This book is about the "beginnings" or prologues to the four canonical Gospels, all of which provide background information, guidance about how each evangelist expects us to read his story, and hints of the denouement of the story. Beginnings therefore qualifies as a basic introduction to the contents of the Gospels and a helpful starting point for reading this literature. Using the metaphor of a key that opens a door, Morna Hooker moves sequentially through Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John as, respectively, a "dramatic key," a "prophetic key," a "spiritual key," and a "glorious key."
The manner in which the authors of the Gospels introduce their work, therefore, helps the reader make sense of what follows. The beginning paragraphs refer to topics to be dealt with in what follows and offer guidance as to the particular way in which the author feels the rest of the book should be read. The beginnings also contain significant hints as to what the end of the story will be.
Morna D. Hooker is Lady Margaret's Professor at Cambridge University and Fellow of Robinson College, She is the author of The Signs of a Prophet, also published by Trinity Press.
Reviews for Beginnings: Keys that Open the Gospels
"This slender volume helps the beginning reader of the Gospels appreciate their wonderful diversity by considering the difference in tone and perspective found in the opening chapters of each of the four gospels. Hooker suggest that the evangelists lead the reader into their overall conception of the Gospel by the manner in which they begin their narrative." -- The Bible Today, September 1998
"Here's a volume that I'll be taking off my shelf every November in preparation for the upcoming lectionary cycle…preachers could benefit from an annual review of this book. The lectionary both serves and trips up sermon writers; though it does force us to work through a gospel, it can lull us into treating that gospel like a series of episodes. Careful attention to a gospel's beginnings during Advent sermons will help the preacher and the hearer stay in tune with that gospel's particular message throughout the year." -- Paul N. Hanson, reviewing for Word and World, Summer 1999
"Beginnings is a useful and informative biblical studies tool." -- The Midwest Book Review
"In addition to clarifying how each prologue foreshadows the style, content, structure, theological agenda, and distinctive features of that particular gospel, other issues important to gospel criticism--generic, source-critical, and historical issues--are also allusively raised." -- Daniel A. Smith, Wycliffe College, for the Religious Studies Review
"...the book is quite attractive as it beckons one to read more and to think about what the "beginnings" say about the "endings." -- Cliff Stewart, reviewing for Ashland Theological Journal
"...Hooker has come up with a clear-headed, crisply stated, and extraordinarily succinct review of many issues in current New Testament scholarship...What is noteworthy is the way Hooker has been able to summarize so many things into an easily digested and even entertaining form...This book would be useful as an introductory study guide for a short course or discussion group on the Gospels." --Steven Muir, reviewing for Review of Biblical Literature, December 1999
"readily understandable by a lay reader."-- Edgar Krentz, Currents.
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