Are the Gospels Historically Trustworthy? Dr Max Baker-Hytch - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Are the Gospels Historically Trustworthy? Dr Max Baker-Hytch

Rumours of doubt…

…but not amongst scholars E. P. Sanders “There are no substantial doubts about the general course of Jesus’ life: when and where he lived, approximately when and where he died, and the sort of thing that he did during his public activity…”

…but not amongst scholars Bart D. Ehrman “No serious historian doubts the existence of Jesus… we have more evidence for Jesus than for almost anyone of his time period.”

…but not amongst scholars John Dickson

What historians are looking for 1. Is the author in a good position to know what happened? 2. Does it fit with what we know more generally about the time period/ place? 3. Are there multiple, independent sources which attest the core events?

What historians are looking for 1. Is the author in a good position to know what happened? 2. Does it fit with what we know more generally about the time period/ place? 3. Are there multiple, independent sources which attest the core events?

The time gap from event to text is relatively small Alexander 120 years after the Great Emperor 77 years after Tiberius Earliest sources: 20 years after Jesus All NT sources: within 70 years

What historians are looking for 1. Is the author in a good position to know what happened? 2. Does it fit with what we know more generally about the time period/ place? 3. Are there other, independent documents which corroborate the core events?

The Gospels are well - rooted in the time and place Jesus lived • Accurate geographical knowledge • Authentic patterns of personal names • Knowledge of local customs

The Gospels are well - rooted in the time and place Jesus lived John 5.2-5: “Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Bethesda, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids— blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.” “[T]he pool was a symbol of Judaism, and the five porticoes an allusion to the five books of the Law…” Alfred Loisy, The Fourth Gospel, 1903, p. 386

The Gospels are well - rooted in the time and place Jesus lived But archaeology and literary records • corroborate the name, location, porticoes and turbulence in the water The pool was excavated in 1956. •

The Gospels are well - rooted in the time and place Jesus lived Knowledge of local customs Galilee fishing boat Tombs cut out of rock Heel bone of a crucified man

The Gospels are well - rooted in the time and place Jesus lived Archaological New Testament database Simon 9.2% 9.8% Authentic patterns Joseph 8.3% 7.3% of personal names Top 2 names 17.6% 17.1% Lazarus 6.5% 1.2% Judas 6.2% 6.1% John 4.6% 6.1% Top 5 names 34.9% 30.5% Jesus 3.8% 3.7% Ananias 3.1% 2.4% Jonathan 2.8% 1.3% Matthew 2.4% 2.4% Manaen 1.6% 1.3% Top 10 names 48.5% 41.5% Top 25 names 62.8% 59.8% Top 50 names 74.3% 69.5%

What historians are looking for 1. Is the document in a good position to know what happened? 2. Does it fit with what we know more generally about the time period/ place? 3. Are there other, independent sources which attest the core events?

There are multiple, independent sources… The Synoptic Gospels John’s Gospel Matthew Mark Luke Matthew’s unique material Luke’s unique material Q(?) Mark’s Gospel Paul’s letters

There are multiple, independent sources… The Synoptic Gospels John’s Gospel Matthew Mark Luke Matthew’s unique material Luke’s unique material Mark’s Gospel Paul’s letters

There are multiple, independent sources… The Synoptic Gospels John’s Gospel Matthew Mark Luke Matthew’s unique material Luke’s unique material Mark’s Gospel Josephus Paul’s letters Tacitus

…and they agree on the core events and themes “These sources are independent of one another. They were written in different places…Yet many of them, independent though they be, agree on many of the basic aspects of Jesus's life and death: he was a Jewish teacher of Palestine who was crucified Bart Ehrman on order of Pontius Pilate, for example… They could not have been dreamed up independently of one another by Christians all over the map because they agree on too many of the fundamentals.”

…and they agree on the core events and themes “he’s so absentminded” “he wore a jumper backwards all day without noticing” Dale C. Allison “he often doesn’t notice you “he has equations if you wave at him when you written all over the pass him in the corridor” windows of his office”

…and they agree on the core events and themes “Working through the tradition this way leads to a large number of conclusions: —Jesus must have thought highly of John the Baptist. —He must have repeatedly spoken of God as Father. —He must have composed parables. —He must have come into conflict with religious authorities… Dale C. Allison —He was reputed to be a successful exorcist, healer, and wonder worker… —Whatever titles he may or may not have used, Jesus probably believed himself to be not just a prophet but the personal locus of the end-time scenario, the central figure of the last judgment.”

Non - Christian sources confirm the basic story “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man …; for he was a doer of surprising 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 … 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… Flavius And the tribe of Christians, so named from Josephus him, are not extinct at this day.” (Antiquities of the Jewish People, 18.63-64)

Non - Christian sources confirm the basic story “Christus, from whom the name [Christian] had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius 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 Judæa, the first source of the Cornelius evil, but even in Rome…” (Annals of Tacitus Imperial Rome, 15.44)

Non - Christian sources confirm the basic story “[The Christians] were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god” (Letter to the Emperor Trajan) Pliny the Younger

Non - Christian sources confirm the basic story Taken together, the earliest non-Christian ancient sources attest the following facts about Jesus: • Jesus was known as a moral teacher and a wise man • He had a reputation as a miracle worker • His followers believed him to be the Jewish Messiah (the Christ) • He was condemned to death by crucifixion under the authority of Pontius Pilate at the suggestion of the Jewish chief priests • The movement he founded stopped temporarily after his death • It very quickly resumed • His followers reported that Jesus appeared to them alive • Christians were subjected to violent persecution within the first few decades • They would meet on a fixed day to worship Jesus together