The Gospel of Jesus: In Search of the Original Good News

James M. Robinson

Oct 2009 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

We all know the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but what was the gospel of Jesus? Is it possible to know what Jesus’s original audience heard as “the good news?”

Jesus’s gospel has been lost from sight, hidden behind the version preferred by the church. In The Gospel of Jesus, James M. Robinson, acclaimed expert on early Christian studies, gets to the true historical message of Jesus. The Gospel of Jesus draws on a combination of the most ancient and authentic texts to reveal what Jesus really said and to illuminate what he may still have to say to us today.

Robinson not only reconstructs the good news Jesus preached and practiced two thousand years ago, but also shows how relevant that message still is -- and how we can apply it to our lives today. The Gospel of Jesus offers one of the most authentic and stirring accounts ever written of the message preached by Christ.

James M. Robinson is the founding director emeritus of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Arthur J. Letts Professor of Religion at the Claremont Graduate School and co-chair of the International Q Project. He is the author of Trajectories Through Early Christianity, A New Quest of the Historical Jesus, The Gospel of Jesus, and The Secrets of Judas.

“The distillation of a distinguished career devoted to the exploration of Christian origins, Robinson’s Gospel of Jesus presents a succinct account of what the historical Jesus taught. Robinson’s reconstruction of ‘Q,’ the sayings source underlying Matthew and Luke, provides the script on which he builds his judicious -- and moving -- portrait of Jesus.”

- Harold Attridge, Dean, Yale Divinity School.

About the author

James M. Robinson, consultant for this collection, is widely known for his groundbreaking contribution as the permanent secretary of UNESCO's International Committee for the Nag Hammadi codices, and his many published works on Gnostic texts and the Sayings Gospel Q.