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The Life of Jesus
Epistles vs Acts
200 years of
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The Gospels

The Jewish Midrash of Jesus of Nazareth
The Epistles
An Authoritative
Guide
The Jewish
Logos
 The Gospels
The Common
Saying Tradition
Did John the
Baptist Exist
 The arg. from Silence
The Letters of
Pliny the Younger
A Conversation
with Paul
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The
Epistles
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The
Gospels
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Analyzing the Reliability of the Gospels
Religious
Context
Literary
Genre
Investigating Everything the Gospels say about Jesus
Preaching
Jesus
Was		 A recent man from Nazareth/Capernaum who was
Supernatural Ahistorical Symbolic O. T. Greco-Roman
A Hero Founder and Role Model
A new Moses/Elijah/Elisha
Born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary
40 days in the desert
Baptized and Transfigured
A Performer of Miracles
A Reformer
A Wandering Cynic Philosopher
An Apocalyptic Prophet of the Kingdom
Preaching
a Passion
Story
Supernatural Ahistorical Symbolic O. T. Greco-Roman
Acclaimed when he entered Jerusalem
Teaching & Cleansing the Temple
Establishing the Eucharist
Doubts, Betrayed & Arrest
Trial by the Sanhedrin
Pilate, Barabbas and a Jewish Mob
Jesus's Behavior & Words on the Cross
An Earthquake, Dark Sky, Empty Tomb
Investigating the Source of this Knowledge
How
Past Investigations Results
Scholarship
  • Consensus on who was Jesus
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Religious Context (quick overview)
A Recurrent pattern of the ancient world
The ancient world was full of local and national traditions about men, semi-divine figures or gods involved in the beginnings of religions, communities and nations, like Lao-Tse (Taoism), Lycurgus of Sparta or William Tell at the time of the founding of the Swiss Confederation.
"Beginning in protohistorical times many civilizations and kingdoms adopted some version of a heroic model national origin myth, including the Hittites and Zhou dynasty in the Bronze Age; the Scythians, Wu-sun, Romans and Koguryo in Antiquity; Turks and Mongols during the Middle Ages; and the Dzungar Khanate in the late Renaissance."
C. Beckwith 2009 Empires of the Silk Road
A Christian Founding Myth?
There would be nothing peculiar that Christians did the same thing.
"In both Greek & Jewish view,
the mythic past had deep roots in historic time,
its legends treated as facts."
L. Edmunds Approaches to Greek Myth
Adapted from Wikipedia: Origin myth
Jewish Founding Myths
The Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible) forms the charter myth of Israel, the story of the people's origins and the foundations of their culture and institutions, and it is a fundamental principle of Judaism that the relationship between God and his chosen people was set out on Mount Sinai through the Torah.

The Exodus serves as the founding myth for the community of Israel, including their culture, institutions and practices, telling how God delivered the Israelites from slavery and how they therefore belonged to him through the Covenant of Mount Sinai.

Jewish fictional heroes include Adam, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Jacob, Joshua...
Hellenic Founding Myths
Founding myths feature prominently in Greek mythology. "Ancient Greek rituals were bound to prominent local groups and hence to specific localities", Walter Burkert has observed "i.e. the sanctuaries and altars that had been set up for all time". Thus Greek and Hebrew founding myths established the special relationship between a deity and local people, who traced their origins from a hero and authenticated their ancestral rights through the founding myth.
Greek founding myths often embody a justification for the ancient overturning of an older, archaic order, reformulating a historical event anchored in the social and natural world to valorize current community practices, creating symbolic narratives of "collective importance" enriched with metaphor in order to account for traditional chronologies, and constructing an etiology considered to be plausible among those with a cultural investment.
Some famous ones:
  • 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
Literary Genre
A Fairy Tale
"The framework stories of the gospels are the most highly mythologized type of material. They include the narratives of Jesus birth, baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, and post-resurrection appearances. The transfiguration story is purely mythological, as are the birth narratives, the story of the empty tomb, and the appearances of the resurrected Jesus to the disciples. Critical scholars would not say that these derive from reminiscences."
B. Mack A Myth of Innocence
The fable of the first Gospel
Mark 1:1-20
The beginning		 Mark 1:21-10:52
The Miracles
Mark 11:1-16:8
Jerusalem & Passion
Full extract of the 20 first verses in the Gospel of Mark.
"The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah:
"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; [Malachi 3:1]
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight'", [Isaiah 40:3]
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey [Elijah in 2 Kings 1:8].
He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." [Isaiah 61:1 and Dead Sea Scroll 4Q521]
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.
And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. [Genesis 7:12 & Exodus 24:18]
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying:
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, 'Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.' And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him."
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1:21-28
1:29-31
1:32-34
1:40-45
2:1-12
3:1-6
3:7-12
4:35-41
5:1-20
5:25-34
5:35-43 		cast out an evil spirit in Capernaum
heals the fever of Peter’s mother-in-law
heals many sick and oppressed in Capernaum
cleanses a man with leprosy
heals a paralytic let down through a roof
heals a man’s withered hand on the Sabbath
heals a great multitude of people
calms a Storm on the Sea
casts out demons into a herd of pigs
heals a woman with an issue of blood
raises Jairus’ daughter back to life
 6:30-44
6:45-52
6:53-56
7:24-30
7:31-37
8:1-13
8:22-26
9:2-13
9:14-29
10:46-52

 feeds more than 5,000 women and children
walks on water
heals many sick after they touch him
cast out demons from a demonized girl
heals a deaf and mute man
feeds more than 4,000 women and children
heals a blind man at Bethsaida
transfigured on the mount
heals a boy with an unclean spirit
restores sight to Bartimaeus in Jericho
We have an average of 1 miracle of Jesus every 20 verses!
Jesus is a better wizard than Gandalf, Merlin, Esclepius or Harry Potter!
Almost everything is derived from the Old Testament (see below By Haggadic Midrash). They are a chain of events that have a very low historical probability (see below By Cheating with History) but a very high symbolic & theological meanings (see below By using Symbolism & Allegory).
It also comes with its load of supernatural deeds:
11:1-6
11:12-14,20
13:2
14:8
14:13-16

 prophecy of the colt and villagers question
curses the fig tree
prophecy of the destruction of the temple
prophecy of his own death & burial
prophecy of the man carrying a jar &
the passover room 		14:18
14:30
14:41-42
15:33
15:38
16:6
 prophecy of the betray of Judas
prophecy of Peter’s denial
prophecy that his death is coming
darkness over the whole land for 3 hours
curtain of the temple torn in two.
Jesus has risen (?)
Not counting the extra 16:9-20 that has been added after.
The following Gospels, either canonical or apocryphal, also added many more miracles on the list!
Supernatural makes the story
Supernatural is at the heart of the story, not something added
This leads to another problem: without all the folklore, the story shrinks so much that it is hard to find some sense in it.
"A pile of pieces--sayings, deeds--do not constitute a story, and without story there cannot be character, and without character, there cannot be meaning. Once that given by the gospels is abandoned, another must be imported. All the sifting and sieving of the individual pieces leads nowhere by itself."
T. Johnson a conservative ex-priest, attacking the Jesus Seminar
Similarly, in the second volume of A Marginal Jew J. Meier (a Catholic priest) devotes 530 pages to the question of Jesus' miracles. Within that is a (relatively) brief thirteen pages making a general case for the historicity of them, in which he concludes:
"Put dramatically but with not too much exaggeration: if the miracle tradition from Jesus' public ministry were to be rejected in toto as unhistorical, so should every other Gospel tradition about him."
The burden of proof
The burden of proof lies on the Gospels side
"...given the large proportion of uncorroborated miracle claims made about Jesus in the N.T. documents,
we should, in the absence of good independent evidence for an historical Jesus, remain sceptical about his existence."
Stephen Law
And the only independent evidences we have of Jesus are the Epistles.
"Miracles do not happen. Stories of miracles are untrue. Therefore, documents in which miraculous accounts are interwoven with reputed facts, are untrustworthy, for those who invented the miraculous element might easily have invented the part that was natural."
Marshall J. Gauvin Did Jesus Christ Really Live?
Preaching Jesus Was
A Hero founder and Role Model
The gospel life of Jesus corresponds in most particulars with the worldwide paradigm of the mythic hero archetype as delineated by Lord Raglan, Otto Rank, and others. Drawn from comparative studies of Indo-European and Semitic hero legends, this pattern contains 22 typical, recurrent elements.
Top 15 Heroes in Folklore:
A. Dundes Holy Writ as Oral Lit: The Bible as Folklore slightly updated by R. Carrier
The first historical figures in this ranking with 10 matching elements are Alexander the Great and Mithradates of Pontus.
"Jesus, wether in Q or Mark, serves as a symbol around which the sectarian and instructional message is built. Such messages are best impressed on the recipient in personal stories involving an individual; he serves better as a motivator and exemplar than does an abstract directive. Even the miracles and controversy stories, originally identified with the community, would inevitably have benefited by being focused on a representative individual, since in that way they could be dramatized and glorified, brought home in a more personal way."
E. Doherty
Jesus the Hellenistic Hero
"Heroes not only offered help - their stories also provided understanding of the proper modes of action. They were models, examples, and ideals."
Gregory Riley One Jesus, Many Christs
In this book, summarizing Hellenic litterature, the Hero
  • is typically "the offspring of the union between divine and human parents"
  • is known to be a person of remarkable talent
  • has a fate interwoven with the fate of his people
    "their very genetics placed them in the mids of destiny on a larger-than-human scale."
    And that "forms a complex pattern of divine justice in which the gods themselves are partners: the hero suffers humiliation, privation, and even death as a kind of bait in a larger divine trap designed to catch and destroy the wicked"
    like in the example of Odysseus, whose wanderings eventually led to the destruction of the wicked suitors.
  • has divine ennemies:
    "The issue of destiny, often fatal destiny, points to another aspect of the heroic career - heroes have divine enemies."
  • has rulers as human enemies and that the rulers who abuse him bring suffering on his city (such as Troy and Thebes in Greek legends or Jerusalem in Christian).
  • is tested "Common to all stories of heroes is the test of character - the critical situation that is the hero's destiny and shows forth the true character of the soul"
    like in the choice of Heracles between Vice and Virtue and subsequently in the labors.
  • dies "in the prime of life, in the midst of the very test, the crisis for which they were destined".
  • chooses to die "for principle and with honor one of the most famous heroic events to be imitated in the entire tradition."
  • receives the prize of immortality:
    "One may see here the concept that among the ancient heroes suffering led to a prize. The prize for Heracles was immortality, but for the rest of us, in spite of the assurances of the philosophers, the prize was an uncertain remembrance of bravery among our friends and family, or perhaps nothing at all."
  • could act as an intermediary:
    "What remained after death was the right of the hero to stand on behalf of his or her worshipers who themselves passed the test. This was true because through death the hero became a transformed being."
Adapted from P. Kirby review of Gregory Riley: Jesus the Hellenistic Hero
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"If one is not a New Testament scholar, one may see with little difficulty from the preceding chapters that stories of the life of Jesus were very much set in the mold of the stories of the ancient heroes."
Rewriting Homer
"The writer of first Gospel was familiar with the conventions of Hellenistic literary composition, including its dramatic and argumentative techniques. The story of the gospel shares a lot of similarities with the Greek "Bible", the Iliad and Odyssey though Mark has recasted and inverted the plot into a Jewish anti-epic novel."
Both [men]
  • were carpenter
  • are heroes who suffer their fate imposed by a god
  • faced supernatural opposition
  • traveled with companions unable to endure the hardships of the journey
  • returned to a home infested with rivals who would attempt to kill him as soon as they recognized him
  • returned from Hades alive
Parallels between both stories could explain several Gospels enigmas.
Dennis MacDonald The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark
and the Online Review by R.Carrier
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A new Moses/Elijah/Elisha
"The parallels between Jesus and other Jewish prophets, both biblical and post-biblical, are numerous and vital."
E.P. Sanders
The life of Jesus has many parallels with the life of other prophets in the OT. This is illustrated in many Christian works.
6 panels describing the Stories of Moses Sistine Chapel South Wall
6 panels describing the Stories of Jesus Sistine Chapel North Wall
Moses Jesus
"Escaped being killed as a baby when the decree of a king (Pharaoh) had condemned all male infants to death"
Exodus 1:8–22
"Escaped being killed as a baby when the decree of a king (Herod) had condemned all male infants to death"
Matthew 2:1–16
"Was not an Egyptian, but lived among Egyptians (who preserved his life) when an infant"
Exodus 2:1–10
"Was not an Egyptian, but lived among Egyptians (who preserved his life) when an infant"
Matthew 2:13–15
Was raised with the legal right to become a king but belonged to a nation (Israel) oppressed by a pagan and foreign government (Egypt)
Was raised with the legal right to become a king but belonged to a nation (Judah-Israel) ruled by a pagan and foreign government (Rome)
"Freed his people from slavery through a “lamb … without blemish, a male of the first year”"
Exodus 12:5
"Freed his people from sin through his own blood, being the “lamb of God” without blemish"
John 1:29, 1 Peter 1:19
"Came out of Egypt"
Exodus 13:8–9
"Returned out of Egypt"
Matthew 2:14–15
"Passed through the Red Sea"
Exodus 14:21–28
"Passed through the waters of baptism"
Matthew 3:13–16
"Spent forty years in wilderness"
Deut 8:2
"Spent forty days in wilderness"
Matthew 4:1–2; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:1–2
"Fasted for forty days and forty nights"
Exodus 24:17–18; Deut 9:9
"Fasted for forty days and forty nights"
Matthew 4:1–2
"While in the wilderness, was administered to by angels and was tempted"
Exodus 23:20–23; 17:2, 7
"While in the wilderness, was administered to by angels and was tempted"
Mark 1:12–13; Matthew 4:8–11
"Gave the law from a mountain"
Exodus 19–24
"Gave the new law from a mountain"
Matthew 5–7
Like Jesus, Moses performed many Miracles.
He is most famous for parting the waters of the Red Sea, but through God’s awesome power, he also turned the river to blood and sent several other infamous plagues upon Egypt, changed his staff to a serpent, changed a healthy hand to one diseased with leprosy, and drew water from a rock.
Exodus 4:1-9, 7:14-25, 8:1-32, 9:1-35, 10:1-27, 12:29-30, 12:17-14:31, 15:22-27, 17:1-7.
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Not only Moses... The biblical account of Elijah and Elisha have also been served as a literary model behind the Gospels. For Thomas L. Brodie, it is the primary one as we have convincing evidence that Luke reused Elijah/Elisha narratives (1 & 2 Kings).
Elijah vs. Jesus Quotes
Elijah Jesus
"there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."
2 Kings 2:11
"While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven."
Luke 24:51
"But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness,... and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God."
1 Kings 19:4-8
"And Jesus...was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing."
Luke 4:1-2
"suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”"
1 Kings 19:5-7
"Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him."
Matthew 4:11
"...that the son of the woman...fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom...and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord...And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived."
2 Kings 2:11
"Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days... Jesus wept...and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out"
John 11:17-44
"Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground".
2 Kings 2:11
"And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea."
Matthew 14:25
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Born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary
  • The story of Jesus' birth exists only in Matthew & Luke.
    There is nothing in all the Epistles, Q, Thomas, Didache, Mark, John, 1 Clement, Shepherd of Hermas...
  • The dates diverge by 10 years. For Matthew, Jesus was born during Herod's reign, so before 4 BCE, while for Luke, it was during the census of Quirinius in 6 CE.
  • Besides the name of the parents copied from Mark,
    and the location Bethlehem taken from the O.T., they are:
    Two Different Tales
    Matthew Luke
    • An unnamed angel announces Jesus' birth to Joseph in a dream.
    • Angel Gabriel announces Jesus' birth to Mary while awake.
    • Joseph & Mary journey to Bethlehem for the census (6 CE).
    Virgin Mary gives birth to her son in Bethlehem of Judea.
    "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
    Micah 5:2
    • The infant is named Jesus.
    • Folowing a star, Magi come from the East and first visit Herod, then Jesus and offer presents.
    • Joseph & Mary flee to Egypt with Jesus.
    • Herod (died in 4 BCE) slaughters all boys below 2 in Bethleem & vinicity (no trace of that in history).
    • The Holy Family returns to Israel.
    • Angels appear to some shepherds.
    • Shepherds visit Mary & Joseph.
    • The infant is lying in a manger.
    • The 8th day, the infant is circumcised & named Jesus.
    • Family goes to Jerusalem to present Jesus to God in the Temple.
  • Matthew's story is a pastiche of the O.T.
    - The virgin & Jesus' name: Isaiah 7:14, 8:8b, 10
    - Bethleem Micah 5:2
    - The star: Numbers 24:17-19
    - Gold & frankincense from Magi: Isaiah 60:3, 6
    - Escape to Egypt: Hosea 11:1
    - Herod's slaughter of the newborns (Jeremiah 31:15) is borrowed from the nativity of Moses in Exodus, though Hercules, Romulus and Remus, Oedipus, Perseus, Cyrus the Great, Caesar Augustus, the prophet Zoroaster, the patriarch Abraham and the god Krishna all escaped the dread designs of the evil when still in their cribs.
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  • The virgin mother feature comes from a mistranslation of Isaiah 7:14 from Hebrew to Greek
    Hebrew scriptures Septuagint
    (Greek translation used by the authors of the Gospels)
    "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
    Look, the young woman is with child
    and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel."    		 "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
    The virgin will be with child
    and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
40 Days fasting in the Desert
40 days and temptations by satan...


Baptized and Transfigured
Baptized by John.


A Performer of Miracles
A beginning without Miracles?
This main feature of Jesus' journey on earth cannot be found in most of Christian litterature including all the Epistles the Didache, Thomas, 1 Clement and the hypothetic Q1 and Q2.
They are also denied by Mk 8:11-13 and 1 Cor. 1:22
"To test him, the Pharisees asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said,
“Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.”"
Mark 8:11-12
"Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles."
1 Corinthians 1:22
Christian Preachers were claiming miracles
A World Full of Miracles
Born from
a Virgin		 Exorcism Heal People Raise the Dead Walk on Water Calm the Storm Feed the
Multitudes		 Turn Water
into Wine		 Resurection
Luke 1:11-2:22, Matthew 1:18-2:21
Jewish Parallels Hellenic/Pagan Parallels
Isaiah 7:14
See above 'Born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary'		 Zoroaster, Krishna
Mark 1:21-28, 5:1-20, 7:24-30, 9:14-29
Jewish Parallels Hellenic/Pagan Parallels
The Syro-Phoenician woman in Mark 7 is most likely based on the widow of Zarephath who has similarly concerned for her son 1 Kings 17:8-24
"For I have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his Captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers: the manner of the cure was this... : he put a ring that had a root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac: after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils:
One may have to bargain with a particularly fierce demon. As Jesus allows the fleeing legion of demons to take up temporarry residence in the nearby herd of swine (Mark 5:10-13), so did Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa bargain with Agrath the Queen of Demons. "'I decree that you shall never again pass through an uninhabited place.' She said to him, 'Please allow me in for a limited time.' He then left her Sabbath nights and wednesday nights"
Circe changed Odysseus's soldiers (legions) into swine and their escape from the giant Cyclops Polyphemus.
Homer Odysseus
"Now, when Apollonius gazed on him, the ghost in him began to utter cries of fear and rage, such as one hears from people who are being branded or racked; and the ghost swore that he would leave the young man alone and never take possession of any man again. But Apollonius addressed him with anger, as a master might a shifty, rascally, and shameless slave and so on, and he ordered him to quit the young man and show by a visible sign that he had done so."
"I shall be glad, now, to hear your views on the subject of those who cure demoniacal possession; the effect of their exorcisms is clear enough, and they have spirits to deal with. I need not enlarge on the subject: look at that Syrian adept from Palestine: every one knows how time after time he has found a man thrown down on the ground in a lunatic fit, foaming at the mouth and rolling his eyes; and how he has got him on to his feet again and sent him away in his right mind; and a handsome fee he takes for freeing men from such horrors. He stands over them as they lie, and asks the spirit whence it is. The patient says not a word, but the spirit in him makes answer, in Greek or in some foreign tongue as the case may be, stating where it comes from, and how it entered into him. Then with adjurations, and if need be with threats, the Syrian constrains it to come out of the man. I myself once saw one coming out: it was of a dark, smoky complexion."
One of the great superstitions of the age - one which Mark's Jesus is unable to rise above - was the pervasive belief in demons, the presence of evil spirits in the very air in which people moved. These demons were regarded as responsible for many types of illness, both physical and mental.
Mark 8:22-26, 10:46-52 (blind), 1:40-45 (leprosy), 1:29-31 (fever), 2:1-12 (paralysis), 3:1-6 (hand), John 9:1-41 (blind)
Jewish Parallels Hellenic/Pagan Parallels
Here is a man from Bethsaida, a sinful town doomed as sodom was (see Matt 11:20-34/Luke 10:12-15). The man is singled out like Lot as the one innocent in Sodom. He is blind, as the angels visiting Sodom struck the wicked populace blind. And like Lot he is being warned to flee the city in advance of its inevitable destruction.
Genesis 19:11-17
Happy reversal of paralysis in 2 Kings 1:2-17
Naaman Healed of Leprosy 2 Kings 5:1-19
A man's withered hand restored 1 Kings 13:1-6
In Mark a blind beggar, son of Timaeus, recognizes Jesus as the royal son of David that is passing by, while in the Odyssey the blind Tiresias comes up to Odysseus and recognizes him and calls him by name.
Homer Odyssey Book XI
Now it is well that I should not pass over what happened in the Temple, while relating the life of a man who was held in esteem even by the gods. For an Assyrian stripling came to Asclepius, and though he was sick, yet he lived the life of luxury, and being continually drunk, I will not say he lived, rather he was ever dying. He suffered then from dropsy, and finding his pleasure in drunkenness took no care to dry up his malady. On this account then Asclepius took no care of him, and did not visit him even in a dream.note The youth grumbled at this, and thereupon the god, standing over him, said, "If you were to consult Apollonius you would be easier." He therefore went to Apollonius, and said: "What is there in your wisdom that I can profit by? for Asclepius bids me consult you." And he replied: "I can advise you of what, under the circumstances, will be most valuable to you; for I suppose you want to get well." "Yes, by Zeus," answered the other, "I want the health which Asclepius promises, but never gives." "Hush," said the other, "for he gives to those who desire it, but you do things that irritate and aggravate your disease, for you give yourself up to luxury, and you accumulate delicate viands upon your water-logged and worn-out stomach, and as it were, choke water with a flood of mud." This was a clearer response, in my opinion, than Heraclitus, in his wisdom, gave. For he said when he was visited by this affection that what he needed was someone to substitute a drought for a rainy weather, a very unintelligible remark, it appears to me, and by no means clear; but the sage restored the youth to health by a clear interpretation of the wise saw.
Online Text
Mark 5:21-24; , 5:35-43; John 11:1-43
Jewish Parallels Hellenic/Pagan Parallels
Prophet Elijah raises back to life the dead son of a widow
1 Kings 17:17-24
Lazarus in John is borrowed from two Lukan stories:
  • Luke 10:38-42 Where Jesus visits the home of Mary and Martha and there is no mention of a third sibling.
  • Luke 16:19-31 Where a man named Lazarus dies in the Parable of Lazarus and the rich man.
"Here too is a miracle which Apollonius worked: A girl had died just in the hour of her marriage, and the bridegroom was following her bier lamenting as was natural his marriage left unfulfilled, and the whole of Rome was mourning with him, for the maiden belonged to a consular family. Apollonius then witnessing their grief, said: "Put down the bier, for I will stay the tears that you are shedding for this maiden."
"And withal he asked what was her name. The crowd accordingly thought that he was about to deliver such an oration as is commonly delivered to grace the funeral as to stir up lamentation; but he did nothing of the kind, but merely touching her and whispering in secret some spell over her, at once woke up the maiden from her seeming death; and the girl spoke out loud, and returned to her father's house, just as Alcestis did when she was brought back to life by Heracles. And the relations of the maiden wanted to present him with the sum of 150,000 sesterces, but he said that he would freely present the money to the young lady by way of dowry. Apollonius of Tyana wandered about the ancient world, and was famed for raising the dead."
Online Text
"It chanced that once, when he [Asclepiades, the physician] was returning to town from his country house, he observed an enormous funeral procession in the suburbs of the city. A huge multitude of men who had come out to perform the last honours stood round about the bier, all of them plunged in deep sorrow and wearing worn and ragged apparel. He asked whom they were burying, but no one replied; so he went nearer to satisfy his curiosity and to see who it might be that was dead, or, it may be, in the hope to make some discovery in the interests of his profession. Be this as it may, he certainly snatched the man from the jaws of death as he lay there on the verge of burial. The poor fellow's limbs were already covered with spices, his208 mouth filled with sweet-smelling unguent. He had been anointed and was all ready for the pyre. But Asclepiades looked upon him, took careful note of certain signs, handled his body again and again and perceived that the life was still in him, though scarcely to be detected. Straightway he cried out 'He lives! Throw down your torches, take away your fire demolish the pyre, take back the funeral feast and spread it on his board at home'. While he spoke a murmur arose; some said that they must take the doctor's word, others mocked at the physician's skill. At last, in spite of the opposition offered even by his relations, perhaps because they had already entered into possession of the dead man's property, perhaps because they did not yet believe his words, Asclepiades persuaded them to put off the burial for a brief space. Having thus rescued him from the hands of the undertaker, he carried the man home, as it were from the very mouth of hell, and straightway revived the spirit within him, and by means of certain drugs called forth the life that still lay hidden in the secret places of the body."
A little different as nobody die but:
"So I [a prominent physician] gave him a drug, mandragora, known for its soporific effect, which produces a death-like coma."
Book X:10-12 The tale of the wicked stepmother – resurrection
Mark 6:45-51 + Peter in Matt 14:28-33
Jewish Parallels Hellenic/Pagan Parallels
The god Orion (the Hunter), son of Poseidon and Euryale, had the ability to walk upon the surface of the sea, even when it was wrought by storms.
Homer the Iliad and the Odyssey, Hesiod Astronomy, Virgil Aeneid
"After enlightenment, the teacher [Gautama Buddha] went to Varanasi on foot. In his journey he wanted to cross [the] river Ganga, but being unable to pay the fare to [the] boatman, crossed it through [the] air"
Maharasni 3.328.6: Lalitavistara 528
Asvaghosa says the Buddha:
"walked in the air; on water as if on dry land"
Saunerananda 3.23
"so finding joy in making Buddha the object of his meditation he walked across the river. His feet did not sink in the water."
Saunerananda 3.23
Mark 4:35-41, Luke 5:1-11, John 21:4-13
Jewish Parallels Hellenic/Pagan Parallels
"...and the raging sea grew calm."
Jonah 1:4-16 		Pythagoras is also said to have effected:
"tranquilization of the waves of rivers and seas, in order that his disciples might easily pass over them"
Iamblichus Life of Pythagoras 28
Counting the Fish:
"He told them he knew the exact number of the fish they had caught."
Iamblichus Life of Pythagoras 8.36
Mark 6:36-44, 8:1-10, John 2:1-11
Jewish Parallels Hellenic/Pagan Parallels
Elisha feeds a large crowd with a few loaves of bread and some fruits, after which they, “had some left over”.
"A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain.
“Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.
“How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.
But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says:
‘They will eat and have some left over.’”
Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord."
Elijah miraculously creates a never ending supply of flour and oil in order to survive a famine.
"She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah."
1 Kings 17:7-16
God gives bread to the Israelites in the desert when they faced starvation.
"Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. ... On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”"
Mark 6:36-44, 8:1-10, John 2:1-11
Jewish Parallels Hellenic/Pagan Parallels
"Three pots are brought into the building by the priests and set down empty...
On the morrow they are allowed to examine the seals, and on going into the building they find the pots filled with wine."
Luke/Matthew/John
Jewish Parallels Hellenic/Pagan Parallels
Enoch (included in Genesis as well as apocryphal works), Ezra, Baruch, who was the companion of Jeremiah, Elijah, and Job’s children, who were delivered bodily to heaven after being resurrected in the book describing Job’s trials at the hands of God and Satan.
Non-Jews included Augustus, the Emperor of Rome, whose ascent was witnessed by members of the Roman Senate. The Greek hero Heracles, as well as his Roman counterpart Hercules, ascended into heaven, according to the ancient myths about them.
Osiris, Jainists, Buddhists, and Hindus all had examples of resurrection in their beliefs. In multiple cultures the Phoenix, symbolic of the sun, rose from its own ashes every 500 years or so, reborn.
"Gospel stories are so close to similar stories of the miracles wrought by Apollonius of Tyana, Pythagoras, Asclepius, Asclepiades the Physician, and others that we have to wonder whether in any or all such cases free-floating stories have been attached to all these heroic names at one time or another, much as the names of characters in jokes change in oral transmission"
Robert Price Deconstructing Jesus
A Wandering Cynic Philosopher
The Cynic like Sayings of the Gospels come mostly from a layer common between Matthew and Luke, called Q1. They are somewhat radical and enlightened while having close parallels in Epitectus, Seneca, Musonius, Stobaeus, Diogenes Laertius, Lucian, Demetrius...
Cynics were irreverent radicals who moved from place to place without family, home, or possessions, preaching, often with sarcastic invective, their message of the excellence of living in accordance with nature's plan. Government, private property, clothing and especially money, are all artificial conventions concocted by people too clever for their own good...
We know of 3 cynic apostles or wandering soapbox preachers who lived in nearby Gadara:
Here is an extract of the ten pages of parallels given by R. Price in Deconstructing Jesus between
  • the sayings of Q1 (the apparent bedrock layer of the Q document)
  • Cynic-style pronouncements of famous sages like Epictetus, Seneca, or Cynic philosophers such as Diogenes Laertius.

Q1/Thomas Cynicism
"Blessed are the poor,
for theirs is the Kingdom of God"
Q 8 = Luke 6:20 = Matthew 5:2
"Only the person who has despised wealth is worthly of God."
Seneca (-4 +65 Roman Stoic philosopher)
"We should not get rid of poverty, but only our opinion of it.
Then we shall have plenty."
Epitectus (+55 +135 Greek Stoic philosopher)
"Do not carry purse or bag,
and travel barefoot;"
Q 20 = Luke 10:4 = Matthew 10:11
"Wearing only ever one shirt is better than needing two, and wearing just a cloak with no shirt at all is better still.
Going bare-foot, if you can, is better than wearing sandals."
Musonius Rufus (1st century Roman Stoic philosopher)
"By now Peregrinus had taken to long hair and a dirty threadbare cloak and a satchel, with a staff in his hand."
Lucian of Samosata (2nd century Assyrian-Roman rhetorician & satirist)
"exchange no greetings on the road"
Q 20 = Luke 10:4 = Matthew 10:11
"Seek out the most crowded places, and when you're there,keep to yourself, quite unsociable, exchanging greetings with no one, neither friend nor stranger."
Lucian
"Sell your possessions
and give [the proceeds] to the poor."
Q 40 = Luke 12:33 = Matthew 6:19
"I gather that you brought all your wealth to the civic assembly and handed it over to your native city."
Pseudo-Diogenes
"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the sons of men have no place to lay their heads [for the night]"
Q 19 = Luke 9:57-62 = Matthew 8:18-22
"No city, no house, no fatherland, a wandering beggar, living a day at a time."
Diogenes Laertius (3rd century Biographer of Greek philosophers)
"I've no property, no house, no wife nor children, not even a straw mattress, or a shirt, or a cooking pot."
Epitectus
"Love your enemies.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who mistreat you."
Q 9 = Luke 6:27-28 = Matthew 5:38-39
"throughout the beating you have to love those who are beating you as though you were father or brother to them."
Epitectus
"How shall I defend myself against my enemy?
By being good and kind towards him, replied Diogenes."
Gnomologium Vaticanum
"A good tree does not bear bad fruit.
A bad tree does not bear good fruit.
Do they gather figs from thistles, or thistles from figs? Every kind of tree is recognized by its fruit."
Q 13 = Luke 6:43 = Matthew 12:33
"Who would think to be surprised at finding no apples on the brambles in the wood?
or to be astonished because thorns and briars are not covered in useful fruits?"
Seneca
F.G. Downing Christ and the Cynics.
There seems little doubt of the ultimate provenance of the core teachings of the Gospel Jesus' and it isn't a Jewish one. This makes exceedingly ironic the modern appeal on the part of religious conservatives to a Christianity that preserves a so-called Judeo-Christian tradition: something which in actuality constitutes
  • an ethic that is Greek
  • a philosophy and ritual of salvation derived from the thoroughly Hellenistic ethos of the mystery cults (see the Epistles)
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Stoicism
Stoicism was a less radical cousin of Cynicism.
"The most immediate influence for the Cynic school was Socrates. Although he was not an ascetic, he did profess a love of virtue and an indifference to wealth, together with a disdain for general opinion."
Wikipedia Cynicism
500 years before Christianity, Socrates was saying in a Plato's dialogue:
"So, we should never take revenge and never hurt anyone, even if we have been hurt"
"A distinctive feature of Stoicism is its cosmopolitanism. All people are manifestations of the one universal spirit and should, according to the Stoics, live in brotherly love and readily help one another. They held that external differences such as rank and wealth are of no importance in social relationships. Thus, before the rise of Christianity, Stoics recognized and advocated the brotherhood of humanity and the natural equality of all human beings."
Microsoft@ Encarta@ Encyclopedia 2000.
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A Reformer

An Apocalyptic Prophet of the Kingdom of God
Christ as a Prophet
Christ is the mouthpiece of God as the Prophet, speaking and teaching the Word of God, infinitely greater than all prophets, who spoke for God and interpreted the will of God. See 'Threefold office'
Gospels Quotes
"I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."
John 17:4
"These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."
John 14:24
"A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house."
Mark 6:4
"I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent."
Luke 4:43
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The Kingdom of God
The word 'Kingdom' is pronounced 122 times in the 3 Synoptics. it was clearly an obsession of the time.
However, Expectations of the future are expressed in two quite different ways.
We find echo of it in other Jewish sects like the Essenes in their Dead Sea scrolls - War Scroll, where the Kingdom of God is also linked with Messianic expectations.
Preaching a Passion Story
Acclaimed when he entered Jerusalem


Ahistorical
Based on Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by M. A. Turton

Teaching & Cleansing the Temple

Ahistorical
Cleansing of the Temple
Was the Jewish temple a "den of robbers"?
Temple
"the Temple, fundamentally an economic institution, was the center of the economic life of Jerusalem, driving employment for many petty producers like bakers, incense makers, goldsmiths, and so forth"
C. Myers Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark's Gospel.
Moneychanging was a normal and sanctioned activity, necessary because the foreign coinage carried by pilgrims from overseas for donations to the Temple had to be changed to a coin acceptable to the Temple.
As J. D. Crossan (1992) writes: "First of all, and in general, there was absolutely nothing wrong with any of the buying and selling, or money-changing operations conducted in the outer courts of the Temple. Nobody was stealing or defrauding or contaminating the sacred precincts. These activities were the absolutely necessary concomitants of the fiscal basis and sacrificial purpose of the Temple."
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  • "The total circumference of the outermost wall of the Temple ran to almost 9/10ths of a mile; twelve soccer fields, including stands, could be fit in; when necessary (as during the pilgrimage festivals, especially Passover) it could accommodate as many as 400,000 worshipers.
    If Jesus had made such a gesture, how many would have seen it? Those in his retinue and those standing immediately around him. But how many, in the congestion and confusion of that holiday crowd, could have seen what was happening even, say, twenty feet away? Fifty feet?
    The effect of Jesus' gesture at eye-level would have been muffled, swallowed up by the sheer press of pilgrims. How worried, then, need the priests have been?"
    Paula Fredricksen
  • As Josephus notes, there were Roman auxiliaries on call in the Fortress Antonia right nearby. The moneychangers undoubtedly had their own guards and servants, and so did the local priests. It is therefore unlikely that Jesus could have generated an incident there that was prolonged enough for anyone to notice. There were too many warm bodies to squelch it before it got rolling.
  • "the Temple was not merely the main religious institution of the Jewish religion, it was also the national treasury and its best fortress. The Temple's importance should not be underestimated: all three sides in the internal struggle during the Jewish War fought to gain control of the Temple. Not only is it highly unlikely that Jesus could have simply strolled in and gained control of the Temple, it is also highly unlikely that anyone would have permitted him to leave unmolested after such a performance."
    G. W. Buchanan Symbolic Money-Changers in the Temple?
  • In Mark 11:17, Jesus is teaching as he is tossing out the moneychangers. It is almost comic to imagine Jesus shouting out parts of the Old Testament while overturning benches and preventing people from carrying the sacrificial vessels around an area.
  • How could everybody have feared so much in front of Jesus?
    How could 'the crowd' have supported him while he was insulting the highest Jewish spiritual authority and sacred place and forbeid people to carry anything inside ?
  • What were Jesus 'astonishing' teachings ?

Teaching in the Temple
Based on Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by M. A. Turton

Establishing the Eucharist

Ahistorical
Based on Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by M. A. Turton

Doubts, Betrayed & Arrest

Ahistorical
Based on Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by M. A. Turton

Trial by the Sanhedrin


Ahistorical
Based on Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by M. A. Turton

Pilate, Barabbas and a Jewish Mob


Ahistorical
Based on Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by M. A. Turton

Jesus's Behavior & Words on the Cross


Ahistorical
Based on Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by M. A. Turton

An Earthquake, Dark Sky, Empty Tomb


Ahistorical
Based on Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by M. A. Turton

How
By Copying each other: A Single Source
All the Gospels derive their basic story of Jesus of Nazareth from a single source: whoever produced the first version of Mark. That Matthew and Luke are reworkings of Mark with extra, mostly teaching, material added is now an almost universal scholarly conclusion, while many also consider that John has drawn his framework for Jesus' ministry and death from a Synoptic source as well.
This extra layer of Matthew and Luke has very little narrative and ressemble the Gospel of Thomas.
The 2 main explanations are:
By Haggadic Midrash
Not only do the Gospels contain basic and irreconcilable differences in their accounts of Jesus, they have been put together according to a traditional Jewish practice known as "midrash", which involved reworking and enlarging Scriptures. Indeed, in 25 pages, the first Gospel contains more than 150 direct citations, allusions, and references to the Septuagint, and there are even more in the Gospel of Matthew.
For example, the Passion story:
Passion Common Verses with OT
Arrival in Jerusalem Zechariah 2:10, 9;9, Zephaniah 3:14, Psalm 118.
Cleansing the Temple Malachi 3:1, Hosea 9:15, Zechariah 14;21, Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11, Psalm 38:12, 71:10
Judas Betrayal Obadiah 7, Psalm 41;9, Psalm 55:12-13, 109, Zechariah 11:10
Last Meal Exodus 24;8, Isaiah 25:6
Doubts and Agony Psalm 22:2, 22:14, 22:20, 31:9, 42:5, Zechariah 13:7
Surrounded by Enemies Psalm 2,22, 27;12, 35:11, 109:2 ...
Trial by Jew and Gentile Psalm 39:9, 38:13-14 ... Deuteronomy 21:6-8
Abuse and Suffering Psalm 22:6, Isaiah 53:3, 50:6-7, Micah 5:1, Zechariah 3:1-5
Crucifixion Zechariah 12:10, Isaiah 53:12, Psalm 22:1, 7-8, 16, 18, 34:20, 69:21, Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12
Reactions Joel 2:10, Amos 8:9, Wisdom of Solomon 5:4-5
Burial & Rising Deuteronomy 21:22-23, Hosea 6:1-2, Jonah 1:17
By using Symbolism & Allegory
The alternative of these real events is well known and accepted by most scholars for a long time...
Symbolism in Miracles
By Cheating with History
Although Jesus' ministry in Galilee has a lot of historical issues, from anachronism (John 9:1-41) to geographic errors (Mark 5:1), the passion story sets the bar to an entire new level. There, almost everything defy historical credibility.
Based on Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark by M. A. Turton
By using Literary Constructs
During Jesus' Baptism, Mark described John the Baptist:
"Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist"
Mark 1:6
Which comes frm Scriptures:
"He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist."
2 Kings 1:8
Then in chapter 9, during Jesus Transfiguration, Mark wrote:
"He [Jesus] said to them, ‘Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.’"
Mark 9:12-13
Here the author of Mark tells the reader that Elijah has already come, but he doesn't explain what that means. The reader has to figure out that John the Baptist is Elijah, which can only be done by making the connection between Mark 1:6 and 2 Kings 1:8. Obviously these types of twists and riddles are written into the text on purpose for literary and mystical value, this isn't how someone would write a historical work.
The Grammer of miracle stories
"The New Testament miracle stories share a formula with other ancient wonder stories. They all follow the same syntax, varying only the paradigmatic options, and that not by much.
The narrative syntax of the miracle story is as follows
  • The setting, described in brief strokes, only as much as we will need for the action to make sense. Jesus is surrounded by a crowd, or on the open sea, or is separated from the disciples, or is with a crowd in a wilderness.
  • The severity of the plight from which the miracle will rescue the sufferer(s), perhaps the duration of an illness. Jairus's daughter was cut off at the tender age of twelve. The old woman had a twelve year menstrual flow and has wasted all her savings on quack doctors. The lame man can't get anybody to help him to the healing bath. The crowd hasn't eaten in days. The disciples are about to be capsized in the storm. The man's son has had his demon since childhood. The dead man was the only support of his wid owed mother.
  • The announcement by the miracle worker (or there is some equivalent signal) that he will act to save the day. "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I will go and wake him up." "You give them something to eat." "She is not dead but asleep." "Where is your faith?" "Do you want to be healed?" "Roll away the stone from the tomb."
  • The skepticism of the bystanders, an element designed to raise the bar, to heighten dramatic tension and increase the odds the hero must meet. "They laughed him to scorn." "How are we to feed such a multitude with these?" "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?" "Lord, by this time he stinketh!" "What do you mean, 'Who touched me?' The whole crowd presses upon you!" The point of this device is to anticipate the hearer's skepticism and to say, "Wait and see!" Sometimes the skepticism element is turned around, and it is the hero who raises the bar for the suppliant, in order to test his or her faith. "Too bad! I sent only to the wandering sheep of Israel." "What do you mean, 'If you You people just will not believe unless you see miracles!" "Do you here I can do this?"
  • The miracle worker does something, some discrete word or gesture to the trick. Jesus puts his fingers into the deaf man's ears, pulls them out, and jells. "He opened!" He takes the hand of Jairus's daughter and says to her, "Get inle girl." He takes the hand of the widow's son. He rebukes the storm or the ver He calls, "Lazarus, come forth!" He smears mud on the blind man's eyes and sends him to wash it off.
  • The miracle occurs. The dead rise, the lame walk, the blind see, the hungry are fed, the water becomes wine.
  • The narrative offers concrete proof, or what would have been cepted as such had you been there, a distinction it is hoped you will not think in draw (1 Cor. 15:6, John 20:26-29). Jairus's daughter walks and eats lunch. thence no ghost). There are baskets of the miraculous food left over. The pos- wased pigs stampede over the cliff. The formerly lame man walks home, car- fying his pallet. The blind man tells what he sees.
  • The acclamation of the crowd. "We have never seen anything like this!" "God has visited his people!" "A great prophet has arisen among us!" He does all things well!" "A new teaching! And with authority, for even the demons obey him!" The intent here is to cue the hearer to the desired reaction, like the laugh track on a television sitcom.
R. Price The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man
By Rewriting History
Acts is a tendentious creation of the second century, dependent on the Gospels and designed to create a picture of Christian origins traceable to a unified body of apostles in Jerusalem who were followers of an historical Jesus. Many scholars now admit that much of Acts is sheer fabrication.
By an Oral Tradition about Jesus of Nazareth
The HJ theory relies entirely on the hypothesis that there was an Oral Tradition about Jesus for more than 50 years, until Mark wrote his Gospel. However, there is no echo of it anywhere, including the Epistles!
A Passion Story transmitted verbally?
  • How can the the followers of Jesus have tansmitted a story where they look so stupid, blind and coward?
    Would they have not tried to show them in a positive light?
  • Can 'oral tradition' function and survive in a framework where the speaker only gives "scriptural" content?
    "Now, the gambling for Jesus' clothes at the foot of the cross...
    But That too didn't happen, it's from Psalm 22.    "
  • How could it be that no details of the historical event of Jesus' death be known and integrated into the oral traditions, so that something else besides Scriptures would show up in the Passion account?
In the supposed context of fluid oral transmission of an historical event supposedly taking place decades earlier spreading to multiple communities in uncoordinated fashion,
  • How can we have three subsequent Gospels which evince no historical traditions of their own different from Mark's?
  • How can they have slavishly copied Mark not only in the details, but in the pattern in which those details are presented?
  • If the odd new element is introduced by Matthew or Luke or John, it can be identified as further midrash and fitting their own theological agendas. Does any of this tend to support the 'core' of the passion story?
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