The Patchwork Gospels and its historical background studies, The Evolution of the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, John, and Mark, aim to solve the problem of determining what Jesus really said and did. This is based upon the hard evidence of first users and their first functions, cited for every saying or narrative segment of the gospel stories in their first and second century settings.

The result is a breathtaking new approach, which shows how the Gospels were put together in a step-wise development (or in a "patchwork" fashion) over a period of several centuries, until the doors were closed on any further emendation of the text.

The approach in these books will solve more problems in understanding the long-forgotten meanings of many difficult, unintelligible passages in the Gospels than the current wholly conjectural theory of Two Sources, Mark and Q, can ever hope to do.

(The supporting volumes, the Evolution series, go into greater depth by giving every known user of each saying of Jesus, up until about 350 CE, and each of their intended functions.)

The Emerging Portrait of Christ

The Gospels were not written all at once by someone sitting under a fig tree who got the story from heaven in one great pancake of inspiration falling upon him. This book lets you watch the actual gospel portraits of Christ being painted by a handful of writers (about a dozen) in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd centuries. Watch his legacy emerge under the brushstrokes, one verse after the other, by these inspired artists.

Never before in 2000 years has this story been told. It is fascinating. It is inspiring. And it deals only with the hard facts of real history. No more pious guesswork.

The portrait of Christ emerges in 6 colors:

RED is for the First Century when Paul, James' the brother of Jesus, Clement (4th bishop) of Rome, Polycarp (bishop) of Smyrna, Barnabas, Ignatius (bishop) of Antioch, and the all-important Didache, all lay down the first layer of the portrait.

BLUE is used for the Second Century artists, Justin "the Martyr," II Clement, Athenagoras, Irenaeus of Lyons, and the "Montanist" heretic Tertullian of Carthage.

GREEN is used for the radical Heretical artists! A writer like Marcion of Pontus is basic to our Gospel of Luke. Valentinus, the Gospel of the Ebionites, the Gospel of Peter, and the Secret Gospel of Mark, make important contributions to the detail of the Gospel stories we have come to know and love. The Gospel of Thomas is believed of secondary and derivative value only.

MAGENTA is used for the Third Century artists, people like Origen of Caesarea, and Cyprian of Carthage.

A few additional artists who add detail to the portraits are followed in the Fourth Century in LIGHT BLUE. And a few more are added in the Fifth Century, the final century for Gospel additions, in ORANGE.

This incredible discovery, captured in this most important book on the Gospels since the Gospels themselves, is priced in bookstores for $54.95. Order from this website and save 20% at the price of $44.00.