The sources for the life of Christ

Four renowned Biblical scholar present seven essays on the Gospels and Epistles, considered as valid sources of facts concerning Christ's life and death. They discuss the character of each evangelist and disciple; the audience for whom he wrote; his agreement with and his difference from other evangelists; the time between Christ's resurrection and the recording of it by the evangelist; and the relative organization and style of his work. They trace the fascinating layers of accretion in the writings themselves. The events of Christ's life were first entrusted to the apostles, who handed them on orally to the Churches; the Churches in turn constructed short homilies which were based on theological or liturgical points. The first syntheses followed; finally, the evangelists collected these works and organized them around a theological theme.