What a Historian Does

Issues with Using New Testament Gospels

• Gospels are best sources but complex
  • Authors likely did not know Jesus or his acquaintances
  • Sources contradict and corroborate (copied from each other)
  • Bias in storytelling
• Gospels contain a mix of traditions, developments, and legendary material

Historians’ Approach

• Historians use five criteria common in ancient history
  • Applicable to historical figures like Socrates or Buddha

Criterion 1: Multiple Independent Attestation

• Reliable stories come from multiple independent sources
• Collaboration among Gospels (e.g., Mathew and Luke using Mark) disqualifies as independent
• Look for stories in sources not related to each other (e.g., Mark and John)
• Examples:
  • Christmas narratives (singly attested in Luke and Matthew)
  • Lord’s Prayer (only in Q)
  • Parables (Good Samaritan only in Luke)
• Independent attestation ≠ proof of falsehood; it means uncertainty

Criterion 2: Early Sources

• Prefer sources closest to the events described
  • Early sources: Mark (around 70 CE), Paul’s letters (49-64 CE), theoretical source Q
  • Later sources: Matthew, Luke (around 85 CE), John (90-100 CE)
  • Other gospels within 100 years of Jesus’ life
• Historical reliability increases with proximity to the actual events
  • Mark, Q, and Paul’s letters considered early and reliable
  • People contemporaneous with Jesus could verify accounts

Criterion 3: Contextual Credibility

• Stories/content must make sense in 1st-century Palestine context
• Examples of potential issues:
  • Anothen wordplay in John (works in Greek, not Aramaic)
  • Advice involving “church” in Matthew (no church during Jesus' time)
• Contextual credibility only invalidates stories but cannot assert truthfulness

Criterion 4: Coherence

• New information should fit the established picture of Jesus
  • Builds upon multiply attested, contextually credible events/sayings
• Example:
  • Adulterous woman (John), coherent with Jesus' character but not historically reliable
  • Event far removed chronologically, appears only in later manuscripts
• Coherence establishes improbabilities, not confirmed history

Criterion 5: Dissimilarity

• Traditions not aligned with church’s trajectory are likely authentic
• Example trajectories:
  • Increasing divinity of Jesus
  • Jesus's baptism by John as an embarrassment
  • Odd sayings (e.g., hating family in Luke, dishonest manager)
• Establishes probable historicity but can be overused
  • Avoids over-reliance to maintain balanced historical depiction

Tensions Between Criteria

• Criteria interplay and sometimes conflict:
  • Contextual credibility vs. dissimilarity
  • Multiple attestation vs. dissimilarity
  • Individual historian’s judgment affects outcomes
• Each historian may derive different pictures of historical Jesus using these tools

Conclusion

• Complex methodology for forming historical perspectives on Jesus
• Next session will discuss the social world in which Jesus lived