The NIV Harmony of the Gospels by Stanley N. Gundry

The NIV Harmony of the Gospels Reviews

• 
  Christopher M.

  Don't let the 3 stars fool you--I think this is a very interesting and potentially helpful way of studying the gospels. What the book does, is puts Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (as well as life-of-Christ portions of a few other books) side-by-side in a harmonized, chronological format which allows the reader to compare and contrast accounts of the same happenings and sayings of Jesus' life. It is convenient for seeing what the different authors include and exclude, what they emphasize, and what they were trying to communicate about the Savior and his purposes. On the whole I liked it, and I found the study notes at the bottom of the page and the essays in the back helpful and enlightening.
  
  What I didn't like about the volume might be nit-picking. It was in the NIV, which doesn't seem to be the best translation for literary comparison, given its more thought-for-thought translation philosophy. Several of the editors' notes revealed particular biases of theirs which seemed inappropriate to me, given their stated goal of minimal interpretation and textual transparency. There were also a few type errors which don't lend themselves well to my trust in the rigorous accuracy of the volume (which is a major reason you read something like this).
  
  But on the whole, it was interesting, and I definitely feel like I gained some valuable perspective. While I don't think that a chronological account of Jesus' life is necessary for understanding the gospels, I do think that a time-and-space picturing of Jesus is helpful for solidifying his historical person in the modern mind. As several of the book's essays stressed, it's not just the "idea" of Jesus that is important or foundational to Christianity, but the historical Jesus as well.
  
  I will likely explore a few other harmonies which use translations which lend themselves better to the task. But I don't think this was a bad start.
• 
  Grant Davis

  essays in the rear of this book were very insightful and having the scriptures lined up in this harmony format was very helpful
• 
  Joe Cox

  How do you give a controversial approach to reading the Gospels five stars? Simply, it’s not controversial but pure genius. Thomas and Guidry have done the painstaking work of paralleling the four accounts of Jesus in chronological order in a way that honors the historicity of Jesus yet preserving the integrity of the four individual accounts which are preserved in their columns. After reading the individual accounts all of my life, this study almost felt like reading them for the first time again.
• 
  SusanwithaGoodBook

  This is *very* similar to Robertson's "Gospel in Life." Parallel passages are presented in column format, but they are only used when necessary. There are extensive and detailed footnotes throughout, which are extremely helpful in analyzing the chronology and text. Even better, there are several very thorough essays on different topics in the appendices. These cover various chronological quandaries, as well as some of the history and philosophy of harmonies and blends. I found these essays particularly fascinating and helpful in many ways.
• 
  Michael Schmid

  A helpful and clear harmony of the gospels with extra comments in footnotes on almost every page. Also includes several essays on the history, science and problems of harmonisation at the end of the book.
• 
  Barry

  A harmony of the Gospels is where the four accounts of the life of Jesus are placed side by side (when the Gospels tell the same story) and in chronological order. In this way we see the whole life of Jesus laid out as He lived it out, and we can compare the different versions to get additional details and more insight as we read through the Gospels. The advantage of this system is that it makes it much easier to follow the life of Jesus, and it rounds out the stories the Gospel writers tell.
  
  This particular book is based on previous harmonies that contain more than 100 years of scholarship. The editors add in numerous insights and conjectures as footnotes to help us better understand the culture of the day and the reasons why certain things happened, as well as smoothing out varying differences between the Gospels. Additionally, this harmony has 12 essays at the conclusion that are quite insightful, especially pertaining to the chronology of Jesus' life and the genealogies of His birth.
  
  Like any version of the Bible, as well as any commentary, people won't agree with every comment or conjecture the editors make, but this harmony is a great addition to any library to better track the life of Jesus and to better understand the culture of Jesus' day.
• 
  Rob

  For anyone wondering how the four Gospels compare to and complement each other, Gundry and Thomas have provided an enlightening harmony. Footnotes resolve many difficulties and offer further insights, as do several essays at the end. The book serves as a useful tool for in-depth study of the Gospels (and related passages in Acts and 1 Corinthians), though the NIV is not as literal as one would like for word-for-word comparisons (see Gundry and Thomas's NASB harmony for that). Moreover, the essays serve as a good introduction (and response) to criticism of the Gospels. This update to A. T. Robertson's classic harmony (and to their NASB harmony) is a valuable resource for Biblical studies.