The Magdalene Review

Rather than doing all of the things I should be doing, I decided to copy a table out of Raymond Brown’s book, The Death of the Messiah, that compares all of the people present for the crucifixion, entombment and emtpy tomb narratives across the four canonical gospels. It’s quite handy.

You can find the table here.

I am considering adding to this table as I have time, to include the lists of those present in these three scenes in non-canonical texts. It would add another dimension to the discussion, I think, particularly where pre-4th century texts are concerned. The Gospel of Peter and Epistula Apostolorum are two that come immediately to mind, and a variant present in one MS of the Diatessaron. Maybe it should include Gospel textual variants as well.

If I’m feeling really ambitious, I’ll make a table with this kind of comparison that includes the works of patristic writers, Gnostic texts, and non-canonical “orthodox” texts through the end of the 6th century. There were some odd variations floating around, and it might make for an interesting study.