WHO WROTE THE GOSPELS AND WHEN?

Michie said:

Very disheartening indeed. Now I confess I am not a Biblical scholar by a long stretch. I was too lazy to really learn Greek and I certainly never found the self discipline and interest to learn Hebrew. I fell asleep trying to pick apart too many details of the Synoptic problem, and got bored by books written by German scholars whose last names ended with two “nn’s”

What seemed obvious to me was that the Biblical scholars were working within a bubble. As I did the research for The Mystery of the Magi time and time again I would come across the most transparent mistakes by the Biblical scholars simply because they were ignorant about some other aspect of the area of research. They drew conclusions based on false premises, mistaken information, lack of research and lazy acceptance of earlier unproven theories. I didn’t fault them for their unbelief, their cynicism or even their career-minded pettiness–but on a remarkable combination of ignorance and arrogance.

They may have known everything it was possible to know about the use of the passive tense in the second chapter of Colossians, but they had no clue about the larger issues.

Furthermore, even as a lazy seminarian I could see that many of the positions of the Biblical scholars club were specious. Here’s a classic: in trying to date the writing of the gospels they chose the date 70 AD. – the destruction of Jerusalem–as their fixed point. Because Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem, and this is recorded in the gospels, the gospels MUST have been written after 70 AD. But of course, this whole presupposition is based on the empiricism of David Hume who says so “brilliantly” –“Stories of miracles must be untrue because miracles can’t happen.” The whole premise of Christianity, on the other hand, is based on a miracle called the resurrection.

Continued below.
Who Wrote the Gospels and When?

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Michie said:

The other day I indulged in a bit of a rant against the mainstream Bible scholars who have made an industry of de-bunking the gospels and trying to show them to be late compositions written by anonymous authors to add mythological magical details to the story of Jesus the peasant preacher from Galilee.

I received this discouraging comment on the post:

I am in a masters of theology program at a Catholic university right now. I have to say, the biblical courses I have taken so far have been spiritual position. The theories of Catholic “historical-critical” scholars of the 70s-90s are presented as incontrovertible. The Gospels were written late by unknown authors and almost none of the material contained in them actually happened. Almost all of it was made up after the fact by people who never saw or knew Jesus. Benedict XVI’s “Jesus of Nazareth” series is derided as not reflecting “real” biblical scholarship since he dares to examine the Gospels through the lens of faith rather than from a cold hard “scientific” point of view. The newer generation of Catholic biblical scholars who dare to question the “dogmas” of Raymond Brown, et al (such as Scott Hahn, Brandt Pitre, John Bergsma) are ridiculed. Any attempt to harmonize the Gospels is seen as fundamentalist and therefore unworthy of a “scholar.” It’s very disheartening.

Very disheartening indeed. Now I confess I am not a Biblical scholar by a long stretch. I was too lazy to really learn Greek and I certainly never found the self discipline and interest to learn Hebrew. I fell asleep trying to pick apart too many details of the Synoptic problem, and got bored by books written by German scholars whose last names ended with two “nn’s”

What seemed obvious to me was that the Biblical scholars were working within a bubble. As I did the research for The Mystery of the Magi time and time again I would come across the most transparent mistakes by the Biblical scholars simply because they were ignorant about some other aspect of the area of research. They drew conclusions based on false premises, mistaken information, lack of research and lazy acceptance of earlier unproven theories. I didn’t fault them for their unbelief, their cynicism or even their career-minded pettiness–but on a remarkable combination of ignorance and arrogance.

They may have known everything it was possible to know about the use of the passive tense in the second chapter of Colossians, but they had no clue about the larger issues.

Furthermore, even as a lazy seminarian I could see that many of the positions of the Biblical scholars club were specious. Here’s a classic: in trying to date the writing of the gospels they chose the date 70 AD. – the destruction of Jerusalem–as their fixed point. Because Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem, and this is recorded in the gospels, the gospels MUST have been written after 70 AD. But of course, this whole presupposition is based on the empiricism of David Hume who says so “brilliantly” –“Stories of miracles must be untrue because miracles can’t happen.” The whole premise of Christianity, on the other hand, is based on a miracle called the resurrection.

Continued below.
Who Wrote the Gospels and When?

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chevyontheriver said:

Some of the best Biblical exposition comes from Scott Hahn, Brandt Pitre, John Bergsma. Seek out their work.

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Chesster said:

I post this only as an FYI; something to ponder as, “You know, it might be true”. This is from a private revelation to the Spanish mystic Venerable Mary of Agreda speaking about the Gospels from her book entitled The Mystical City of God.

“He [St. Matthew] wrote it in the Hebrew language in the year forty–two of our Lord.”

“The Evangelist Mark wrote his gospel four years later, in the forty–sixth year after the birth of Christ. He likewise wrote it in Hebrew and while in Palestine. Saint Jerome says that saint Mark wrote his short Gospel in Rome, at the instance of the faithful residing there; but I wish to call attention to the fact, that this was a translation or copy of the one he had written in Palestine; for the Christians in Rome possessed neither his nor any other Gospel, and therefore he set about writing one in the Roman or Latin language.”

“Two years afterwards, in the year forty–eight and of the Virgin the sixty–third, saint Luke wrote his Gospel in the Greek language.”

“The last of the four Evangelists who wrote the Gospels, was the apostle saint John in the year fifty–eight of the Lord. He wrote his in the Greek language,”

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