Was The Gospel Of Matthew Originally Written In Hebrew?

[vern_humphrey]

Yes, and many of them would like to exalt the hypothetical souce document called ‘Q’ as not only prior to Mark and the other Gospels, but as somehow better than any Gospel. There is no evidence that Q existed, no mention of it in patristic documents, no quotes from it, no fragments or copies of copies of it, not even at a very late date. Yet some speak about it as if it were established fact, while rejecting the well-supported idea that Matthew was written in Hebrew.

Thanks for your comment, puzzleannie. I didn’t realize that is what was taught in Catholic schools.

The Q document is the classic example of violating Occam’s Razor (“Do not unnecessarily invent entities. The simplest explanation is the best.”) It’s amazing that it has taken in so many scholars.

 

[buffalo]

The Q document is the classic example of violating Occam’s Razor (“Do not unnecessarily invent entities. The simplest explanation is the best.”) It’s amazing that it has taken in so many scholars.

Gotta keep that grant money coming in.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Gotta keep that grant money coming in.

This whole debate reminds me of the Lumbee Indian crisis.

The US Government threatened to sue the State of North Carolina to force them to print ballots in Lumbee.

The State of North Carolina agreed, and asked for two grants. One for $10 million to invent a Lumbee language, and one for $100 million to teach the Lumbees their language.

They then explained that at that time the Lumbees were sueing the US Government to be designated as an official tribe – and the Government (in an office on the same floor as those threatening to sue North Carolina) was defending against the suit on the ground that since the Lumbees didn’t have a language, they couldn’t be a tribe!