Reading through P.H.R. Van Houwelingen's Fleeing Forward, which recounts some of the details of the first century church and the flight to Pella, mention is made of the Gospel of the Hebrews.
Little remains of the gospel: some fragments, and citations by early church writers (Cyril, Jerome, Origen, Clement, Didymus the Blind.) Eusebius cites Papias cites Didymus cites an unnamed gospel (assumed to be the gospel of the Hebrews) found in Alexandria which recounts the story of the woman caught in adultery. Additional information included in that record: the woman was taken to a place designated for execution by stoning. John's account has a more detailed description of the proceedings.
The gospel of the Hebrews wasn't included in the canon, but it does support the authenticity of the pericope despite being apparently not included in the original gospel of John. The gospel of the Hebrews apparently did not include a genealogy of Jesus. I'm not sure quite how that can be known, but it seems that the work wasn't much shorter that Matthew's gospel. If a modified copy of Matthew existed before the war, how much earlier the original?
One of the more interesting claims in Van Houwelingen's treatise is the flight to Pella: the congregation took with them a copy of [(at least 1 of the three possible versions of)] the gospel of the Hebrews, a modified version of Matthew* when they left Jerusalem BEFORE** the Jewish war (66-73CE) with Rome. Checking will take some time, but on the basis of the apparent care that Van Houwelingen has taken throughout his treatise, it is safe to assume that there is evidence of a written gospel prior not only to the fall of Jerusalem, but to the war itself.
[(** or is Matthew a modified version of the gospel of the Hebrews? ... more at Early Christian Writings)]
[(** or no later than 67CE: between the repulsion of Rome's first attempt to take Jerusalem and the resumption of the siege.)]
Little remains of the gospel: some fragments, and citations by early church writers (Cyril, Jerome, Origen, Clement, Didymus the Blind.) Eusebius cites Papias cites Didymus cites an unnamed gospel (assumed to be the gospel of the Hebrews) found in Alexandria which recounts the story of the woman caught in adultery. Additional information included in that record: the woman was taken to a place designated for execution by stoning. John's account has a more detailed description of the proceedings.
The gospel of the Hebrews wasn't included in the canon, but it does support the authenticity of the pericope despite being apparently not included in the original gospel of John. The gospel of the Hebrews apparently did not include a genealogy of Jesus. I'm not sure quite how that can be known, but it seems that the work wasn't much shorter that Matthew's gospel. If a modified copy of Matthew existed before the war, how much earlier the original?
One of the more interesting claims in Van Houwelingen's treatise is the flight to Pella: the congregation took with them a copy of [(at least 1 of the three possible versions of)] the gospel of the Hebrews, a modified version of Matthew* when they left Jerusalem BEFORE** the Jewish war (66-73CE) with Rome. Checking will take some time, but on the basis of the apparent care that Van Houwelingen has taken throughout his treatise, it is safe to assume that there is evidence of a written gospel prior not only to the fall of Jerusalem, but to the war itself.
[(** or is Matthew a modified version of the gospel of the Hebrews? ... more at Early Christian Writings)]
[(** or no later than 67CE: between the repulsion of Rome's first attempt to take Jerusalem and the resumption of the siege.)]
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