A good synopsis or Harmony of the gospels is most useful. The best Harmony is that of Stevens and Burton (1894), which exhibits the divergencies of the parallel accounts in the gospels as faithfully as the agreements. A good synopsis of the Greek text of the first three gospels is Huck, Synapse (1892). Robinson's Greek Harmony of the Gospels, edited by M. B. Biddle, using Tischendorf's text, has also valuable notes discussing questions of harmony.
Abbreviations
| AndLOL | Andrews, The Life of Our Lord, 2d ed., 1892. |
| BaldSJ | Baldensperger, Das Selbstbewusstsein Jesu, 2d ed., 1892. |
| BeysLJ | Beyschlag, Das Leben Jesu, 3d ed., 2 vols., 1893. |
| BovonNTTh | Bovon, Théologie du Nouveau Testament, 1892. |
| DalmanWJ | Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, I., 1898. |
| EdersLJM | Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 2 vols., 1883. |
| FairbSLX | Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ, 1882. |
| GilbertLJ | Gilbert, The Student's Life of Jesus, 1896. |
| GilbertRJ | Gilbert, The Revelation of Jesus, 1899. |
| HoltzNtTh | Holtzmann, Neutestamentliche Theologie, 2 vols., 1897. |
| KeimJN | Keim, The History of Jesus of Nazara, 6 vols., 1876-81. |
| RévilleJN | Réville, Jésus de Nazareth, 2 vols., 1897. |
| SandayHastBD | Sanday, the article JESUS CHRIST in the Hastings Bible Dictionary, 1899. |
| SchürerJPTX | Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, 1885-86. Division I. vols. i. and ii.; Division II. vols. i., ii., and iii. |
| SmithHGHL | Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 1894. |
| SB | Stevens and Burton, Harmony of the Gospels, 1894. |
| WeissLX | Weiss, The Life of Christ, 3 vols., 1883. |
| WendtLJ | Wendt, Die Lehre Jesu, 2 vols., 1886. |
| WendtTJ | Wendt, The Teaching of Jesus, 2 vols., 1892. |
| EnBib | Encyclopedia Biblica, 1899. |
| HastBD | Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, 1898. |
| SBD2 | Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, revision of the first volume of the original English edition, 1893. |
References
Part I.--Preparatory
I
The Historical Situation
Read SandayHastBD II. 604-609. On the Land, its physical characteristics, its political divisions, its climate, its roads, and its varying civilization, SmithHGHL is unsurpassed. Its identifications of disputed localities are cautions. Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine, and Thomson, The Land and the Book, give fuller detail concerning particular localities, but no such general view as Smith.
On Political conditions, SchürerJPTX I. i. and ii. is the fullest and most trustworthy treatise. More concise essays are Oscar Holtzmann, Nt. Zeitgeschichte (1895), 57-118; S. Mathews, History of NT Times in Palestine (1899), 1-158; Riggs, Maccabean and Roman Periods of Jewish History (1900), especially §§ 206-234, 257-267, 276-282. On the Religious Life and Parties in Palestine, SchürerJPTX II. i. and ii.; O. Holtzmann, NtZeitg, 136-177; Mathews, NT Times, see index; Riggs, Mac. and Rom. Periods, §§ 235-256; Muirhead, The Times of Christ (1898), 69-150. In addition Wellhausen, Die Pharisdäer und die Sadducäer (1874); on the Essenes, Conybeare in HastBD I. 767-772, also Lightfoot, Colossians, 80-98, 347-419; Wellhausen, Isr. u. jüd. Geschichte3 (1897), 258-262; on the Samaritans, A. Cowley, in Expos. V. i. 161-174; Jew. Quar. Rev. VIII. (1896) 562-575.
On the Messianic hope, SchürerJPTX II. ii. 126-187; BaldSJ 3-122; Muirhead, Times of Xt., 112-150; Briggs, Messiah of the Gospels (1894), 1-40; WendtTJ I. 33-84; Mathews, NT Times, 159-169; Riggs, Mac. and Rom. Periods, §§ 251-256.