Finding the Historical Christ

Top Highlights

“Subjectivity in history writing is not new. Indeed, subjectivity-based historiography was the norm in the era when the gospels were written. By subjectivity I mean the writer’s discernible tendency to report and interpret events according to his values and prejudices with the intent that the reader (i.e., hearer) adopt the writer’s values and prejudices in the interpretation of the events.” (Page 5)

“Yet the literary development in the three synoptic texts occurred from first to last over a period as brief as twenty years. This is not as often noticed by students of Christian origins as it deserves to be. Scholars sometimes give the impression that gospel texts developed over several generations, rather than within just one.” (Page 45)

“A second consideration (noted by Tuckett) is that the parable of the sower in Thomas is a ‘gnosticising redaction of the synoptic parable.’ In other words, at this point at least Thomas reflects a Gnostic origin in the second century or later. Related to this, J. H. Wood has found Thomas to have many points of contact with other second-century texts that reveal dependence on the canonical gospels.⁹² Indeed, Wood argues for the reliance of the Gospel of Thomas on all four gospels, and therefore holds it to be an early witness to the fourfold gospel.” (Pages 41–42)

“Of utmost importance is the verifiable observation that the four canonical gospels were in circulation by the end of the first century.” (Page 8)