Five gospels, an account of how the good news came to be

the long version

This book is an original reading of the New Testament, which, it argues, incorporates five distinct messages or "gospels." These are: the Gospel of John the Baptist; the Gospel of Jesus; the Gospel of the Apostles; the Gospel of Demetrios; and the Gospel of the Ultimate. These messages are expressed through various NT writings, including not just the canonical books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but Acts and a number of the epistles. Surprisingly, the core doctrine of Christianity as we know it is not the Gospel of Jesus, but the Gospel of the Apostles (expressed through Matthew, Mark, and Luke-Acts) and the Gospel of the Ultimate (expressed through John). Meagher convincingly explains why and how other messages might have wound up among the writings preserved in the NT. Overall, this is very interesting discussion of Christian origins and of the evolution of Christianity's sacred scriptures.