TheJewish–Christian Gospels weregospels of aJewish Christian character quoted byClement of Alexandria,Origen,Eusebius,Epiphanius,Jerome and probablyDidymus the Blind.[1] All five call the gospel they know the "Gospel of the Hebrews", but most modern scholars have concluded that the five early church historians are not quoting the same work. As none of the works survive to this day, attempts have been made to reconstruct them from the references in theChurch Fathers. The majority of scholars believe that there existed one gospel in Aramaic/Hebrew and at least two in Greek, although a minority argue that there were only two, in Aramaic/Hebrew and in Greek.[2]
In the standard edition ofSchneemelcher, he creates three different Jewish–Christian gospels by dividing up the references in the church fathers. Schneemelcher uses the following working names for the three proposed gospels:[3]
The Jewish–Christian gospels are known through quotations in the works of the earlyChurch FathersClement of Alexandria,Origen,Eusebius,Epiphanius,Jerome and probablyDidymus the Blind.[1] These all assumed that only one Jewish Christian gospel existed, although in various versions and languages, which they attributed to well-known sects such as theEbionites andNazarenes. The majority of critical scholars have rejected this view and identify at least two and possibly three separate Jewish–Christian gospels.[1] The standard collection of the Jewish–Christian gospels is found inSchneemelcher'sNew Testament Apocrypha; Schneemelcher, followingHans Waitz, groups the extant sayings into three lost gospels:[5]
TheGospel of the Ebionites is the name given by modern scholars to a proposed lost gospel thought to lie behind fragments quoted byEpiphanius in hisPanarion. Epiphanius quotes a fragment which states the gospel is narrated by thetwelve apostles. It began with theBaptism of Jesus (presumably because the Ebionites denied theVirgin Birth) and included a narrative of theLast Supper. It is thought to have been agospel harmony based on theSynoptic Gospels composed in Greek in the first half of the 2nd century, and it possibly originated in theTransjordan region (the home of the Ebionites). It is probably the same as the lostGospel of the Twelve, or Gospel of the Apostles, referred to by Origen and Jerome, respectively.[9]
TheGospel of the Hebrews presented traditions of Christ's pre-existence, coming into the world, baptism and temptation, with some of his sayings.[10] It was probably composed in Greek in the first half of the 2nd century and used among Greek-speaking Jewish Christians in Egypt.[11] It is known from fragments preserved chiefly by Clement, Origen and Jerome, and shows a high regard forJames, the brother of Jesus and head of the Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem.[11]
TheGospel of the Nazarenes (a modern scholarly name) has been deduced from references in Jerome and Origen. It seems to have much in common with the canonicalGospel of Matthew, and would have been written in PalestinianAramaic in the first half of the 2nd century for use byNazarenes in the neighborhood of Beroea near Aleppo in Syria.[2]
History of scholarship in the Jewish–Christian gospel problem
The sources for the Jewish–Christian gospels are the early church fathers of the late 2nd to the early 5th centuries – Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, Didymus the Blind, Epiphanius and Jerome. Not all of them were aware that there were different Jewish Christian communities with varying theologies, or that some of them (or at least one) wasAramaic-speaking while others knew only Greek; as a result they frequently confused one gospel with another, and all with a supposed Hebrew version of theGospel of Matthew.[12]
This confusion has created uncertainty for modern scholars. There is agreement that the fragments cannot be traced back to a Hebrew/Aramaic version or revision of Matthew's gospel, as most of them have no parallel in the canonical gospels. There are good reasons for thinking that there must have been at least two Jewish–Christian gospels, since there are two differing accounts of the baptism and good evidence that some fragments were originally in Aramaic and others in Greek. Most modern scholars have concluded that there was one Jewish–Christian gospel in Aramaic/Hebrew and at least another one in Greek. Some have argued that the total number was three (Bauer, Vielhauer and Strecker, Klijn), others that there were only two (Schlarb and Luhrmann).[2][13]
Schlarb, Egbert; Lührmann, Dieter (2000). "Hebräerevangelium".Fragmente apokryph gewordener Evangelien in griechischer und lateinischer Sprache (in German). N.G. Elwert Verlag.ISBN978-3-7708-1144-1.OL6868179M.
Waitz, Hans (1924). "Judenchristliche Evangelien". In Hennecke, Edgar (ed.).Neutestamentliche Apokryphen (in German) (2 ed.). J.C.B. Mohr. pp. 10–55.OCLC4581923.
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