How many angels?

[Trevelyan]

What do you make of the difference in the four Gospels’ accounts of the angels at the tomb?

Matthew says 1 angel sat on the stone,
Mark - 1 angel in the tomb,
Luke - 2 angels
John - 2 angels in the tomb

Is it ‘E - all of the above’?

 

[Liberian]

I would vote for “E - all of the above”.

From the introduction to “The Man Born to be King,” by Dorothy L. Sayers:

“Take, for example, the various accounts of the Resurrection appearances at the Sepulchre. The divergences appear very great on first sight; and much ink and acrimony have been expended on proving that certain of the stories are not “original” or “authentic”, but are accretions grafted upon the first-hand reports by the pious imagination of Christians. Well, it may be so. But the fact remains that all of them, without exception, can be made to fall into place in a single orderly and coherent narrative without the smallest contradiction or difficulty, and iwthout any suppression, invention, or manipulation, beyond a trifling effort to imagine the natural behaviour of a bunch of startled people running about in the dawnlight between Jerusalem and the Garden.”

• Liberian

 

[Mystophilus]

What do you make of the difference in the four Gospels’ accounts of the angels at the tomb?

Matthew says 1 angel sat on the stone,
Mark - 1 angel in the tomb,
Luke - 2 angels
John - 2 angels in the tomb

Is it ‘E - all of the above’?

We have four historical sources, which differ as to certain details, e.g., who visited it, when the stone was rolled away, and how many angels were present. This is far from unusual: historical sources usually differ, because different people see, or remember, or consider important, different things. When we construct our understanding of history from the data which we have, we collate as many sources as we can find, and we look for agreements, disagreements, and outright contradictions.

In historical terms, then, we would say that, based on our sources, it was the tomb in which Jesus’ body was placed, and Mary of Magdala visited it, possibly in company with other women, and the stone was, or had previously been, removed, and at least one angel was present, and Jesus’ body was absent.

 

[Veritas41]

What do you make of the difference in the four Gospels’ accounts of the angels at the tomb?

Matthew says 1 angel sat on the stone,
Mark - 1 angel in the tomb,
Luke - 2 angels
John - 2 angels in the tomb

Is it ‘E - all of the above’?

All of the above – let’s say you go to a party where you see two friends, A and B. The next day you’re telling a friend about the party, and you mention seeing friend A but don’t mention friend B because you forgot or your friend doesn’t know friend B and wouldn’t be interested in hearing about his being there. Then you talk to another friend and mention both friend A and B because he knows both or you happened to remember B this time. Even though you mentioned only friend A in the first conversation, it didn’t mean friend B wasn’t at the party and it doesn’t mean you were contradicting yourself in your retelling of the party – you just left a detail out.

 

[Angelos]

I touched upon this issue while writing a reply to the thread “Are there historical errors in the Deuterocanonical books?” . I hope it helps you.