The 'Q source' that served as a source for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke represents a double connecting link: on the one hand, the text needs to be situated between early Judaism and the beginnings of the Jesus movement - a document that focuses less on 'Christian' expectations than on eschatological hopes for salvation among Jewish disciples of Jesus. On the other hand, the text also serves as a bridge between the historical Jesus and later Christianity and provides insights into the early Jesus movement with a glimpse of archaic forms of Christology and ecclesiology. In addition to issues of reconstruction of the text, which is only preserved indirectly, this volume is particularly concerned with the context of origin and the theology of the Q source - opening up a view of the period in which Jesus=s followers were still Jews.

Prof. Markus Tiwald teaches New Testament studies at the University of Duisburg&Essen.