by peacefulpete 12 Replies latest watchtower bible
I think John and Paul in their cultural universalism use elements in common with those called Gnostics. Jesus quotes and speaks of the old testament a lot in John. Consider:
John 5:39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,
I think this is a good paper on it:
HTBWC...While I do feel Markan priority has very strong support when discussing the works as we have them it is possible the Marcionite gospel was some form of Ur-Mark, an early edition before later harmonizations with Mtt and Luke. G.John is truly interesting, yes it betrays multiple redactions and additions but the core material has a flavor unlike the others in the modern canon. Many have assumed the mystical nature necessitates a late date, assuming a direction of influence toward the mystical/spiritual as I mentioned before. Our better understanding of the diverse Jewish religious thought with broader access to Qumran material and recent reanalysis of writers like Philo and other works from the era no longer suggests that must be so. It is quite plausible that some early form of the work we call John, with it's so-called high Christology, was very early but not favored by those who we might call a proto-orthodoxy (and hence resisted.) until redacted extensively
The very origins of Christianity are at the center of this topic of gospel writing. It is my present opinion that Christianity had a soft start, a natural evolution of thought originating hundreds of years BC. That's not a terribly controversial idea to many who are familiar with anti-temple Judaism and Hellenized Judaism of the period. What this means about dating this material is.
Ellegard has argued, (not the first) that the central character of the Gospels is a confluence of personages, notable the Teacher of Righteousness of the Qumran community who embodied the Christ concept to a T. He feels Paul is the main architect in reinvigorating the concepts and narrative. Paul seems to be saying his only real contribution to an already existing movement is the idea that this Christ was crucified for sins. Whether he intended to be understood as placing that event on earth in recent history or having a revelation that this occurred in the past in a heavenly realm is under much debate. Regardless his intent at least some early Paulinists sought a earthly narrative to facilitate religious instruction and Gospels began appearing. Sayings Gospels and narrative Gospels each a creative work but with some relationship to others that came before. Dozens of them, sadly we have only a few left. Ironically these Gospels change the nature of and course of Christianity. Equally ironic is that what was to become the orthodoxy was rather reluctant to embrace Paul himself, that is until they had expanded upon and redacted his body of material.
