An Introduction to the Four Gospels Mark Vitalis Hoffman Prof. of Biblical Studies Gettysburg Seminary

Recommended Resources

Reading, Watching, Listening to the Gospels

For study, I prefer the New Revised Standard Version and recommend any of the following Bibles below. (Clicking on the image will bring you to Amazon.)
For reading, take a look at the CEB (Common English Bible), NIV (New International Version), or, for something even more ‘dynamic,’ Peterson’s The Message. I also provide links to free, downloadable podcasts of each gospel using the CEV (Contemporary English Version).

· Matthew

o Downloadable podcast of the CEV version

· Mark

o Downloadable podcast of the CEV version

o Watch the video: Philip L. Ruge-Jones' Beginning of the Good News: Live Performance of Mark’s Gospel – This would be a good resource for your church library!

· Luke

o Downloadable podcast of the CEV version

· John

o I highly recommend that you watch the Gospel of John movie. It’s fully available on YouTube. It’s a verbatim presentation using the Good News Bible = Today’s English Version.

o Downloadable podcast of the CEV version

Study Bibles

HarperCollins  NRSV Study Bible	New Oxford Annotated NRSV Study Bible	The Access Bible NRSV	AugsburgFortress Lutheran Study Bible
The New Interpreter's NRSV Study Bible	The CEB Study Bible	NIV Study Bible	The Message

Reference Books

HarperCollins Bible Dictionary

HarperCollins Bible Commentary

Introductions to the Gospels / New Testament

Mark Allan Powell The Gospels

John T. Carroll Jesus and the Gospels

Mark Allan Powell Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey

For a comprehensive and detailed listing of recommended commentaries, check this list.

Bible Study Software

• ONLINE BIBLE SITES
• Lumina:  Especially check this site. It gives you access to the helpful NET Bible notes. Use the Grk/Heb tab in the right column, and you will see how it highlights the matching English and Greek words. Double-click on a Greek word to get a rudimentary lexicon entry. Use the Parallel tab on the left to see NET, NIV, NASB, ESV, NLT, MSG, NRSV, and KJV together.
• Biblos: A nice collection of resources. The Atlas alone is quite helpful
• Bible Web App: A quick Bible browser that can show two parallel Bibles (ESV, KJV, NASB, NET, Greek/Hebrew)
• The Bible.org: Up to six Bibles in parallel with linked study resources
• YouVersion: This is the online site. Many free English versions to compare
• STEP Bible (Tyndale): A variety of English, Greek, Hebrew texts; lexicons, notes
• Tyndale Tool Bar: Provides access to texts and articles

• FREE DOWNLOADABLE PROGRAMS if you don't already have BibleWorks, Logos, or Accordance
• The Word: Quite a full featured program, the best free one you can get. (Win or Mac with emulator)
• e-Sword: Another nice, free Bible software program for Win and iOS
• LaParola :Does a nice job of creating concordance lists and working with text variants
• MySword: The Android app I most often use (along with YouVersion app)
• YouVersion: Available for Windows and just about any mobile device
• FaithLife Study Bible: It's free and available for just about all platforms. It's a Logos product and uses their rather literally translated Lexham Bible. It comes from a conservative perspective, so you need some discernment, but many of its study features can be helpful. (E.g., go to Phil 1.1 for The Life of Paul graphic.)