Book Review: "The Fourfold Gospel" by J.W. McGarvey and Philip Y. Pendleton

It seems a bit silly to “review” a book that so many of you already own and use, but, sometimes we need reminders of great books. Maybe those volumes have been collecting dust on our shelves for a bit too long.

The Fourfold Gospel is a great book to own, although it is not easy reading. It is much more of a study book than a book to be read from cover-to-cover. Reading it in this way is somewhat like trying to read two or three books at the same time.

The comments that are made are so helpful for the Bible student, though. This book goes on the shelf with commentaries and I consult it as often as any other when studying a passage from the four accounts of “the greatest story ever told.” It is so nice to have the thoughts of these two men, who have already done so much consultation with numerous commentaries and other books.

There are a couple of drawbacks I’d like to mention, though.

First, when referencing something else in the book, the writers only reference things they have already written (on earlier pages). They never lead the reader forward to something later in the book. This could be a negative if wanting to study similar events (e.g., miracles) in the life of Christ.

Also, for me, the text was a little small. The book is somewhat lengthy (767 reading pages), so, I’m sure, a smaller typeface was chosen to keep the book in one volume. It is not unreadable, it just gets difficult after a while.

The index found on pages 768-9 is very helpful. It lists where each passage from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (and the others mentioned from Acts and First Corinthians) can be found in the book.

Overall, it has been a joy to read this book, and I know it will continually come down from the shelf for further study. If you do not have a copy of this volume, add it to your wish list. You’ll be glad you did.

[Additional Note: For the next two quarters (Fall and Winter), the Gospel Advocate Bible study books will be dealing with “The Life of Christ.” Having a copy of The Fourfold Gospel will come in handy for any student, as well as any teacher of this material.]