From the Gospel to the Gospels

The monograph is devoted to a crucial point of Christian theology: its development from the short formulae of the 'gospel' (euangelion) - as the first reflected expressions of Christian faith - to the theology of literary Gospels as texts that evoked the idea of Christian canon as a counterpart of the "e;Law and Prophets"e;. In the formulae of the oral gospel the apocalyptic expectations are adapted into a "e;doubled"e; or "e;split"e; eschatology: The Messiah has appeared, but the messianic reign is still the object of expectation. The experience with Jesus' post Easter impact has been named as "e;resurrection"e; of which God was the subject. Since the apocalyptic "e;resurrection"e; applied for many or all people, the resurrection of Jesus became a guarantee of hope. The last chapters analyze the role of the oral gospel in shaping the earliest literary Gospel (Mark). This book analyses Gospels as texts that (re-)introduced Jesus traditions into the Christian liturgy and literature. Concluding paragraphs are devoted to the titles of the individual Gospels and to the origins of the idea of Christian canon.