Who Wrote The Gospels ?

[modeller]

My granddaughter goes to a C of E school and amongst her RE homework were two questions which she apparently got wrong, despite the fact she had asked her Sunday School teacher.

1. What is meant by ' The Gospel Truth '.
2. Who wrote the 4 Gospels ?

I know the answers but I don't ever interfere and in any case I'm not sure what the school is looking for.
What do you think ?

[modeller]

Khandro . I knew that would be your answer ! How do you account for the fact that translations have been made from the so called original sources into every language and dialect in the world . Hundreds of translators did they All make the same mistakes ?

Also if you are right why would it have been even mentioned in the first place let alone writing 200 odd words and treating it as a miracle. ? " Jesus was "by" the water. " Big deal ! How about Peter also walking on the water before starting to sink and Jesus saying he had little faith etc. Was that all " wrong/ambiguous translations " .

[naomi24]

Khandro, //Does their names really matter?//

Since they’re so often mistakenly assumed to be contemporaries of Jesus, yes their names do matter.

//(Also, he didn't walk "on" the water' but "by" the water.)//

I’d be interested to know where you got that from.



Modeller, //John's Gospel wasn't written by a single person but compiled by the Johaness Society. That's why its content differs so much from the others. //

Any chance of answering my question? Do you have a link?

[Khandro]

naomi; 'Shmuel Golding in his “The Light of Reason” volume 3 brings up two strong questions. He writes that Mark and Luke can’t agree where the disciples were going. Mark wrote they were going to the other side, Bethsaida, while Luke tells us very clearly that they were already in Bethsaida (Luke 9:10). John says, no they went towards Capernaum (6:17) and Matthew said they went into the land of Gennesaret (14:34).
Then Golding teaches us something important. “For those who understand the Greek text there is no problem in interpreting this story. John’s gospel records that when the disciples received Jesus into the ship; it was already at the land. They saw Jesus walking, not on the sea, but beside the sea as the Greek word ‘ept’ indicates.
In the dictionary, ‘epi’ is a preposition which can mean - in, - on, - alongside, or - beside.” In common Greek, the term "ep-" usually did refer to "alongside", since there was a more common slang term used for such.'

[naomi24]

Khandro, ah, I see. Before you believe everything you read, research Shmuel Goldin[g].

[Zacs-Master]

He must be having a right laugh at you lot.

[naomi24]

Zacs, Who?

[Peter Pedant]

Yup Naomi:

Although some notable New Testament scholars affirm traditional Johannine scholarship,[7][8] the majority do not believe that John or one of the Apostles wrote it,[9][10][11][12][13][14] and trace it instead to a "Johannine community" which traced its traditions to John; the gospel itself shows signs of having been composed in three "layers", reaching its final form about 90–100 AD.[15][16]

this is where I said it was - gospel of st john wiki

actually i dont agree with their ideas
but that is not what you asked....

which was : can you give a ref for the johannine community

I subscribe to one author on the grounds of occamz razor

[Zacs-Master]

The creator.

[naomi24]

Peter, right - so the Johannine community is Modeller’s ‘Johaness Society’.

Zacs, that was what I was afraid you meant. :o/

[Zacs-Master]

He will be disappointed in you N.

[naomi24]

I don't doubt it. ;o)

[Zacs-Master]

He watches your every move. And judges.

[starone]

As they have been copied over and over again, mainly by hand, I cannot believe there have not been inconsistencies and mistakes made. The translations from and to different languages must also have given rise to errors. The versions we read now must be vastly different than the originals.

[Zacs-Master]

For 'mistakes' read 'alterations to suit the will of the ruling body'

[naomi24]

Zacs, a reciprocal arrangement. ;o)

[naomi24]

Zacs, cross posted there. What are you talking about?

[Peter Pedant]

Naomi - I concluded so ( johannine = johanness )
You mean that there might have been TWO communities, vying for authorship? Occam would be pleased.

Starone - no - we know the opposite of you postulate.

altho you have " send reinforcements.... " degenerating into, " send 3/4..."

in fact if the text has meaning it can be repeatedly copied without mistakes

so that something like I wandered lonely as a cloud never becomes thro usage: I wondered if I were a shroud....

in fact the papyri with bits of the variant NT have been recorded
The number is now up to P146 which means there are 146 variations
and NONE are that important.

that is there is no variant that says - after the last supper, they all get more p+ssed and go out for another take-away....

Metzger - my fave - has written more than once and lucidly on this
( dead white theologian ) - the canon of the new testament...etc see wiki.

[naomi24]

Peter, //Occam would be pleased.//

And, as always, devoid of an acceptable answer.

[Peter Pedant]

Naomi - shush - have you er tried actually reading my answer ?

You wanted a ref.
I gave you a ref - I think [16] is Raymond E Brown...
you might at least read one of [9] - [16] before saying the answer is crap.

I was gonna say NT text criticism is a difficult area - but it is not really - it just undecidable.

[naomi24]

Don't recall not reading your answer - or saying it was 'crap'.

Bedtime methinks.

Night.