March 19 - Tracing the Oral Tradition & Gospel Canon

Earliest known Christian writings? What Year?

1 Thess; 48-49 CE

Was Paul aware of any gospels like Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?

No, Paul died before them

Were other gospels written besides our FOUR gospels during the first century (Y/N)?

Yes

Which gospel was written first????

Mark

Based on Acts 4:13:

“Peter and John, fishermen from Galilee, are described as ‘uneducated, common men,’” or ______:

illiterate

Studies Show that ____ to ____ percent of the Jewish population could not read or write.

90; 95

Over time, copies of Paul's letters began to circulate as a collection, but the ordinary members of the churches did not own or have access. Instead, Nearly everything they learned was ____:

by word of mouth during services

Mark was the first gospel to be written, around __ to __CE.

66; 70

Matthew and Luke are dated to the mid-eighties, __ CE.

85

John is dated to around __ CE, and believed to have been written last.

95

·       Mark has 661 verses

·       Matthew quotes about ___ verses from Mark. So Matthew is quoting about __% of Mark's gospel.

600; 90

Apart from Matthew, which gospel quotes a significant amount of Mark?

Luke

Matthew and Luke quote each other significantly, since they’re appropriated with Mark (Y/N)?

No

Luke Quotes __% of Mark:

65

Mark never knew his work would appear in a collection of FOUR GOSPELS in the New Testament (Y/N).

Yes; He didn’t

Only obscure scholars believe Mark was written first. In fact, the early church also knows that Matthew was written first, and that is why scholars placed it first in the canon (Y/N).

No; Majority of Scholars believe the early church was wrong

The 3 synoptics have many strong ______, yet they each have a distinctive portrait of Jesus because they used sources when writing (Y/N):

parallels; Yes

how many other ACCOUNTS of Jesus (gospel) were available to Luke??

Answer: ____

Many

Luke examines all of these accounts from sources and then writes HIS OWN ACCOUNT. Luke only sees himself as ANOTHER gospel writer. We even see him adding one more ACCOUNT for __________.

Theophilus

Theophilus is financially supporting Luke to write a more accurate gospel, as a _______________, and would appreciate a reliable account.

Wealthy Roman Patron