RED DAVE

I've seen many threads on who the authors of the gospels were and the probable dates, but none that I can recall as the where they were writting. (My memory is leaky, so there might well have been one that I forgot about.)

In any event, could people sum up the current view on who the authors of the four gospels actually were, when they were written and, most importantly, where they were written.

The fact that they were written in Greek has always struck me as bizarre.

RED DAVE

Malachi151

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/



The fact that they are in Greek should not be strange at all. Most of the writings of the time were in Greek, aside from Latin among the Romans. Even in Judea among Jews most of the writing was in Greek.

Julian

It shouldn't when you consider Alexander the Great. Greek was the lingua franca of the world after he conquered, well, all of it (for our purposes, at least). It remained the language of choice for many centuries after the conquest and most great literary works of those centuries were written in that language, regardless of geographical location.

Julian

RED DAVE

As the Burmese python said to Harry Potter: "THanksss."

RED DAVE

RED DAVE

I guess, looking at it as a Jew, I wonder why they we're written in a language that an "ordinary" Jew, who could perhaps read the Torah in Hebrew (and who spoke Aramaic) would be able to read it.

It seems to me that the fact that they were written in Greek means that the proto-church was no longer interested primarily in converting Jews.


RED DAVE

Toto

If the gospels were written as propaganda for a new religion, they would be written in the most popular language, which would be Greek. If they were written as liturgy to be read to old and new converts, this might be an indication that the early church was aimed at Diaspora Jews.

No Robots

Right. In fact, outright separation from other Jews set in fairly early among Christians. In the author of the Gospel of John, for example, we find a Jew who had become such a fervent Christian in his enthusiasm for the new knowledge that he had to demonstrate a commensurate hatred for the other Jews and their Judaism. (see Brunner, Our Christ, p. 441)

Malachi151

You may want to read this Dave:

Jewish Funerary Inscriptions—Most Are in Greek

RED DAVE

Great. I have one question: how would class enter in. The article doesn't say, but wouldn't most of the tombs, ossuaries, etc., be from wealthier strata of the population?

What i'm trying to say is: is there any indication that the wealthier classes tended to speak Greek while the poorer classes spoke Aramaic (which I gather, was the vernacular by then, not Hebrew)?

Thanx again.

RED DAVE

Malachi151

I don't know about that, but it may actually have been the opposite way around.

At any rate, consider this.

Paul, the first writer, was writing to "Gentiles", so of course his writings would be in Greek.

I suspect that the author of Mark was a follower of a Pauline sect, somewhere in the Diaspora, possibly Rome. Again, this makes his writings likely to be Greek.

Matthew and Luke copied from Mark, so of course they would had to have been Greek readers, and if you copy, then it's best to copy into the same language.

The Gospel of John is late, possibly written by a "Gentile", and also, IMO influenced by the other Gospels, so again, Greek is very likely here.

Since the Gospels were in Greek, and the works of Paul, that means it's most likely that the people coming into contact with all this themselves spoke Greek, thus the rest of the epistles are in Greek also, the only possible exception being Hebrews.