---
title: "Offsite Review: Reading the Gospels Wisely by Jonathan Pennington"
description: "Brian LePort from nearemmaus.com has a review of  Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction  by Jonathan Pennington.  LePort thinks that this would be the book he would use,..."
url: https://bookwi.se/offsite-review-reading-the-gospels-wisely-by-jonathan-pennington/
date: 2012-12-21
modified: 2026-07-15
author: "Adam Shields"
categories: ["Off Site Reviews"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Offsite Review: Reading the Gospels Wisely by Jonathan Pennington

[![Pennington, Jonathan T., Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction](https://bookwi.se/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cover-10093.jpg)](http://nearemmaus.com/2012/12/20/book-review-jonathan-t-penningtons-reading-the-gospels-wisely/)Brian LePort from [nearemmaus.com](http://nearemmaus.com/2012/12/20/book-review-jonathan-t-penningtons-reading-the-gospels-wisely/) has a review of *Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction *by Jonathan Pennington.  LePort thinks that this would be the book he would use, along with the gospels, to actually teach gospels in a seminary or church setting.  Sounds like good book to pick up.

> I prefer the conjunctions both/and to either/or, so this book was one of my favorite to read in 2012. Pennington’s approach to the Gospels is to encourage readers to see the value in the historical-grammatical (I’d add critical), literary, and theological approaches, rather than choosing one way to read the text. When I read the Gospels I find value in everything from working on the Synoptic Problem, to doing historical studies on the context within which the text was formed, to Lectio Divina. I read the Gospels as historical texts and as active, living Scripture. This is what Pennington’s book is “œabout”, reading. It is not a typical hermeneutics textbook, nor is it your common introduction to the Gospels, but a hybrid of the two.

[continue reading the rest of the review at nearemmaus.com](http://nearemmaus.com/2012/12/20/book-review-jonathan-t-penningtons-reading-the-gospels-wisely/)