The Gospel at the Heart of the World, with Dr. Jeremiah Coogan
From the second century onward, Christians have embraced the four Gospels attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Yet a fourfold Gospel is counterintuitive. From the early church to the present, many people have asked: "Why are there four Gospels rather than one?" In this talk, New Testament and patristics scholar Jeremiah Coogan will explore how early Christians came to think of four separate Gospels as "the Gospel." He will examine how early Christians contemplated the profound ways that God has ordered the world by his Word, and how we today can more fully appreciate the importance of reading Scripture with a Christian theological imagination.
Main lecture from 7-7:45, followed by responses from Jacob Rodriguez and Alex Pierce, then a general audience Q&A. Light refreshments to follow.
Dr. Jeremiah Coogan (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University in Berkeley, CA. A scholar of New Testament and early Christianity, focusing especially on the Gospels, he is the author of Eusebius the Evangelist (Oxford University Press, 2023), which won the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise in 2022. For the 2025–2026 academic year, Dr. Coogan is serving as a Member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Learn more about Jeremiah’s scholarship here.
Jacob Rodriguez (DPhil, Oxford University) is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Trinity Anglican Seminary, where he also serves as the Assistant Director of the Stanway Institute. Jacob's primary research interests lie in the formation and reception of the four-gospel canon in the first two centuries of Christianity. Jacob is the author of Combining Gospels in Early Christianity: The One, the Many, and the Fourfold (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023).
Alexander Pierce (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is Assistant Professor of Historical Theology at the North American Lutheran Seminary. Alex’s research focuses on the early Church, its theological reflection, biblical exegesis, and spirituality. He also writes about the role of Christian community and friendship. He is the co-author of Why Does Friendship Matter? and author of a forthcoming book, Augustine on the Mystery of Christ and the Sacramental Economy of Salvation, to be published with Cambridge University Press in 2026.
Trinity is to be an evangelical seminary in the Anglican tradition. To this end we develop Christian leaders who can plant, renew, and grow churches that make disciples of Jesus Christ.
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