Lesson 3 - Gospel Origins Flashcards
What are the different options for genres for the Gospels?
a. ) Apocalyspe - this is more of a theme, than a genre
b. ) Sermon (or collection of forms) - “evolutionary model”: gospels are a little collections of stories that circulate orally and are now swept into a larger book. Problem: the gospels have a direction and overarching story, its not just random
c. ) Words of the Wise - there are teachings, but much more, with over 1/2 of each gospel devoted to Jesus death and resurrection
d. ) Biography - story of greco-Roman heroes, but gospels are missing much expected material (young adult, education, personality, etc.). Also the gospels are brief (cover only 3 years) and lopsided (1/2 are devoted to last week of his life). Also, the gospels are anonymous, don’t name the hero, and don’t use 1st person pronoun
e. ) Covenant Document - should analyze the gosples through OT documents, not pagan literature
- - Moses/Exodus typology (God’s dealing with his people, mediator, etc.)
f. ) Sui Generis (own genre) - The gospels are ultimately a completion of the covenant documents of the OT. Mixture of covenant documents and greco-roman biography
- - This is not just a brand new story with no historical context. OT is not just background
What is Sitz im Leben and its role in Form Criticism?
a. ) Sitz im Leben - situation in life
- - Each type of form (genre) is assigned a situation in life
- - Each of the little stories (pericopes) is assigned a probable historical context in which they developed.
- - These little stories are now seen as windows into the life of the early church, not Jesus because it focuses on the situation of the early church when they came up with the stories of Jesus
What are some positive and negatives about Form Criticism?
a. ) Positive
- - Form critics help us understand the subgenera or pericopes (miracles, etc.)
- - Helps us understand how the gospels were assembled (1st stage of Jesus - started out with oral stories and were circulated in small units)
- - Raises a good question of “why does the church like this story over this other one?”
b. ) Negative
- - Memorization - Form Criticism greatly underplays the role of memorization in the early church
– Earlier Writings - form criticism wrongly assumes that a majority of transmission was only oral
– “Law of Transmission” - form criticism says that other cultures changed their stories, why not Christians? There’s a difference between 1st c. Jews and other cultures. The tradition of Jesus is a very narrow time (Mark at its latest is 70 AD, only allowing 40 years for all this change that’s claimed)
– Eyewitnesses - Jesus’ tradition was transmitted through authoritative apostolic witnesses, not just anyone
What is the synoptic problem?
Synoptic Problem - the question with how the synoptic gospels interacted with each other
a. ) Wording - you have the exact same words over extended blocks in Matthew, Mark, Luke
b. ) Content - you have the exact same stories with same content in 3 gospels
c. ) Order - they tell the same stories, same words, in the same order
Raw Data
- Mark has 661 verses
- 606/661 appears in Matthew as well
- 338/661 appears in Luke as well
- Only 31 verses in Mark, that don’t appear elsewhere
- 235 verses in Matthew and Luke that aren’t in Mark
Conclusion
– Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source, but with the other 235 verse Matthew and Luke might have used another source
What are the possible solutions to the Synoptic Problem?
- ) Augustian hypothesis
- - the gospels are written in the order they appear (Matthew, Mark used Matthew, Luke used Mark and Matthew) - ) Griesbach Hypothesis - two gospel hypothesis
- - Mark was the last gospel written among the 3
- - Mark was the summary version of Luke and Matthew - ) Oxford Hypothesis - 2 Sources
- - Mark was 1st, then Matthew and Luke copied Mark
- - Q is the other source in play (Matthew and Luke used 2 sources: Q and Mark)
