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David_Zampino
Guest
This thread seems to be moving in a number of different directions.
For the record (for what my views are worth!):
For the record (for what my views are worth!):
- I (and seemingly most people in this discussion) have no quarrel with the traditional authorship of the Gospels, Matthew and John being actual apostles, Mark being a disciple of both Paul and Peter, and Luke being a disciple of Paul. As Erich (and others) has pointed out, the testimony of the Early Church regarding the authenticity is early, widespread, and very clear.
- My first point notwithstanding, I also have no difficulty with the concept that the Gospels did undergo some editing in the immediate generations following their writing. This is most clear in the long ending of Mark, and the double-ending of John. Editing by a disciple of the author does not undermine the legitimacy of the author.
- The fragment from Papias is not, in and of itself demonstration of Matthean priority. It tells us that that Matthew wrote (in Hebrew or Aramaic) the ***sayings ***of Jesus. Unfortunately that Hebrew (or Aramaic) text is long-lost. I will readily accept that a “proto-Matthew” predated a completed Mark. But Matthew’s Gospel, as accepted as canonical, is a Greek text which the vast majority of scholars **(Catholic *AND *Protestant, Conservative *AND *Liberal) **date as having been completed after Mark.
- The “Q” hypothesis is really a series of many different hypotheses noting similarity between Matthew and Luke with regard to material not found in Mark. Belief in the “Q” hypothesis is neither required, nor is it forbidden.
- It is also indisputable that questions regarding authorship of some of the books of the New Testament existed in the Early Church – and exist to this day. As late as the 4th century, there were strong disputes regarding Hebrews, Jude, James, II Peter, II and III John and Revelation.
- The authorship of Hebrews was most fiercely debated in the West, while the authorship of Revelation was most fiercely debated in the East. The question as to whether John the Apostle was the same as John the Elder was a vigorous 4th century debate (and, in some circles, remains so to this day.) For the record, I’ll argue that the author of both the Gospel, the Letters, and Revelation was the Apostle.