RELI 104 1st Edition Lecture 4 Outline of Last Lecture I The Cultural Context Alexander and the Hellenization of the Mediterranean Alexander the Great II The Historical Context Octavius and the Pax Romana III The Religious Context Pagan Cults in the Roman World Outline of Current Lecture II Review from the reading a Critical dates Jesus and the Gospels b Critical events the spread of Christianity c Critical results the fate of the traditions d Critical questions possible objections III Other Issues to Consider a The Authorship of the Gospels b The availability of eyewitnesses c The nature of oral traditions IV The Question of Evidence a What kind of evidence to look for b The evidence that s available c Shows the prevalence of oral tradition today Current Lecture I Review from the reading Critical dates Jesus and the Gospels o Death of Jesus 30 CE o Our first Gospel Mark 65 70 CE period of 30 35 years of difference from the moment of Jesus s death to when this literature was produced These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o Mathew and Luke 80 85 CE o John 90 95 CE Toward the end of the first century o THE TIME GAP between Jesus s death and the first accounts of his life 35 65 years o Question what is happening during this time Critical events the spread of Christianity o Know that during this time period Christianity Jesus movement is moving o Know that within the first century we have Christians in Italy Greece Corinth Asia Minor Turkey Egypt Palestine Syria o How did this work They don t have Mark how is the movement moving Social context Literacy rates in the ancient world were somewhere between 10 and 15 most of these people are elite men need time and money people to teach you to read and means to eat and sleep and not die wide spectrum to what that means have the highly literate and then people who can sign there name and read a receipt talking about Athens at its high point 4th and 5th centuries o No question that texts were circulation this is an oral tradition Key assumption for the most part Christians who received the message weren t receiving it from people who saw the events occur Chain reaction example in textbook business man in Ephisus Majority of people arnt getting it from eyewitness s getting it from friends neighbors social networks Inevitably things people will retain and other things people will ignore some things that your will miss hear or inflate ORAL TRADITION CHANGES SHIFTS NATURE IS THAT HUMANS TOUCH IT OUR MEMORIES MISS GUIDE USKEEP WHAT WE WANT TO KEEP AND FORGET WHAT WE WANT TO FORGET EXAMPLE TELEPHONE When humans talk we change things All of this plays a role in understanding from which these written texts were produced Critical results the fate of the Traditions o Romans 12 14 Bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse them Seems plausible that some tradition either oral or written has gotten to Paul Talking about the fait of this tradition also seen in mark o 1 Cr 9 14 The Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel Here you have a tradition that Paul has inherited wasn t said anywhere else Ultimately this is a different tradition of something that has gotten to paul o Some parts of the tradition are being preserved some are being forgotten some are invented some are altered o Papias bishop christen who has power in Asia minor who wrote a book don t have the book its gone Christian author tells us what he wrote in the preface of his book What is going on Expositions of the Saying of the Lord I did not take pleasure as the multitude does in those who say many things but in those who teach the things that are true Nor did a take pleasure in those who recall strange commands I did not suppose that the things from the books would aid me Im more interested in the living word I want to hear the living and continuous voice doesn t trust the books Point early Christian whose telling use that after the production of the gospels strange things are being said about Jesus there are finger prints everywhere Tells us that within the early Christian tradition there are lots of things being put onto the lips of Jesus For many Christians many of these things are controversial Critical questions Possible Objections o Often times you will hear scholars talk about the power of eyewitness s eyewitness testimony will stabilize what scholars are saying is unstable II Other Issues to Consider The Authorship of the Gospels o Often assumed that the Gospels of the new testament are eyewitness accounts Problems with that assumption o We have no evidence that Mathew Mark Luke and John were named these at the end of the first century o Almost certain that later Christians have ascribed to these books these titles authors Gospels are written in very good Greek o Most scholars think that it doesn t hold that you would have early Christian disciples learning how to write and produce Greek Most important relevant point that indicates they weren t written by these people don t way who wrote them Luke makes it clear that he wasn t an eyewitness Luke 1 1 4 The Availability of Eyewitnesses o Weren t able to be everywhere at all times o Spreads so quickly geographically The Nature of Oral Traditions o Not feasible the message is going to change o Often said that if you are part of an oral culture the tendency is to memorize things verbatim and the tradition goes undisturbed through time this is not the case things change based on social context language constraints III The Question of Evidence to what degree do we look to any evidence for history To what degree can we count on the gospels for historical evidence What kind of Evidence to look for o Are evidences Internally consistent inconsistencies mean there may be historical problems o Externally verified what other examples stories gesture toward the same message that give you a sense that the details match other things o Generally plausible is this a plausible situation Does this make sense need to understand context The evidence that s Available o The death of Jesus in Mark and John Have many similarities similar narrative structure giving us events leading up to Jesus s death Mark version the disciples ask where to prepare the Passover 14 12 the day begins when it gets dark At the meal Jesus speaks of the bread and the cup Jesus is arrested after the Passover