- Ps-Origen
- Doubtful and spurious witnesses
Literary issues
- Title
- Date and place of composition
- Language
- Literary form
- Relationship to other gospel traditions
- Extent and scope
The fragments (text, translation, commentary)
- Probable and possible testimony
- Doubtful testimony
Theological characteristics
- Christology and soteriology
- The Spirit and Wisdom
- The need for sibling solidarity
- A gnostic or sapiential text?
Jewish-Christian profile
Part III: The Gospel of the Ebionites
Witnesses
- The testimony of Epiphanius
Literary issues
- Title
- Date and place of composition
- Language
- Literary form and relationship to other gospel traditions
- Extent and Scope
- The order and enumeration of the excerpts
Fragments (text, translation, commentary)
Theological characteristics
- Christology: Jesus the son of God
- Mission to Israel
- The role of John the Baptist
- Sacrifice and diet
- Jewish-Christian profile
Part IV: Appendices
Appendix 1. Hebrew gospel according to Matthew?
Appendix 2. The Jewish gospel and the Zion Gospel Edition
Appendix 3. Spurious patristic witnesses to the Gospel according to the Hebrews
Appendix 4. Latin and Irish medieval witnesses to Jewish-Christian gospel traditions
Appendix 5. From texts to sects: Hebrews, Ebionites, and Nazoraeans
Bibliography
Index

The Gospel according to the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Ebionites

Edited by Andrew Gregory

Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts

Author Information

Edited by Andrew Gregory, Chaplain and Fellow, University College, Oxford

Andrew Gregory is Chaplain and Fellow of University College, Oxford. He is the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha (2015), Trajectories through the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers (2005), and The Reception of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers (2005), and series co-editor for Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts and the Oxford Apostolic Fathers.

The Gospel according to the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Ebionites

Edited by Andrew Gregory

Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts

Reviews and Awards

"this work provides a thorough, cautious, and well-balanced assessment of the evidence for two no longer extant works ... Grounded in previous scholarship and presented in a well-organized fashion, this work offers the reader an accessible and comprehensive overview of the relevant data for understanding each of these lost Gospels. ... Both readers well acquainted with these lost Gospels and those who have never previously encountered these works will greatly benefit from the present edition." - Matthew Goldstone, Catholic Biblical Quarterly

"a very helpful publication, which deals effectively and thoughtfully with what is a complicated and difficult subject about which much has been written and a variety of sometimes convoluted theories presented ... [this is] a volume whose appearance can only enhance discussion of a variety of subjects in the study of early Christianity" - James Carleton Paget, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

"An excellent edition, highly recommended" - Matthew V. Novenson, Journal for the Study of The New Testament

"This welcome and long awaited addition to a valuable series has been written by one of its two co-editors, Andrew Gregory. His thorough and meticulous work on the Jewish-Christian Gospels is an exemplary study that will now supersede the previous works written by A. F. J. Klijn. ... Gregory is to be congratulated on his significant achievements." - J. K. Elliott, Novum Testamentum