Abstract
Are the Gospels historically reliable? Authors of ancient historical literature had objectives for writing that differed somewhat from those of modern historians. Consequently, the literary conventions that were in play also differed. Therefore, it is difficult to speak of the historical reliability of ancient texts without certain qualifications. In this essay, a definition for the historical reliability of ancient texts is proposed, whereby such a text provides an accurate gist, or an essentially faithful representation of what occurred. Four criteria that must be met are then proposed. Suetonius’s Life of the Divine Augustus and the Gospel of Mark, are then assessed by using the criteria. Suetonius was chosen because he wrote more closely than his peers to how modern biographers write, and the Augustus was chosen because it is the finest of Suetonius’s Lives. The Gospel of Mark from the Bible was chosen because it is probably the earliest extant account of the “Life of Jesus.” The result of this focused comparison suggests that the Life of Augustus and the Gospel of Mark can be said to be historically reliable in the qualified sense proposed. However, an additional factor challenging this conclusion is described, and further discussion is needed and encouraged.
Highlights
Are the New Testament Gospels historically reliable?1 In this essay, I will approach the question from a foundational level
The Gospel of Mark from the Bible was chosen because it is probably the earliest extant account of the “Life of Jesus.”. The result of this focused comparison suggests that the Life of Augustus and the Gospel of Mark can be said to be historically reliable in the qualified sense proposed
Downing (2011, pp. 529, 531; see pp. 523–45) writes, It is because people were taught to “say the same thing in other words” that close repetition of the same words among our sources [i.e., the Gospels] . . . appears so striking and so much in need of comment . . . With so much pressure in favour of paraphrase, and so common a conviction of its validity, it really does seem very strange that we find so much identical wording among our Synoptic Gospels
Summary
Are the New Testament Gospels historically reliable?1 In this essay, I will approach the question from a foundational level. He had just been accepted into the DPhil in New Testament program when he learned he had stage four stomach cancer. While historians of Jesus debate over the reliability of specific reports in the Gospels, such as whether Jesus claimed to be divine or had predicted his resurrection, it is the case that some of them speak in the broader sense of the Gospels being historically reliable. Iwill turn to four provisional criteria for assessing the historical reliability of ancient historical literature and employ them for assessing Suetonius’s Life of Augustus and Mark’s Gospel
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