| Reviews Michael and Clare Goulder
Michael's scholarship underlies much of my book and I was therefore delighted that he was more than happy with it. His very poor eyesight had precluded his reading it before it was published but Clare, his wife, has now read it to him chapter by chapter. "There have been many pauses", he writes, "when we have commented how clear, concise, and readable your text is. It is indeed an excellent piece of work. Clare feels particularly how well you have presented your material to the ordinary reader, giving just the right amount of information and setting the scene so clearly. She really enjoyed it."
Endorsements
When the book was first published, I sought endorsements from Bishop Jack Spong and Don Cupitt, thinking it might be helpful in promoting the book. Both were kind enough to give them and made similar points. Jack Spong wrote, "I enjoyed the book and congratulate you on it...[You have] distilled the essence of the last 200 years of biblical scholarship and have made it available to the average Christian who sits in the pews of our churches. That is a remarkable achievement...". Don wrote in a similar vein.
Reviews
The most recent review is by Peter Watkins in the Spring 2008 edition of The Reader, a quarterly magazine for Readers in the Church of England.
"Despite close on 200 years of New Testament scholarship we still do not know who wrote the gospels, why or how. What Edwyn Hoskyns described in 1931 as the 'Riddle of the New Testament' remains so today. Dick Butler, a retired Anglican priest, has written a fascinating book following up the argument of Michael Goulder that the gospels were written as part of early lectionaries to accompany readings from the Old Testament, and rejecting the so-called 'four document hypothesis' which has for so long been an orthodoxy of New Testament scholarship. He has a chapter on each gospel, and further chapters on topics such as the passion narratives, parables and miracles. The book also contains suggestive essays, for example on the Pauline epistles and aspects of the Old Testament. The book is rounded off with an appreciation of the work of Michael Goulder and the writer's spiritual [theological] autobiography. There is much in this excellent book to stimulate the thought and preaching of any Reader. An anonymous review in the Methodist Recorder (New Reading Suggestions) 28th June 2007
"Retired Anglican vicar Dick Butler provided a series of Fact Sheets containing basic information about Christian belief for his last parish, in south-east London, and they are the origin for his handbook of dispassionate, detailed and scholarly analysis. The Four Gospels and other texts, A Critical Handbook of the New Testament, illustrates the delicate balance that must be observed in dealing with long-held beliefs in the light of newer research, which can be unwelcome and hotly disputed. The author is also well aware of the negative connotation that can be attached to the word 'criticism' in the context of sacred texts by those whose belief is in the literal, God-given truth of the words they contain. All these minefields notwithstanding, this is a book of great clarity of exposition, accompanied by tables of synoptic parallels, dates, biblical and scholastic references, and a general index."
Extracts from a full page review by Kit Widdows, Master of St Thomas the Martyr, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in Sofia, the magazine of the Sea of Faith Network, July 2007. Although not known to me, I was very sad to hear that he died later in the year.
"Up and down the land there must be hundreds of clergy filing cabinets hiding treasuries of teaching aids." "Dick Butler has had the wisdom to publish his, and to write the necessary explanations. He has charts for the Gospels, explaining clearly their structure. He introduces the reader to Midrash, and its place in both the Gospels and Acts. This is done in a clear and straightforward fashion."
"Butler then looks at specific Gospel themes, and in particular the ones where the shoe often pinches most for modern man. He looks at the Birth and Passion Narratives, parables and miracles, and then has three particularly good chapters on Jesus' Family and Friends, the Empty Tomb and the Sermon on the Mount. The chapter on the Empty Tomb is a fine example of Butler's clarity and straightforwardness as he disentangles the later Empty-Tomb traditions from the earlier Resurrection ones."
"Paul gets a short chapter (I would have liked more) and no charts. There is then a helpful chapter on the New Testament text, another on the calendar (developing Michael Goulder's ideas in more detail). Finally two chapters on the Old Testament: Creation and the Ten Commandments, both useful in today's world."
The Reviewer criticises my over-dependence on the scholarship of Michael Goulder to the neglect of others, and dissents from my identification of Paul as the Beloved Disciple, and my understanding of the Birkath-ha-minim (exclusion of Christian Jews from Jewish synagogues) in the dating of Luke's Gospel. But he ends, "Having said this, I remain full of admiration for Butler and his book. It is one that I can put into the hands of laypeople, confident that it will open doors and aid their encounter both with Scripture and with key elements of the Christian journey. It is also one that will lead people to demand more and is therefore just as useful for house-groups and bible-studies as it is for the lone enquirer."
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