In this book respected New Testament scholar Pheme Perkins delivers a clear, fresh, informed introduction to the earliest written accounts of Jesus -- Matthew, Mark, and Luke -- situating those canonical Gospels within the wider world of oral storytelling and literary production of the first and second centuries. Cutting through the media confusion over new Gospel finds, Perkins's Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels presents a balanced, responsible look at how the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke came to be and what they mean.

Pheme Perkins, the Joseph Professor of Catholic Spirituality at Boston College, is the author of over twenty-five books on the New Testament and early Christianity. She was the first woman president of the Catholic Biblical Association and served as chair of its executive board. Additionally, Perkins has served on many editorial boards and is an associate editor of the New Oxford Annotated Bible.