subject of communication among the early Christian communities. In fact, the view that there was such communication makes more sense to this reader than the claim that the communities were isolated. Common sense would suggest that such communities, isolated in a non-Christian world, would do everything they could to communicate with and support one another. However, the articles do not prove that such a situation existed in fact. Nevertheless, at the very least, a lively debate should ensue between the two camps and their perspectives on the early Christian communities.
If Bauckham's view is indeed correct, the foundation of much Biblical research in this specific area will be profoundly upset if not completely shattered. It is likely, then, that this book will not be welcomed by those whose careers and reputations are based on the traditional view that the Gospels were aimed at four separate and isolated communities in the earliest era of the Christian church.
One of the strengths of Bauckham's argument is that it is simple. He argues that,
since all the evidence we have for the early Christian movement shows it to have been a network of communities in constant, close communication with each other, and since all the evidence we have for early Christian leaders . . . shows them to have been typically people who traveled widely and worked in more than one community at different times, the outlook and concerns of neither the early Christian communities nor their teachers would have been locally confined (3).
If this information is accurate and true, then how can it be that the traditional interpretation of the Gospels holds that they were aimed at separate and isolated communities?
With respect to his basic argument against the existence of separate and isolated communities, Bauckham makes a bold statement which shows the passion of his intention in this book. Not only does he call for a debate between his own perspec...