The Diatessaron of Tatian the Assyrian

This edition of the Diatessaron of Tatian presents a reader-friendly version of the most popular unified account of Jesus’s life and teachings, as written in the gospels, for over three centuries, and a crucial link to the early history of the church and Christian doctrine. The Diatessaron takes center stage in Ian Caldwell’s new breakout novel The Fifth Gospel.

Composed in the 2nd century CE, the Diatessaron is Tatian’s combination of the texts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John into one comprehensive timeline of Jesus’s life. Tatian the Assyrian, an obscure but highly controversial theologian who was expelled from the early Church, tried to fill in the gaps left by the traditional four gospels and resolve their contradictions.

The Diatessaron was a major source for the story of the life of Christ until the 6th Century CE when it fell into obscurity and the four gospels took its place in the order of the New Testament.

This original translation by Reverend Hope W. Hogg, B.D. preserves Tatian’s chronology and allows readers access to this little-known ancient text and a crucial link to the early Church and the life and death of Jesus.