Texts
Luke also wrote Act of the Apostles
Luke is the most prolific writer of the NT,
devancing Paul, and often contradicting him.
Beside their books, we know nothing about these authors, including their real name.
After the Gospels came the church Fathers: Ignatius of Antioch (death between 115 or 140 CE?),
Polycarp of Smyrna (69-155 CE), Papias of Hierapolis (60 - 130 CE),
Justin Martyr (100 - 165 CE), Ireaneus of Lyons (130 - 202 CE),
Clement of Alexandria (150 - 215 CE), Origen of Alexandria (185 - 253 CE) ...
What scholars have postulated
Ministry in Galilee:
- Mark fashioned a ministry out of other units of tradition
which were circulating about Jesus
but which had few if any narrative elements attached to them.
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Teachings, miracles and stories about controversy with the
establishment were separate pieces of tradition
which Mark himself organized into a coherent sequence, giving Jesus a
ministry which moved from Galilee to Jerusalem and led into the passion account.
Passion in Jerusalem:
- The story of Jesus" trial and crucifixion had an independent existence
in early Christian tradition.
- It developed over the decades through oral transmission
and was perhaps set down in some primitive written form.
- Mark, took this pre-existing block of passion
material, did some reshaping, and then constructed an elaborate preface.
Who, Where and When
Here, we are accepting the Concensus on Who were the Authors, Where and When they were writed.
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Who?
"To gain admission to the canon, Gospels were attributed to apostles (Matthew and John)
or to those dependent on apostles for their information (Mark and Luke).
But today, these persons are not thought to have been the actual authors.
None of the texts themselves give the author's name - all four are anonymous."
J. M. Robinson The Gospel of Jesus: In Search of the Original Good News
Then, after the 4 Gospels, came the church Fathers Ignatius, Papias, Justin...
Where?
Set up in rural Galilee and its neighborhoods,
but Mark as his followers Matthew, Luke & John
could have written their Gospels anywhere.
When?
"They were composed in the last thirty years of the first century, half a century after the fact."
James M. Robinson
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A New Birth
"Traditionally, Christ-Myth theorists have argued that one finds a purely mythic conception of Jesus in the epistles
and that the life of Jesus the historical teacher and healer as we read it in the gospels is a later historicization.
This may indeed be so, but it is important to recognize the obvious:
the gospel story of Jesus is itself apparently mythic from first to last.
In the gospels the degree of historicization is actually quite minimal,
mainly consisting of the addition of the layer derived from contemporary messiahs and prophets.
One does not need to repair to the epistles to find a mythic Jesus.
The gospel story itself is already pure legend.
What can we say of a supposed historical figure whose life story conforms virtually
in every detail to the Mythic Hero Archetype,
with nothing, no "secular" or mundane information, left over?
R. Price Deconstructing Jesus
Once upon a time, someone wrote a Story about a fictional man who was God.
Who wrote it? Where? When? Nobody knows.
But we know that several decades had passed since the supposed events he told of.
Later generations gave this storyteller the name of Mark,
but if it was his real name, it was only by coincidence.
The rest of the story follows like before
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A decade or two later, a couple of writers followed after and enlarged on the first man's tale.
They borrowed much of what he had written, reworked it in their own particular ways
and put in some additional material.
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By the time another half century passed,
almost everyone who followed the religion of these storytellers accepted their work
as an account of actual historical events and a real historical man.
During the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the story and characters were reused by many Jewish or Anti-Jewish sects & communities.
Many other (spurious) Gospels and Acts were written as
we have today 30 extant Gospels (while more than twice were written) and 16 extant Acts.
They are all testimony of the fervor, creativity and diversity of religious thought at that time.
See
Early Christian Writings by
Peter KirbySome, like Marcionism or Docetism, were closer to the original Mythical Jesus.
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In 324, when the Catholic Church acquired absolute political power under the Constantines,
opponents were compelled by force to fall in line.
As the threat of death, prison, or dispossession was used to eliminate opponents,
"disapproved" texts were collected and burned, or simply never copied and thus
left to disintegrate, never to be read again.
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Then, for about 1,500 years, theological correctness was permanent and timeless,
isolated from its historical origins and ultimately proceeding from the will of God.
Nothing in the personal experiences of the great figures of early Christianity,
such as Paul or the evangelists, would have disturbed this inspired pursuit of the truth.
E. Doherty, slightly adapted for the web
"everything recorded of Jesus can be seen as nothing but the product of Mark's able imagination"
Bruno Bauer 1809-1882
Like,
The Romans with Romulus
The Ionians with Theseus
The Dorians with Hercules and his Twelve Labors
The Mycenaeans with Perseus, who established the hegemony of Zeus and the Twelve Olympians
The Olympic Games with Pelops
The Jews with the Exodus & Moses
