Jesus of New Testament Mythology remains a person from mythology
and no Historical data about him is not available, but for collections called
Gospels. Gospels, four in number written by Unknown Authors, who have not
seen Jesus and wrote from collected stories and suited it to their
requirements. Let us understand what is New Testament.
New Testament has 27 books, out of 14 are collections of Letters
said to belong to One Paul, who never has seen Jesus, 7 Other Pastoral letters
written by some body in the name of John-3, Peter-2, In the name of Blood
Brothers of Jesus- James and Jude. We have Revealtions written to threaten
people quitting church. We have 4 Gospels talking about Jesus. One is Acts of
Apostles which tries to bridge Paul with Church.
Of all Four Mark was the Oldest written aound 70-75,and Matthew and Luke used it
extensively. Scholars feel John has also used Mark, but differed in a big way.
Now out of four the earliest
was Mark.
Prof. M.M.Bruce, who was the Professor for Nt History
is Manchester University in his Book- “The
Real Jesus”
//“ The Conclusion usually(and I think
rightly) drawn from their comparative study is that the Gospel of Mark (or
something like it) served as a source for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and
that these two also had access to a collection of sayings of Jesus(conveninently
called ‘Q’), which may have been complied as a handbook for the Gentile
mission around AD50.- P-25.//
Did Mark really conveyed the Truth. Mark makes the Length of Jesus ministry to less than One Year, with ministry starting after his getting Baptism of Repentance of Sin and arrest of John the Baptist and Jesus' entire ministry was in Galilee and was arrested And killed on his first visit to Jerusalem for Passover function.
“If we had only Mark’ gospel we should infer that Jesus ministry
was located in Galilee with one first and final visit to Jerusalem, and that
the Galileen ministry began after Baptist John was imprisoned...4th gospel
takes a different view. Here the scene shifts backwards and forwards between
Galilee and Judea during the first six chapters , from chapter 7 onwards the
scene is totally laid in Judea and Jerusalem,(See Jn3:24 for Baptist John and
Jesus).” –P 45, Works and Words of Jesus.
Dr. C.J. Cadoux, who
was Mackennal Professor
of Church History at Oxford, thus sums up the
conclusions of eeminent Biblical scholas regarding the nature and
composition of this Gospel:
"The speeches in the Fourth Gospel (even
apart from the early messianic claim) are so different from those in
the Syoptics, and so like the comments of the Fourth Evangelist both
cannot be equally reliable as records of what Jesus said : Literary
veracity in ancient times did forbid, as it does now, the
assingment of fictitious speeches to historical characters: the best
ancient historians made a practice of and assigning such speeches in this
way."---1. C.J. Cadoux: The Life of Jesus, p. 16.
C.J. Cadoux sums up the position in these
words in his book Life of Jesus.
“In the four Gopels, therefore, the main
documents to which we must go
if we are to fill-out at all that bare sketch which we can Put together
from other sources, we find material of widely-differing quality as regards credibility.
So far-reaching is the element of ucertainly that it is temptig to ‘down
tools’ at once, and to declare
the task hopeless. The historical inconsistencies and
impobabilities in parts of the Gospels form some of arguments advanced in
favour of the Christ-myth theory. These are, however, entirely
outweighed as we have shown-by ther considerations. Still, the discrepancies and uncertainties that
remain are serious and consequently many moderns,
who have no doubt whatever of Jesus’ real existence, regard as hopeless any attempt to dissolve out
the historically- true from the legendary or mythical matter which
the Gospels contain, and to recostruct the story of Jesus’ mission out of
the more historical residue.”
-----------------------------1. C.J.
Cadoux: The Life of Jesus ., pp.16,17.
Can we Trust the Bible Translations, what Scholars say- F.F.Bruce in his Foreword-
Biblical quotations are
generally from the Revised Standard Version, but I have frequently made my own
translation where it seemed better suited to the context or the argument. P-11
in Preface footnote.
Rev. T.G. Tucker in
his book T.G.
Tucker : The History of the Christians in the Light of Modern Knowledge, p.320writes:
"Thus Gospels were produced which clearly
reflect the conception of the practical needs of the community for
which they were written. In them the traditional material was used, but
there was no hesitation in altering it or making additions to it, or in
leaving out what did not suit the writer’s purpose".
Many people– then and now– have assumed
that these letters [of Paul] are genuine, and five of them were in fact
incorporated into the New Testament as “letters of Paul.” Even today, scholars
dispute which are authentic and which are not. Most scholars, however, agree
that Paul actually wrote only eight of the thirteen “Pauline” letters now
included in the New Testament. collection: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians,
Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. Virtually all scholars
agree that Paul himself did not write 1 or 2 Timothy or Titus– letters written
in a style different from Paul’s and reflecting situations and viewpoints in a
style different from those in Paul’s own letters. About the authorship of
Ephesias, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians, debate continues; but the majority
of scholars include these, too, among the “deutero-Pauline”– literally,
secondarily Pauline– letters.”
-Elaine Pagels, Professor of Religion at Princeton University,
(Adam, Eve, and the Serpent)
We know virtually nothing about the persons who wrote the
gospels we call Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
-Elaine Pagels, Professor of Religion at Princeton University,
(The Gnostic Gospels)
Some hoped to penetrate the various accounts and to discover the
“historical Jesus”. . . and that sorting out “authentic” material in the
gospels was virtually impossible in the absence of independent evidence.”
-Elaine Pagels, Professor of Religion at Princeton University
What one believes and what one can
demonstrate historically are usually two different things.
-Robert
J. Miller, Bible scholar, (Bible Review, December 1993, Vol. IX, Number 6, p.
9)
When
it comes to the historical question about the Gospels, I adopt a mediating
position– that is, these are religious records, close to the sources, but they
are not in accordance with modern historiographic requirements or professional
standards.
-David
Noel Freedman, Bible scholar and general editor of the Anchor Bible series
(Bible Review, December 1993, Vol. IX, Number 6, p.34)
What is length of Ministry- One year or More Depends on you trust Mark or John- we do not have any reason to accept any one is true or both are wrong.
If Jesus was in Judea and Jerusalem in his last 8 months during the 3 important festivals i.e., from September to April.
Why did Mark is Fraudulently hides it?
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