Can H. L. Hix improve on Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?
An odd, charming gospel account that draws from dozens of sources
In Review
The Gospel according to H. L. Hix
The canonical Gospels form the conventional shape of the church’s story of Jesus for traditional use in worship and study. In composing The Gospel, poet and translator H. L. Hix drew content from those four Gospels—and from dozens of other texts. He lists 48 sources, including Melchizedek, the Concept of Our Great Power, the Gospel of Thomas, the letter of Peter to Philip, the Revelation of Peter, and Manichaean Psalms of the Bema.
The authors of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John might have collected stories of the life of Jesus, lifting pieces from some of them to weave into their own good news in the idiom of their time. Hix, who teaches philosophy and creative writing at the University of Wyoming, has done the same in our time. In his introduction to The Gospel, he lays out his dissatisfaction with existing translations, clarifies his motivations for composing the book, and outlines the shape of his corrective project.
Hix outlines five objections to the church’s canonical and translation traditions:
