The Seba library treats Four Evangelists in 9 passages, across 4 authors (including Jung, Carl Gustav, Wilhelm, Richard, Place, Robert M.).
Christ enthroned with the four emblems of the evangelists—three animals and an angel (fig. 101); on the other, Father Horus with his four sons, or Osiris with the four sons of Horus
Jung establishes the Four Evangelists' symbols as a mandala-quaternary equivalent to the Egyptian four sons of Horus, grounding both in the same archetype of the central self attended by a fourfold periphery.
, Psychology and Alchemy, 1944thesis
the early Middle Ages are especially rich in Christian mandalas, and for the most part show Christ in the centre, with the four evangelists, or their symbols, at the cardinal points. This conception must be a very ancient one, for the Egyptians represented Horus with his four sons in the same way.
Wilhelm identifies the Christ-and-four-Evangelists mandala as an archaic pattern shared with Egyptian Horus iconography, confirming the quaternity as a cross-cultural symbol of psychic wholeness.
, The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life, 1931thesis
the Monogenes is thought of as standing upon a τετράπεζα, a platform supported by four pillars, corresponding to the Christian quaternarium of the Evangelists, or to the Tetramorph, the symbolic steed of the Church, composed of the symbols of the four evangelists: the angel, eagle, ox or calf, and lion.
Jung maps the Gnostic Tetramorph directly onto the Christian quaternarium of the Evangelists, reading both as structural expressions of the fourfold archetype underlying mandala symbolism.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958thesis
This image is based on the standard Christian icon called Christ in Majesty, representing Christ on his celestial throne surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists: the lion, the bull, the eagle, and the man.
Place traces the Tarot World card's iconography to the Christ in Majesty icon, demonstrating the visual persistence of the four Evangelist symbols as a quaternary frame for the central divine figure.
, The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination, 2005supporting
The 'four' in Christian iconography appears chiefly in the form of the four evangelists and their symbols, arranged in a rose, circle, or melothesia, or as a tetramorph, as for instance in the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg and in works of mystical speculation.
Jung catalogues the iconographic forms through which the Four Evangelists serve as the primary vehicle for the quaternary principle in Christian visual and mystical tradition.
, Psychology and Religion: West and East, 1958supporting
Irenaeus insisted that a common witness to the one gospel unifies the four gospels and that no other gospel can add to or supplant this common witness.
Thielman reconstructs the patristic theological rationale for canonizing precisely four gospels, providing the ecclesial-historical context within which the Four Evangelists became a fixed symbolic unit.
, Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach, 2005supporting
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, however, were from an early date and commonly accepted as authoritative witnesses to the one gospel.
Thielman argues that the antiquity and widespread acceptance of the four gospels grounded their canonical authority, explaining why precisely these four authors became the fixed Evangelists.
, Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach, 2005supporting
the separate testimonies of each of the four gospels to the significance of Jesus is an important aspect of the study of New Testament theology.
Thielman briefly frames the theological unity-in-diversity of the four gospels as foundational to New Testament theology, situating the Evangelists within canonical hermeneutics rather than symbolic analysis.
, Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach, 2005aside
some people who followed Jesus felt the diversity of the four most widely accepted gospels to be a problem. In the middle of the century, Marcion claimed that the four gospels reflected the corrupt Judaizing tendencies of those who wrote them.
Thielman traces early resistance to the fourfold gospel canon, contextualizing why the church's insistence on exactly four Evangelists required active theological defence.
, Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach, 2005aside