 |
|
|
 |
|
ABOUT THE SOURCES
What are the most historically authentic and reliable sources about Jesus? The most trustworthy records of the events and statements of Jesus were of either direct or indirect eyewitness testimony. Four biographies about Jesus have withstood the test of scrutiny and time. Throughout history, only these four biographies of Jesus (Gospels) have been included in the Holy Scriptures (The Bible) officially recognized by Catholics and Protestants. These biographies include only the Gospel (“good news”) according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Matthew, an eyewitness disciple of Jesus wrote his biography of Jesus in Hebrew around 80 AD, intended for Jewish audiences. Jesus’ disciple, John, sought to be more unique in his content rather than merely repeating the other three biographies. Mark, an interpreter for Jesus’ disciple Peter, scribed his biography of Jesus likely between 50 and 70 AD. Paul’s close companion, Luke, an educated physician researched various events and documented his report in the remaining Gospel. These biographies were all written within the same century as Jesus lived. The remaining Canon (list of what to include) of the New Testament was completed when the last authoritative book was given to any church by the apostles, and that was when John wrote the Apocalypse (Revelations), about A.D. 98. Alternative biographies of Jesus (e.g. Gnostic Gospels, Gospel of Thomas,
Phillip, etc.) were proposed starting in the second century and beyond.
Yet these documents were rejected by church leaders, who had already firmly
determined the official source biographies. WHEN were the primary
biographies of Jesus (Gospels) selected, and others According to scholar F.F. Bruce: “At a very early date it appears that the four Gospels were united in one collection. They must have been brought together very soon after the writing of the Gospel according to John. This fourfold collection was known originally as 'The Gospel' in the singular, not 'The Gospels' in the plural; there was only one Gospel, narrated in four records, distinguished as 'according to Matthew', 'according to Mark', and so on. Even today, new biographies emerge (eg. Gospel of Judas), and they continue to be rejected as unreliable source documents about Jesus. They have no authoritative value. Serious students or followers of Jesus choose to base their understanding of Jesus using the biographies known as the Gospel (“good news”) according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. HOW were the primary biographies of Jesus (Gospels) selected? Primary sources should include the following categories:
Primary sources should not include the following:
According to Jesus Central Scholar, John Ortberg:
What criteria/tests were used to determine the historical authenticity/accuracy of the primary biographical sources? According to author and journalist Lee Stroebel, in what he calls a "Journalist’s personal investigation of the evidence for Jesus," he concludes that the biographies of Jesus stand up to the same types of tests which are applied to evidence or testimony submitted in a courtroom:
Were the biographies of Jesus reliably preserved? The four primary biographies of Jesus are included in the Bible’s "new testament" section. As again described by Journalist Lee Stoebel, an unprecedented number of copies have survived compared to other works we consider trustworthy. According to documentary evidence, the new testament has survived in more manuscripts than any other book from antiquity, and in a purer form than any other great book. There are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the new testament, and if other languages are considered, there are about 24,000 manuscripts. Next to the new testament, the greatest amount of manuscript testimony is of Homer’s Iliad, which was the bible of the ancient Greeks, composed in 800 BC. There are fewer than 650 manuscripts of the Iliad, dating from the second- and third-century AD. With regard to first-century historian, Josephus, we have 9 Greek manuscripts of his work, the Jewish War, and these copies were written in the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries. Like all ancient manuscripts, to preserve important materials, copies
were made, first in Papyrus manuscripts and later in more sturdy parchment,
made of skins. The earliest known papyrus fragment about Jesus is from
the biography of John, dated from 100 to 150 AD. Are there credible sources about Jesus outside his biographies? Yes, historians starting from the time of Jesus have included references to Jesus within their historical references. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37-100 AD) wrote in his "Jewish Antiquities": "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, (if it be lawful to
call him a man,) for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such
men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many
of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. (He was the Christ;) and when Pilate,
at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to
the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, (for
he appeared to them alive again the third day,) as the divine prophets
had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning
him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct to
this day."
Also, the first century Roman historian, Tacitus (56-120 AD), wrote: "Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on
a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.
Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty
during the reign of Tiberias at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius
Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment,
again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but
even in Rome..." BIBLIOGRAPHY |
