FOUR ARE THE GOSPEL MAKERS
By Jack Wingfield
Hale Press. 156 pages. £6.99 (Amazon). ISBN 0 9549439 0 2
Also available from andy@christianbits.co.uk
This short book is split into four parts offering accounts of how each of the gospel writers came to write an account of Jesus’s life.
These four stories are told through the eyes of the gospel writers and built from background information from the New Testament. This type of spiritual writing is a form of theological speculation, which simply means the author built a profile of each of the writers and filled in the gaps so as to bring to life the individuals behind the gospels. The author does not pretend to be writing gospel truth or even serious theology, but simply wants to give the big picture of the writers’ lives to enrich the reader’s appreciation of the Bible. The problem is that even light-hearted speculation about areas which the Word of God does not comment on itself can change our whole view of a biblical text. For example, Wingfield makes the comment that Mary and Joseph stayed in the Bethlehem stable rather than with family or friends to avoid the shame of having a child outside wedlock. Such speculation can change our whole perception of a biblical story, surely influencing our interpretation and application of a text; potentially. Yet this is a light, readable and fast-moving series of stories bringing the New Testament culture to life, which could be particularly helpful to the beginner. I believe the title is a little cryptic and the cover design-style dated, which does not help the author in his heart-felt desire for it to be a bridge into the minds, lives and cultures of the gospel writers.
