Exam 3

Jesus Seminar: 7 Pillars Scholarly Wisdom.

(All except #5 accepted by evangelical scholars) (1) Distinguish btw. Jesus of history & Christ of faith. (2) Distinguish btw. Historical value of Synoptic Gospels & gospel of John. (3) Assume priority of Mark. (4) Accept hypothetical "Q" as source of material common to Mt & Lk but not in Mk. (5) Distinguish betw. Schweitzer's eschatological Jesus & Seminar's non-eschatological view of Jesus' teaching. (6) Contrast Jesus' oral & today's written culture. (7) Burden of proof for rests with those who maintain historical authenticity of Synoptics.

Tertullian (160-225)

- A contemporary of Clement - A prime witness to faith of African church regarding authenticity of Gospels - Knew both Lain and Greek and was a proficient lawyer Affirming tradition about gospels - Wrote Against Marcion where Tertullian affirms that apostles wrote Mt and Jn, that Mk's gospel reflects Peter's preaching, and Paul was the sponsor of Lk Said "the evangelical Testament has Apostles as its authors", making no distinction between Aramaic and Hebrew Mt, but considers Greek Mt came from Mt himself

Evangelicals & Form Criticism & Tradition Criticism

- At first, evangelicals were defending against such practices and ideologies - Robert Guelich (evangelical) promoted an exegesis "that... makes use of the literary critical tools including text, source, form, tradition, redaction, and structural criticism" - Darrell Bock, "in the hands of a skilled exegete who uses the tools of interpretation in a way that fits what they are capable of, Form Criticism can be a fruitful aid to understanding and to exposition."

Eusebius (c. 260-340) & Augustine (c. 354-430)

- Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine and pupil of Pamphilus (Pamphilus was student of Origen) - Wrote Ecclesiastical History which surveyed history of church from apostil times until 324 AD Access to Caesarea library & imperial archive - His work is especially valuable bc of his access to excellent library in Caesarea and the imperial archives

3. Rationalism: Spinoza

- Born in Amsterdam and of Jewish lineage - Expulsed from the synagogue in 1656 for "abominable heresies which he practices and teaches" - The Father of "Much Modern Biblical Criticism" b) Definition of rationalism. - A system that assigns reason, not sensory experience, as the primary means of gaining knowledge - all truth is discoverable by human reason c) Effect on Biblical studies. - Spinoza pushed rationalism to point where even religious truth is knowable only through self-evident mathematical axioms - Spinoza, "whatsoever is, is in God, and nothing can be or be conceived without God" o In other words, Spinoza identified God as the universe o God is not personal or transcendent from creation o Spinoza also held to determinism o Also held to allegorical interpretation

Essay 1 - Historical critical methodologies have had significant consequences/impact on evangelical scholarship on the Synoptic Gospels in the areas of Arrangement, Modification & Creation of Material

- Consequences of Lit. Dependence o 2-Source (=2-Doc.) theory, Markan priority & Q § Name given for theory that "Mk & Q" are earliest docs Mt & Lk copied from these docs - 3 areas affected in evangelical scholarship: o A. Arrangement of material § 1) Sermon on Mount (Matt 5-7). · belief is it is just collection of Jesus' sayings from various times brought together by gospel writers to satisfy topical considerations · reply: does not reconcile Mt. 5:1-2 "seeing the crowds...having opened His mouth, he began teaching them," and Mt. 7:28 "and it came about when Jesus finished teaching these words, crowds were amazed..." § 2) Commissioning of the 12 (Matt 10:5-42). · TC view is that Jesus did not on a single occasion commission the Twelve as described in Mt. 10:5-42 · reply: intro and conclusion (10:5a and 11:1) serve as book ends o makes it hard to argue for a "multiple occasions" position of commissioning the Twelve § 3) Parables of Mark 4 & Matt 13. · argument is that these parallel accounts are anthologies · reply: Does not provide much explanation for Mt 13:1-3 and 13:53 as brackets to intro & conclude parabolic teaching in 13:4-52 § 4) Olivet Discourse (Mt 24-5, Mk 13, Lk 21). · argues this discourse is not verbatim from Jesus, nor is it free from adaptation/application on Mk's part · reply: Must ask, "what do you make of introductory and concluding formulas of this discourse (Mt. 24:4, "Jesus answered and said to them", Mt 26:1, "and it came about when Jesus finished all these words") o B. Modification of material § 5) Exception Clause (Matt 5:32, 19:9). · absolute prohibition on divorce in Mk 10:11 vs Mt's account contradicts, so one of these synoptic authors changed the words · claim it came from Mk, Q, and Paul § 6) Dialog w/ Rich Man (Mk 10, Mt 19, Lk 18). · words of Mt found Jesus' words in Mk 10:17-18 theologically unacceptable, resulting in his decision to change them to "solve a Christological problem" o "why do you call me good?" vs. "why do you ask me about what is good?" · Argument is Jesus was less than a deity, so Mt changed words to convey higher Christology § 7) The Pharisees (Matt 23). · evangelicals recently dwell on positive qualities of Pharisees (even though Jesus denounced them on many occasions, like Mt 23:13-36) · Text/Hist critics formulate these views by alleging Mt edited words describing Christ's life o C. Creation of material § 8) Genealogies (Matt 1, Luke 3). · assume 2 writers probably derived info from "Q" document · reply: critics think they need to explain "discrepancies" by gospel writers synoptic authors worked from same source (Q doc) rather than separate sources to harmonize what they see in genealogies of both accounts § 9) Visit of Magi (Matt 2, Luke 2). · assuming synoptic authors worked from Q doc, Mt 2 transforms visits of local Jewish shepherds into adoration by Gentile magi from foreign parts · reply: this forces conclusion that Mt takes editorial liberty with his sources and justifies it to help his church of his day § 10) Beatitudes (Matt 5:3-12). · Critics advocate that Jesus is not source of all beatitudes · Assumption is that Q only had 4 beatitudes bc Lk's sermon only has 4

Tradition & Form Criticism philosophically driven

- Developed from underlying foundation that was innately hostile to historicity of biblical text - This is responsible for ascendance of Criticism ideologies to widespread predominance in biblical interpretation

b) Goals of Form Criticism & Tradition Criticism.

- FC applies certain literary criteria/laws to the Gospels o determine relative age, original form, and historical veracity - Inferred Criteria stem from o 1) evolutionary assumption of gradually increasing complexity o 2) antisupernatural bias against miraculous happenings o 3) assumption that proposed laws of folk tradition apply to gospel tradition to determine what aspects are late fabrications to & modifications of tradition - FC supposes that over time, the church added these fabrications and gospel literature took on fixed forms through constant repetition - FC assumes "Two or Four-Source Hypothesis"

2. Materialism: Thomas Hobbes

- Francis Bacon's secretary - One of the first modern writer to engage in Historical Criticism of Scripture b) Definition of materialism. - The origin of all ideas in the mind are reducible to sensations - Reality consists of materiality and nothing else, no provision being made for spiritual reality c) Effect on Biblical studies. - Doubted the miraculous. - any alleged miracle would have a natural explanation, not supernatural - Explained away Jesus' exorcism of demon-possessed people, calling the cases mental illness

a) Fundamental Contradictions of FC & Trad Crit.

- In Bultmann's History of the Synoptic Tradition, the word "eyewitness" does not occur, which is necessary in order to suppose early FC o FC guy named Dibelius honestly admits strategic significance of eyewitnesses for the tradition - FC postulates that through time, stories about Jesus gradually acquired fabrications that were not historical, especially miraculous elements - Yet, NT indicates fundamental biographical interest of Christian community in the words and deeds of Jesus Christ - Eyewitnesses prove the concept of an unstable tradition to be untenable bc they would prevent any substantial changes

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215)

- Lived in Alexandria and distinguished himself as a scholar and teacher for over 20 yrs, succeeding Pantaenus as leader of the school. - Unique: Clement gave unique info when revealing that the gospels with genealogies (Mt & Lk) originated before Mk. o Someone of Clement's stature was not likely to repeat info without careful investigation - Supplemental: Clement placed Jn's gospel last, saying Jn wrote it with full awareness of the other 3 and designed it to supplement the "synoptic" accounts as "spiritual Gospel" - Widespread: the tradition he passed on did not come from a single elder in a single locality but from 'a tradition of the primitive elders' scattered widely throughout the Christian community o Indicates this was tradition known and received in different places in early to mid 2nd cent - Historically Sound: Clement places Mk as third bc Mk helped found the church at Alexandria and was its first overseer. Clement, knowing this, put him 3rd likely bc the 2 synoptics w genealogies of Jesus was for a definite and grounded persuasion of historical nature.

1. Inductivism: Francis Bacon

- Lord Chancellor of England in 1618. - Wrote Novum Organum, a major modern biblical criticism work that resulted in historical-critical methodologies, influencing British empiricism. b) Definition of inductivism - all truth is learned by experience & experiment. - As a result, science, not religion, becomes the true model of the world c) Effect on Biblical studies. - excluded Bible as the source of truth & replaced with what is discovered through reason & experiment - Bible only infallible in matters of faith & practice

Affects Historicity of Mark and Matt & Luke

- Many scholars regard Mk as unreliable o "late without any connection to an apostolic figure" - Patterson from Eden Theo Sem said, "can be of little value in reconstructing the life of Jesus" regarding Mk o Using 2-source theory, concludes Mt and Lk can't be trusted bc Mk can't be trusted, and they were built off of Mk, allegedly - 2-source theory undermines Mt and Lk as independent accounts of the Lord's life and reduces them to copies of Mk and "Q"

The Jesus Seminar

- Opponent of biblical inerrancy - Gained large following in 20th century - Denied authenticity of 82% of the 4 gospels - Led by Robert Funk in 1985 - Twice-a-year meetings - Wrote The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus in 1993 which comprised of their conclusions of Jesus' sayings - Published work of Jesus' alleged sayings in 4 colors - red (Jesus definitely said it), pink (Jesus probably said it), gray (Jesus probably did not say it), and black (Jesus definitely did not say it).

9. Evolution: Darwin.

- Popularized evolution in his works Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871). b) Definition of evolution. - An all-encompassing philosophy that pervades not only scientific community but every aspect of life, including theology c) Effects on Bib. studies: (1) Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918) & Documentary Hypothesis (JEDP) - JEDP theory (Documentary Hypothesis) o Rejected Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch and posited a gradual development long after Moses of the OT o Backdrop is a philosophical speculation by Spinoza, deism, hegelianism, and evolutionary philosophy. - applied this theory to NT with help of Hermann Gunkel (2) B. H. Streeter (1874-1937) & 4-Source Theory. - the combining of Mark, the alleged "Q" source, and material in Matthew and Luke, into complex docs of Mt and Lk - propelled "intellectual climate" of evolution in late 19th century

c) Historical Background of FC & Trad Criticism.

- Review of developments that gave rise to FC is vital for evaluating its legitimacy for evangelical hermeneutics 1) H. S. Reimarus (1694-1778), sought to discredit Christianity - Most famous work is 4,000 pg work called An Apologetic for the Rational Worshippers of God (remained unpublished) 2) G. E. Lessing (1729-1781), published Reimarus' work - 6th and 7th publications of Reimarus' work purposed to discredit Christianity o 6th: listed alleged discrepancies in gospel accounts of Resurrection o 7th: conteded that Jesus was unsuccessful political messianic pretender & disciples allegedly were disappointed phonies who stole His body to invent Christian faith after crucifixion 3) D. F. Strauss (1808-1874), myth in the gospels. - Became part of FC's origin by popularizing the "mythical" view of Scripture - Advocated a closed-continuum of cause and effect that allowed no divine intervention 4) J. H. H. Gunkel (1862-1932), OT Form Criticism - FC arose in first analyzing OT - He interpreted Genesis with FC methods, which resulted in negating Mosaic authorship of Pentateuch - Looked at Genesis as evolutionary and that it developed over time, resulting in JEDP theory - Genesis stories were largely "mythological" 5) Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918), OT Form Criticism®NT. - Helped bring FC thinking to NT - Established 3 theories about Mk: 1) original source for material in gospel is oral tradition circulating in smaller units 2) material came together and underwent revisions in various ways at different stages (writer's redaction is one of the stages 3) material furnishes info about beliefs & circumstances of early church as well as Jesus' ministry 6) W. Wrede (1859-1906), Messianic secret - Rejected Mark's historicity - Asserted Mk's gospel contains creative, dogmatic ideas that writer imposed on tradition - His work forerunner of FC and RC 6) K. L. Schmidt (1891-1956), episodes = isolated - Concentrated on chronological and geographical framework of early Christian community created for Mk - "episodes" in gospel were isolated units of tradition linked together by author - Therefore, he eliminated chronological and geographical framework of synoptics 7) M. Dibelius (1883-1947), classify into literary forms (= Formgeschichte) - Fully developed and refined FC in NT along with Bultmann - First to apply method of synoptic tradition in From Tradition to Gospel - Worked out system for identifying isolated gospel episodes and classifying their literary forms 8) R. Bultmann (1884-1976), demythologize gospels - Developed FC more fully than Dibelius - Most responsible for method's thoroughness and maturation - Sought to emancipate need for any historical demonstration of Christian faith - Desired to "modernize" the Gospels, so he sought to demythologize them with Strauss' concept of "myth" - Defined myth as "mythology is the use of imagery to express the other worldly in terms of this world and the divine in terms of human life, the other side in terms of this side" - To Bultmann, FC must discover the historical or life situation that produced literary materials in Gospels

Effects of discarding 2-Source theory

- Text crit may seem to be purely objective, but its inherently interrelated with Form Criticism and Redaction Criticism

5. Skepticism: Hume.

- The 3 Major Enlightenment Philosophies - rationalism, deism, and empiricism, provided foundation for Hume's skepticism - Was aptly called "A vigorous and often scornful critic of evangelical doctrine" b) Definition of skepticism. - Knowledge has definite limits so that people can know nothing for sure, not even their own existence or that of the external world c) Effect on Biblical studies. - Saw only 2 kinds of meaningful statements regarding Scripture: definitional and factual. - Taught that no one could ever know for certain that a miracle had ever occurred

Two-Source Theory (vs. Two-Gospel hypothesis)

- The leading source criticism theory that attempts to explain the "Synoptic Problem" - Aka "Two-Document Theory" - Postulates that the gospel of Mark is one source for the other 2 Synoptic Gospels o the other source, "Q", supplies all that is not in Mk but is common in Mt and Lk - has never gone unchallenged

Definition of "Synoptic Problem"

- The name given to the dilemma of defining the literary relationship between Mt, Mk, and Lk.

7. Romanticism: Schleiermacher.

- The person most identified with the theology of the Romantic Period - Profoundly affected 19th century theology - Hailed as "The Father of Protestant Liberalism" b) Definition of romanticism: - Stressed the need for feelings, emotionalism, sensualism, fantasy, mystery, imagination, and heroic men and movement of the past over against order and control c) Schleiermacher's/romanticism's effect on Biblical studies - Reinterpreted the whole range of Christian doctrine - Defined sin as an interference with this sense of absolute dependence, not as a transgression of divine commandments - Rejected original sin through Adam

Liberals & Form Criticism & Tradition Criticism

- Theological liberals developed these Criticisms - They laud the utilization of these disciplines, for the ideology's a priori agenda suits their interpretation of the biblical text. - Norman Perrin praises gospel criticism "for it provides what must be regarded as the only satisfactory understanding of the nature of the synoptic gospel material"

Origen (c. 185-253)

- Was 18 yo when emperor Septimius Severus forced Clement to leave Alexandria - Became Clement's successor Good scholar, widely traveled - Visited Rome and met Hippolytus, and also went to Arabia - Went to Palestine when Emperor Caracalla drove teachers of philosophy out of Alexandria - Came back to Alexandria in 216 AD and resumed teaching - Due to all the travels, his info on synoptics is of wide travels, great learning, and research. - Also stressed apostolic origins of the 4 gospels and rejected many apocryphal gospels as spurious

6. Agnosticism: Kant.

- Wrote Critique of Pure Reason in 1781 where he examined the scope and limitations of human thought through a prior investigation of human reason, in which Kant sought to determine how knowledge is possible - Some called him "The Philosopher of Protestantism", as his agnosticism was a form of deism. b) Definition of agnosticism. - The mind cannot know rationally anything beyond its immediate experience of the world. When the human mind goes beyond the material order, antinomies (self-contradictions) arise. c) Effect on Biblical studies. - Reduced arguments for God's existence to 3 - ontological, cosmological, and teleological - he ended up rejected them all and argued they do not afford rationally compelling proof - Argued that the objective reality of God "can neither be proven nor disproven by pure reason" - Held Jesus to be another naturally begotten man, viewed as "the ideal of a humanity pleasing to God"

Irenaeus (c. 115-200)

- immigrant from Asia Minor and presbyter at church in Lyons in Gaul. Connection to Polycarp - Irenaeus in his youth claimed to be a disciple of Polycarp - Critics holding to 2-doc hypothesis say Irenaeus is just repeating Papias - Critics holding to 4-doc hypothesis say Irenaeus' ability to testify regarding Polycarp's connection to John is not valid. Against Heresies - Irenaeus usually cites the books in order of Mt, Lk, Mk, Jn or also in order Jn Lk, Mt, Mk, perhaps bc of theological reasons rather than historical

R. H. Stein's evidence of Literary Dependence (2-sc theory)

1) Agreement in wording - Stein provides a list for the many places this occurs, but makes no allowance for places of disagreement to his argument 2) Agree in sequence of material - Refuses possibility that agreements in order could result from sequence of historical occurrences 3) Agree in parenthetical material - In the words "let the reader understand" from Mt. 24:15 and Mk. 13:14 o he acknowledges the widely held opinion that these words were not parenthetic added by Mt and Mk, but Jesus' very words referring to Daniel as the 'reader' 4) Prologue of Luke's Gospel - Best understanding of this prologue excludes Mk from, not includes Mk among, sources used by author of 3rd gospel

10 similar issues between evangelicalism and The Jesus Seminar

1) Author of Mt, not Jesus, created Sermon on the Mount 2) 12 disciples commissioned in Mt. 10 is a group of instructions organized by author of Mt, not spoken by Jesus on a single occasion 3) Parable accounts of Mt 13 & Mk 4 are anthologies of parables Jesus uttered on separate occasions 4) Jesus did not preach Olivet Discourse in its entirety, as found in three of the gospel accounts 5) Jesus gave His teaching on divorce & remarriage without exception clauses in Mt. 5:32 & Mt. 19:9 6) In Mt. 19:16-17, the writer changed both Jesus' words and rich man's to obtain a different emphasis or avoid theological problem with the wording found in Mk & Lk's accounts 7) Scribes & Pharisees were actually decent people who Mt painted negatively bc of his personal bias against them 8) Genealogies of Jesus in Mt 1 & Lk 3 are figures of speech & not accurate records of Jesus' physical and/or legal lineage 9) The magi from Mt 2 who visited Jesus at His birth are fictional characters, not real 10) Jesus uttered only 3 or 4 out of 8 or 9 beatitudes in Mt 5:3-12

Growing Evangelical Practice of Form and Tradition Criticism

1) George Ladd - Evangelical scholars who is product of American Fundamentalism of 1920s' - Advocated for modified version of FC based on 2-sc theory as "literary fact" 2) Robert Stein - Accepts Four-Source Hypothesis - Embraces KL Schmidt's thesis which denigrates historical, geograhical, and chronological connections in gospels. - Stein can never be sure of historicity even if eyewitnesses are present bc the eyewitness shift the burden of proof, but doubt always remains. 3) Robert Guelich - Literary and Historical Criticism are anything but ‚neutral' tools - Assumes 4-Sc theory - Asserts originally the Beatitudes were three, while the rest were added or put in by authors - Doubted one could ever be sure that gospels do not reflect „a theological tendency to localize events such as with calling the Twelve, the Sermon, the Transfiguration, and the Olivet Discourse" 4) Darrell Bock - Favors Klaus Berger's form-critical approach - Confuses and redefines FC and the life situation of the early church with that of Jesus - Modified FC regards gospel material as owing its present shape to practical needs of the early Christian community - Consistently assigns miracles and sayings of Jesus to form categories whose names in the writings of the original form critics imply unhistoricity 5) David Catchpole - Advocates use of tradition critical principles - Indicates MT 18:17 could not have been spoken by Jesus bc its most unlike the historical Jesus who commended and accepted Gentiles and tax colelctors - Ignores Mt's emphasis on Jesus' mission to the Jews - Doubts authenticity of Mt 23:2-3 6) Grant Osborne - Supports "positive reappraisal of criteria for studying development tradition" - Tries to revise principles that inherently make tradition suspect - Controlling "the negative dangers" of Traditionsgeschichte, but he himself does not do that

Papias (c. 60-130) & the identity of ta logia:

1). Q - Possible due to Mt gospel being in Greek language and Papias' words mentioning the Hebrew language, that it was referring to Q doc - Also claimed that ta logia is not the usual way of referring to a "gospel" - However, problem is Papias does not use ta logia to refer only to sayings but also to deeds of Jesus 2). Collection of OT proof texts - Ta logia refers to an OT testimonia collection, allegedly compiled by Mt from the Hebrew canon for use in Christian apologetics - Problem is that a similar criticism applies to this view - context of Papias' writings, ta logia, most likely refers to both deeds and sayings of Jesus and not a hypothesized collection of OT proof texts. 3). Papias was wrong - Critics claim "either Papias was inaccurate and his testimony should be discounted, or Papias was referring to some other composition of Mt which is not now extant" - Answer: Papias possessing info from highly placed apostolic and eyewitness testimony regarding Mt was correct and attempts at deprecating Papias border on intellectual presumptuousness. 4). Canonical Greek Matt - This critic view exonerates Papias as an accurate report, but that his readers misunderstood him - Answer: although sense of argumentational style is possible meaning of dialekto, it is more remote and secondary sense. o Most natural way to understand dialektos is language, not interpretation 5). Earlier Aramaic Matt. - view is that Papias referred to an earlier edition of Mt written entirely in Hebrew (Aramaic) and preceded Greek version of the gospel o this would permit Papias to speak for himself and allows for understanding of his words in their natural sense

Essay 8 - Literary pseudepigraphy was UNacceptable to the early church in the first 2 centuries (at least 5 objections)

1. Paul attacked such a practice (2 Thess 2:2; 3:17). 2. Deposition of Pseudepigraphic author of The Acts of Paul and Thecla (ca. 170). 3. Rejection of Gospel of Peter by Serapion, bishop of Antioch (ca. ad 180). 4. Quality of 2 Peter is high (thoroughly apostolic & orthodox), not heretical. 5. 2 Peter has NO 2nd century characteristics, such as treating controversies over chiliasm, Gnosticism, theosophical systems (beliefs about God & world based on mystical insights), or church leadership. 6. Second Peter is NEVER listed as SPURIOUS. § Disputed (ἀντιλεγόμενον), yes, spurious (νόθος), NO. § [Eusebius lists 4 categories of writings in HE 3.25: 1) ὁμολογούμενα, 2) ἀντιλεγόμενα, 3) νόθοι, 4) ἀναπλάσματα ] 7. Pseudepigraphy contradicts Peter's own teaching in the Epistle. § Cf. Peter's emphasis on godliness (1:3; 1:6-7) & virtue (1:5), Also, speaks against cunningly devised fables (1:16), false teachers (2:1-2), & the deception of error (2:13).

Essay 4 - 1) EITHER the five (5) customary arguments FOR the Two-Source theory are inadequate OR Biblical & Patristic evidence (3 of each) show the Two-Source theory to be an inadequate approach to the composition of the Synoptic Gospels

Arguments For the 2-Source Theory & responses 1) argument from order o relative sequence of incidents and sections in Mk finds general support in Mt and Lk, thus making Mk the earliest gospel o study of "Synoptic Problem" reveals: § Argument based on order of events in 3 synoptics cannot prove anything re: priority of individual gospels § Statement of relationships as usually given does not appear accurate 2) from brevity o mark is earliest bc it is the shortest o Mk could not have copied Mt or Lk due to its short length bc surely Mk would not omit material o Response: No proof. Relies on literary dependence & either Mk copied Mt/Lk or vise versa § where Mk records an incident, he is often longer/gives more detail than Mt/Lk § This argument cannot exist apart from literary dependence assumption 3) primitive nature of Mark o arguing Mk's primitive nature indicates it's the earliest o Response: writing style results from personality and ability of the writer and the purpose of their writing § Stoldt, "there is simply no law in literary or intellectual history that vividness of presentation is a measure of the sequence in which literary accounts originated." 4) from psychological reflection o modern critic decides he cannot understand why Mk would change MT's words. He is under impression that he can see why Mt would change what Mk wrote. Thus, concludes it's obvious Mt did what the critic would have done o Response: this argument normally seeks to explain differences between synoptics, differences that make a literary-dependence theory difficult 5) evidence vs. Q - Matt & Luke agreements? doublets? o The reason to postulate Q doc is bc 2-Source theory needs it o Hawkins made the "classic defense" of Q and stated he found 84 passages as evidence for Q, 54 of which were very probable § Many are not parallel passages to Mt/Lk. § Only 6 passages of the 84 are actually non-Mk o Response: If Q existed as a full Gospel account, why would Mt/Lk not copy it over copying Mk? Why did they omit the rest? § Doublets: repetitions of the same or closely similar sentences in the same gospel · Repetition would be both normal and expected in such situations where Jesus' ministry was highly repetitive in nature geared for a restricted cultural entity.

Arguments AGAINST the 2-Source Theory (..... Essay D)

Biblical evidence: 1. Agreements of Matt & Luke vs. Mark. 2. Large amount of material in Mt & Lk not in Mk. 3. Luke's Prologue (1:1-4): specify. Patristic evidence: 1. Papias' witness of Mk getting info from Peter. 2. Eyewitness Matt not likely to have used Mark. 3. Matt = first gospel written.

Operational Bases of Tradition Criticism

Burden of proof Primary Task of Tradition Crit.: apply laws of tradition a) Questionable assumptions of Tradition Criticism. b) Dibelius: features showing narrative's primitivity. c) Two additional indicators of primitivity/lateness. d) Reasons for rejecting criteria of primitivity.

Patristic consensus v. 21st cent. NT scholarly consensus

Consensus of early church fathers - Mt was written first amongst the gospels and the early church placed Mt's gospel account in 1st canon of NT Consensus of NT scholars at beginning of 21st century - Most NT scholars at 21st century reject unanimous testimony of early church fathers for Matthean priority in favor of 2 or 4 source theory.

Essay 5 - Form/Tradition Criticism's use of the 6 Formal and Material Criteria of Authenticity are a completely inadequate approach to the interpretation of the Synoptic Gospels

Formal Criteria 1) multiple attestation & critique. § when saying/activity of Jesus appears in more than one resource, it is more likely authentic § critique: basis is a highly questionable synoptic hypothesis which gives it a built-in bias · no valid reason exists to deny authenticity of a saying merely bc it's found in one alleged "source" 2) multiple forms & critique. § suggests that a gospel motif may be authentic if it appears in multiple forms § critique: one witness is quite sufficient to confirm what Jesus did/did not say · acute subjectivity of form-critical categories indicates its highly speculative nature 3) Aramaic linguistic phenomena & critique. § Presence of Aramaisms in gospel material suggests "primitiveness" of particular tradition § Critique: Aramaisms are not indications of earliness · inerrancy and grammatico-historical hermeneutic require inspiration of the autographs, not of hypothesized sources behind them Material Criteria 4) Palestinian environment phenomena & critique. § Presence of Palestinian customs as a sign of earliness, bc they indicate tradition, was not a creation of Greek § Critique: not all of Jesus' teachings/incidents are exclusively Palestinian, esp since Jesus said things that indicate a Greek environmental influence, too · Traditions are not necessarily inauthentic bc they lack exclusively Palestinian background 5) dissimilarity & critique. § among the most decisive tradition-critical and useful factors in TC. § Critique: blatantly assumes inauthenticity of traditions, thus making them unreliable · Inherently eliminates great majority of the gospel material · Its basis is an argument from silence 6) coherence & critique. § Validity depends on validity of other principles (if principles are wrong, then data accepted through coherence is invalid) § Critique: this principle depends heavily on dissimilarity, making it inherit the same problems as dissimilarity · Acute subjectivity reigns in its formulation

8. Idealism: Hegel.

G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831) - Most influential of German Idealism - Known for building a system in which each constituent part is intricately related to the whole - Strongly influenced by Kant, as did Plato and Aristotle Definition of absolute idealism: - The mind and spiritual values are more fundamental than material ones - The opposite of realism Hegel's/idealism's effect on Biblical studies - Wrote Leben Jesu, where he eliminate the supernatural and miraculous elements in the Gospels - The goal of all religion was to obtain Virtue d) F. C. Baur (1792-1860) & Tübingen school. - Founded and uncontested leader of Tubingen School of German radical biblical criticism - Tutor of Strauss - Published essay in 1831 where he asserted that apostolic Christianity was marked by deep cleavage between the Jerusalem church and the Pauline mission - Considered the teaching of Jesus as a prehistory of the NT and not a part of theology of NT itself

Essay 2 - Positive Patristic evidence exists for the literary independence of the Synoptic Gospels

Independence of the Gospels - No References to Literary Dependence o 2nd -4th cent. Patristic writers § Papias: "Mark having been the interpreter of Peter, wrote accurately... all that he recalled... Matthew compiled the oracles in the Hebrew language, and everyone interpreted them as he was able." § Dionysus: "It was 'in the end of the Sabbath,' as Matthew has said; it was 'early, when it was yet day,' as John writes; it was 'very early in the morning,' as Luke puts it; and it was 'very early in the morning, at the rising of the sun,' as Mark tells us." § Chrysostom: "and why can it have been, that when there were so many disciples, two write only from among the apostles, and two from among their followers? (For one that was a disciple of Paul, and another of Peter, together with Matthew and John, wrote the Gospels.) It was because they did nothing for vainglory, but all things for use." - Apostolic Origin of Each Gospel o Matthew § Early Christian writers declare Mt's source of info was his own experiences with the Lord as one of His apostles · Supported by Justin Martyr § Irenaeus said, "Matthew the apostle" has written his gospel. o Mark § Papias makes clear that Mark's sources of info was Peter § Clement of Alexandria agrees with Papias on this claim o Luke § Tertullian treats Luke as "an apostolic man." - Insistence on Harmonizing Gospels o - Harmonization vs. literary dependence. § Proof is the consistent effort of early writers to harmonize the gospel accounts with each other. Their method was exactly the method that HC writers of the present strongly disparage § HC pushes for literary interdependence but with no historical proofs or support o - General testimony of church Fathers. § Irenaeus: "Thus hath Matthew set it down, and Luke in like manner, and Mark the very same" regarding Mt's words "No man knows the Son, but the Father." § Augustine: his principle of harmonization were simple and governed by common sense. - Statement of Literary Independence o Chrysostom's clear statement. § "It seems to me that Matthew was before the rest in entering on the subject (wherefore he both sets down the genealogy with exactness, and stops at those things which require it): but that Mark came after him, which is why he took a short course, as putting his hand to what had been already spoken and made manifest." - Agreements in Synoptic Gospels o Fathers explain agreement by Inspiration & accuracy § Muratorian Canon records that the faith of Believers in several books of the gospel showed no difference as relating under one imperial Spirit. Augustine affirmed this too § Early Christian writers frequently referred to the historical accuracy of what was recorded.

Incorporation of Red. Crit. theological emphases

Jesus & his disciples at Caesarea-Philippi.

The Genuineness of 2 Peter

Key external evidence favoring genuineness of 2 Peter. 1) Patristic allusions: Clement of Rome (ca. 95), Justin Martyr (ca. 140), Ep. of Barnabas (ca. 130), Theophilus of Antioch (end 2nd cent.), Melito of Sardis (ca. ad 175), Clement of Alexandria (ca. 160-215) [wrote comm. on all 7 canonical general epistles], Origen (ca. 250), Jerome (ca. 340-420). 2) Versional & Other evidence: Incl. by both Coptic versions (Sahidic, 2nd c., Bohairic, 4th c.,), Clement of Alex.'s Old Latin text (incl. all 7 Catholic epp.), Apocalypse of Peter (ca. 200) uses 2 Ptr, Councils of Laodicea & Carthage (363 & 397) recognize as canonical. So, evidence is weak, but solid & early where 2 Ptr was known.

2-Source (=2-Doc.) theory, Markan priority & Q

Name given for theory that "Mk & Q" are earliest docs Mt & Lk copied from these docs

Essay 7 - The 6 objections to the Pauline authorship of the Pastoral epistles are without merit (be sure to also mention the suggested alternatives to Pauline authorship).

Objections: a. Differences in vocabulary and style between the PE and the other genuinely Pauline epistles. b. Marcion's omission of the PE from his NT canon. c. The chronology of the PE does not fit with the book of Acts. d. The PE respond to the teachings of 2nd century Gnosticism. e. The theology & theological themes of the PE are different from the other 10 epistle recognized as genuine. f. The PE's ecclesiology is too developed for Paul's lifetime. Responses: a. Differences in vocabulary and style are properly explained, actually, required by differences in situations of both writer and recipients. b. Marcion's omission is to be expected and is not a serious or reliable criticism. c. There is NO problem with chronology of the PE not fitting into that of the book of Acts because... - see image d. Gnostic elements addressed in the PE is not fully developed. This issue only arises at all, if the PE are assumed to be 2nd century. e. Differences in theology and theological themes exaggerated. f. The Ecclesiology of the PE is appropriate for 1st century Christian churches.

Impacts of Hist. Crit. on Gospel Interpretation

Recent Evangelical Interpretation of Lk 18:18-23 a. Wording of Jesus' Answer. Ned B. Stonehouse's treatment of ruler's question. The issue of Ipsissima verba vs. Ipsissima vox. Difference of "independence" approach: harmonize the accounts of Matt, Mark & Luke. b. Conclusion. Objections to recent evangelical interpretation of Lk 18:18-23: 1. Failure to explain the "Minor Agreements." 2. Rejecting harmonization to explain divergences btw/ gospel accounts leads to loss of ipsissima verba of Jesus. By contrast: Using "independence" approach elicits more details & greater nuance of the whole incident.

Evangelicals & Redaction Criticism

Redaction Criticism method involves the Evangelists' 1) Selectivity: they only selected material compatible w/ different purposes of their Gospels. True, but... theology & history are compatible. 2) Arrangement: they did NOT arrange material in chronological order. True, but...NOT to detriment of chronological accuracy. 3) Modificat-ion: made major changes in material show their own theology, NOT Jesus' history. Christians always accepted that Evangelists made minor changes/ adjustments (e.g., personal stylistic preferences in wording), but... NOT to the extent that RC scholars maintain. 4) Creativity: radical alteration of historical narrative, e.g., genealogies, beatitudes, discourses, etc., to produce something entirely different. This is NOT true, b/c doing so denies divine inspiration & the principle of truth.

Literary Dependence & Lk's Prologue

The Implications of Luke's Prologue. 1) Use of canonical gospels? No, not likely. 2) Use of only two or three sources? No, "many" suggests numerous, not 2 or 3. 3) Use of Matt & Mark? No, Lk would not have found them unsatisfactory. 4) Chronological order? Yes, mostly/completely. 5) Possible sources? Yes, both written and oral accounts, including eyewitnesses.

Evaluation of Redaction Criticism

a) Byproduct benefits b) Direct liabilities: 1) Foundational 2) Chronological-evidential-ethical 3) Abnormal historical study 4) Biased philosophical basis 5) Subjectivism 6) Method for identifying "authentic Jesus material."

4. Deism: Toland, Collins, etc.

a) Herbert of Cherbury (1583-1648) & Five "Common Notions." - The Father of English Deism - Saw reason to support orthodox Christianity, while most other deists refuted Christianity - Five "Common Notions": o There is a supreme God o This sovereign deity ought to be worshipped o The need for a moral life o Repentance from sin o There is reward or punishment after this life b) Definition of deism. - The separation of God from the world but denies that God also interacts and is involved in the world Effects on Biblical studies: c) Reimarus (1694-1778), discredit Christian origins. - Saw Jesus as unsuccessful messianic pretender and the disciples as disappointed charlatans who stole Jesus' body d) D. F. Strauss (1808-74), "myth" in gospels. - Wrote, "The Life of Jesus Critically Examined" o Its purpose was to identify mythical elements in the gospel accounts and deny the historicity of all supernatural parts e) Troeltsch (1898) & principles of HC: (1) Criticism o Methodological doubt in the realm of history, probability, not certainty, is the basis of judgment, necessitating a rigorous scrutiny of religious tradition (2) Analogy o Present experience is the criterion for determining probability; an absence of the supernatural today means that such events did not occur in the past. (3) Correlation. o A closed continuum of cause and effect exists, thus excluding the possibility of miracles

Characteristics of Red. Crit.

a) Synoptics are theology not history. b) Two different realms of reality. c) Find history/theology of evangelists, not Jesus.

10. Existentialism: Kierkegaard.

a) Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55). · the Great-Grandfather of Existentialism · some replace idealism with existentialism as the philsophical basis for Christianity · others consider existentialism from Kierkegaard as "bankruptcy of Western philosophy" b) Destructive criticism cannot harm Christianity, even if criticism negates Bible as genuine. c) Effects on Bib. studies: 1) R. Bultmann (1884-1976), "de-mythologization" & Form Criticism; 2) Deconstructionism. · Negates the existence of theological truth altogether as a coherent process of inquiry.

Essay 6 - The specific Issues Raised by Redaction Criticism make it useless as a method for responsible, grammatical-historical interpretation of the Synoptic Gospels

a) Theology is pitted against history. History is lost. o Assumption that theological purposes of authors automatically exclude possibility they wrote with consistent historical accuracy o Response: this criterion is a false dichotomy. Theology and history are compatible b) Harmonizing is made impossible or almost so. o Minimizing the possibility of harmonizing parallel accounts of same events of Jesus reject possibility of reconstructing a continuous chronological sequence in Christ's life o Response: this principle is rejected by most evangelical scholars c) Theology of Jesus is hidden/obscured. o Contend that theology of gospel writers has hidden at least partially the theology of Christ Himself o Response: Wrong to question historical accuracy of gospel writers bc compatibility is not necessarily negated d) Jesus' precise words (ipsissima verba) are lost. o RC seldom ever allows that Gospels record exact words of Jesus o Ipsissima vox and ipsissima verba have tantalized students of Gospels and more in favor of evangelical RC § Verba: problems can be worked out § Vox: results in exact words of Jesus being lost e) Grammatical-historical interp. is overridden. o Redactionists allow critical considerations to add/distort considerations of grammar and history f) Literary dependence reduces testimony of the Synoptics to one questionable historical source (i.e., Mark), instead of strong threefold witness. o Theories of literary interdependence have reduced evidence of historicity to a single voice - alleged embellishments of gospel writers o Response: threefold historical record = solid history

Two tactics of Tradition Criticism

o Recovering earliest & most authentic forms of tradition by application of certain laws of tradition o Making critical judgments on historicity of each saying by applying "criteria of authenticity to discover origin of these traditions

Historical Criticism

purpose is to "test" historical accuracy of NT historical narrative, but ultimately reduce historical accuracy of Synoptic Gospels

Literary dependence of the Synoptics

teaches that the synoptic gospel authors depended on each other's writings

Theological Analysis of H. Conzelmann (Red. Crit.)

theology of Lk

Theological Analysis of W. Marxsen (Red. Crit.)

theology of Mk

Theological Analysis of G. Bornkamm (Red. Crit.)

theology of Mt