3.1 Interpreting the text Flashcards
What does biblical criticism mean?
- Umbrella term for scholar’s approach to the texts, addressing the bible as literature
What does biblical criticism attempt to do for the gospels?
- Figure out how they came to be
- Their reliability as sources for the life and teachings of Jesus
- Find out their purpose
What is the oral tradition?
The teachings of Jesus and accounts of the events in his life from eyewitnesses, passed on by word of mouth- used by the Gospel authors to write the gospels
What are the 4 stages of development of oral tradition?
- Jesus’ life and teachings
- People telling and repeating stories about Jesus and his teachings
- The early christian community preserving the oral stories and teachings
- The author using this oral tradition when writing their gospel
What are the 3 main criticisms of the development of the gospels?
Source criticism- examines where the material came from and establish the original source
Form criticism- identify different ‘forms’ or** types of writing** in the text and the historical context within which they were written
redaction criticism- identify how the author shaped their material; evangelist seen as an editor or ‘redactor’ in the creation of the text
What is the synoptic prblem?
The question of the literary relationship between the first three gospels, and the sources used in each
How can the Gospels have so much in common but also have differences?
- The early Church explanation was that each writer wrote independently but used a common apostolic witness
- The gospels were writeen in the sam order as the New Test; the later ones used the earlier ones- so mark abreviated Matthew, and Luke used both Matthew and Mark- argued by Augustine
Griesbach’s synopsis allowed scholars to see:
* where the Evangelists agreed, 2 or all 3
* where material was used by one
* similarities in the actual wording
Scholars believe:
* All used a common source
* either 1 or 2 used a different source
* all shared common written sources, possible Greek translations
What are the different source theories hypothesized by scholars?
- proto- gospel
- two source
- four source
What is the proto-gospel hypothesis and its criticisms?
- Theory that there is a lost gospel which Mt, Mk, and Lk all used, referred to as ‘proto’
Was it matthew?:
There was a letter from Bishop Papais that Mt collected the sayings of Jesus from, and were interpreted by Mk and Mt
* But: cannot be verified as the letter no longer exists. Modern scholars believe it is unlikely and majority don’t argue for the priority of Matthew
Was this Mark?
Could have been a proto Mark with less material in it, which the author later supplemented. Mt and Lk use it when writing
* But: doesn’t permit when Mt and Lk agree against MK and other times Mk agrees with Mt against Lk
What is the 2 source hypothesis and its criticisms?
- Uses the priority of Mark
- Theory that Mt and Lk used Mk and Q to write their gospels
- Mt and Lk both copied from Mk but the things they didn’t get from Mk they copied from Q (the temptation narrative)
- Q stands for Quelle meaning source in German- thought to be Jesus’ logia
But:
* Mt and Lk both have material in their gospel unique to them
* There is also no evidence for Q
What is the 4 source hypothesis and its criticisms?
Mt and Lk both use Mark and Q to write their gospels but Luke used another source L and Matthew used another source M as well
- Source M (228 verses)- mainly Jewish material, including use od Old Test and birth narratives
- Source L (490 verses)- contains 14 parables and references to Mary
But:
* There is no evidence for Q
* Instances where Mt and Lk are similar but Mk is differen, showing they knew each other’s texts
* evident of Mk and Lk copying Mt- teaching about the greatest commandment
* proposed that Mark was used as source material by Mt, and that Lk used both Mk and Mt
Why do scholars argue for the priority of Mark?
- It is the shortest and doesn’t include things like the birth narrative and the Lord’s prayer
- Early church thought that Mark’s gospel was based on the preaching of Apostle Peter, so is dated soon after his death 64CE
- Mark had very little unique material- other gospels copied (MT includes 94% of Mk in his gospel, and Lk 79%)
- Evidence that Mt and Lk edited Mark’s material- calming of the storm Mk includes details the others do not
- Matthew and Luke have better Greek than Mark- Mark only used 400 words in total
Why do some scholars believe the Augustinian view that Matthew came first?
- external evidence from the church fathers; Irenaeus testified that matthew’s gospel was first
- there are parallel accounts in Mt and Mk, easier to see that Mk edited Mt rather tha. the other way
- Griesbach argued that Mark was the last of the 3 gospels to be written as it provided a summary of the other 2
What is the Form criticism?
- Identifies each different unit of writing and classifies it into a form, then criticised on how it was adapted to fit the needs of the church
What are some examples of the form criticism?
- Interpretation of the parable of the sower (Mark 4:10-20) seems to sit more comfortably in the life of the early church than the ministry of Jesus
- Matthew 18:15-18 is about the issue of sin in the church, so probably not spoken by Jesus himself
