The Egerton Gospel remains one of the most intriguing and yet least well understood of the non-canonical gospel fragments. Its initial publication in 1935 caused a stir both among scholars and in the popular press. While popular interest has diminished since the initial publication, there is still a range of disputed issues that occasion significant scholarly debate. In this masterful study, Zelyck provides many clarifying insights as well as making several fresh contributions for understanding this enigmatic text.
The study is arranged in twelve chapters, with chapters v to xi each presenting a detailed study of a separate pericope or incident contained in the Egerton Gospel, in the order for which Zelyck argued earlier in the book. Chapter iv provides Zelyck's transcription, reconstruction and translation of the text. The introductory issues are discussed in the first three chapters of this volume.
The introductory chapter is largely scene-setting. It introduces readers to the Egerton Gospel, briefly describes the content of the surviving fragments, discusses scholarship on the relationship between the Egerton Gospel and the canonical Gospels, and outlines the methods employed in the study. In regard to the question of the relationship to the canonical Gospels, Zelyck succinctly notes the cacophony of existing opinions. He states that ‘the conclusions from the past three decades are mixed: some scholars maintain that the EG is dependent on the canonical gospels in some way, specifically the Fourth Gospel, while others argue for its independence, or that the canonical gospels are dependent on the EG’ (p. 8). In response, Zelyck lays out six criteria that help to assess the question of relationship. He rejects the dependence/independence dichotomy. While retaining the latter term, he prefers the term ‘influence’ over ‘dependence’, since it denotes possibilities besides direct literary dependence. Apart from direct literary dependence, these possibilities include secondary orality, or canonical traditions transmitted through an intermediary literary source. It is not until the concluding chapter that one finds a clear statement of Zelyck's own opinion on this question. He argues that the Egerton Gospel is directly influenced by the Fourth Gospel, but that this statement does not mean that the author wrote with a copy of the Gospel of John in view. As Zelyck states, ‘[r]ather, it assumes that the author had read or heard these passages from the Fourth Gospel (not an ur-text, and doubtfully a secondary collection of Johannine testimonia) and recalled them during the composition of the EG’ (p. 207).
A particular important contribution of this volume is the account of the initial acquisition and publication of the Egerton Gospel fragments (chapter ii). Through careful archival research, Zelyck has provided the fullest and most accurate available account of the means by which these fragments entered the public domain. The transcriptions of a number of letters pertinent to the purchase of the manuscript fragments are now available for the first time. These reveal the laborious negotiations, the concern over the export of antiquities from Egypt and details of purchase price. Zelyck also provides important insights into how and when the acquisition of P.Köln VI 255 might have taken place (pp. 28–9).
In chapter iii, Zelyck re-examines a number of the standard introductory questions concerning the fragments that comprise the Egerton Gospel. In regard to the contested issue of the original order of the fragments, Zelyck adopts the arrangement suggested by Tobias Nicklas, although he states that he is even more confident about this order than Nicklas himself due to the additional consideration of the internal evidence of the reconstructed text. The date of the manuscript remains a highly contested issue, and it is one which Zelyck addresses only in a provisional manner in this chapter. Again, his decisive opinion is reserved for the final chapter. In that context he argues that the composition of the Egerton Gospel reflects the phenomenon ‘of the employment of Scripture and the creation of apocryphal traditions in Jewish-Christian debates in the second and third centuries ce’ (p. 215). Thus, he concludes, ‘this new situation between 150–250 ce required the author of the EG to affirm Jesus’ continuity with the miracle working prophets Moses and Elisha, his obedience to the Law, divinity, and rejection by malevolent Jewish opponents’ (pp. 215–16). Thus, Zelyck is open to a later and larger dating range than most of his predecessors.
For those engaged in detailed work on the Egerton Gospel, Zelyck's work, especially on the reconstruction and transcription of the text, is a vital contribution (pp. 49–92). Equally important is his commentary on each pericope in the major fragments (fragment 4 preserves at most a single Greek letter). In particular, in the commentary section Zelyck's presentation of canonical Gospel parallels forms the basis for his position on the relationship with the Fourth Gospel.
This is an especially fine treatment of the text, which is likely to stand alongside the work of Tobias Nicklas (in Gospel fragments, Oxford 2009) as being the standard reference works on the Egerton Gospel. Zelyck's work provides much fresh primary research on the acquisition of the fragments, which had not been previously available. Moreover, he provides the strongest case for a later dating of these fragments and better reasons for viewing the text as influenced by the Fourth Gospel. As such this is a highly important contribution to scholarship on the Egerton Gospel and it will be consulted by all scholars working on this text for many decades to come.
