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The Life of Jesus
Epistles vs Acts
200 years of
Christian records

200 Years of
Christian Records

A Long Evolution from Myth to History
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
0% for
Christianity
The
Epistles
Details
The
Gospels
Details
Other Texts
Searching for Key-words
The digital versions of all early Christian writings including apocrypha and fragments (180 files making over 20 megabytes) were collected and a text searching program was used to exhaustively search the entire body of writings for certain key-words and phrases associated with Jesus and the Gospels (and allowing for varying word forms where possible).
The results are here arranged in chronological order, of 62 documents or authors, to see who said what, and when about the Gospel life of Jesus. The dates are close to the ones of Peter Kirby and often questionable like 1 Clement, Ignatius, even Paul.
The four Gospels and Acts are notably absent. The goal here is to verify that their story is supported by other records, not that they support themselves -a classic circular reference error done by NT scholars.
1 Timothy 6:13 and 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 are considered interpolations. It is also disputable that the author of 1 Clement had an HJ in mind, since 'the words of the Lord Jesus' in chapter 13 and 46:8 could very well come from revelation.

Color coding
Heaven & Underworld Earth
 
From Paul to Origen: almost 200 years of Christian records
Time 50               First Jewish War     80         100               120                 Bar Kokhba Revolt           150                   170             200    
1 Thessalonians 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Romans Phillipians Philemon James Hebrews 1st Jewish War Jude Colossians 1 Peter Ephesians 1 John 2 Thessalonians 2,3 John Revelation 1 Clement Didache 2 Peter 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Ignatius Hermas Barnabas Apoc. Peter Secret James G. Thomas Preach. Peter Quadratus Athens Aristides Papias G. Peter Oxyrhynchus 840 Polycarp Smyrna Bar Kokhba Revolt Diognetus Marcion Epistle Apostles 2 Clement Ptolemy Dialogue Savior G. Mary Justin Min. Felix Inf. G. James Inf. G. Thomas Polycarp Martyr Tatian to Greeks G. Truth G. Ebionites Heracleon Acts of Peter Diatessaron Apollonius Acts of Paul Acts of Andrew Athenagoras Theophilus Irenaeus Clement Alex. Tertullian Hippolytus Origen
Lord                                                                              
Jesus                                                                                                  
Christ/Messiah                                                                                          
Savior/Salvation
Son [of God]
Word/Logos
Died
Resurrected First Jewish War Bar Kokhba Revolt
Eucharist/Supper
Crucified
Suffered
Ascended
David Seed
Son of Man
Pierced
Saying ?
Miracles First Jewish War Bar Kokhba Revolt
Healings
Pilate
Herod
Mary
Passion
Baptism
Virgin Birth
Betrayed Judas First Jewish War Bar Kokhba Revolt
the Tomb
Galilee
John Jordan River
Nazareth
Lazarus
Cana
Bethlehem
King of Jews
 

We may debate on a couple of ambiguous Christian expressions, but not the overall pattern and the context it brings:

If all we have in the earliest Christian record is this cosmic divine figure who moves in mythological spheres, just like all the other dying/resurrecting saviors of the day, are we not compelled by scientific principles to accept that this and no more was the object of early Christian worship?

If, to support this, we can present within the evidence a logical process by which such a figure can be seen to take on a biography and a place in history, do we have any justification for continuing to maintain that the divine, cosmic Christ grew out of the human Jesus of Nazareth?

Earl Doherty Jesus Puzzle Postscript

The main table above is updated from a previous version by Quentin David Jones.