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Old 01-02-2005, 12:13 AM   #1
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Default Gospels first hand accounts?

It seems that authorship is still quite open to debate, but do most bible scholars accept the premise that the gospels are not eyewitness accounts? There are many here who make it sound as if this is common knowledge. When I mention this idea to xians I know, they are quite taken aback and doubtful of this claim.

Is this common knowledge on "both sides of the fence"? Any good sources for me?
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Old 01-02-2005, 12:20 AM   #2
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Early Christian Writings

Gospels as Eyewitness Accounts

Christians do not want to give up on the idea that there is eyewitness testimony in the gospels. The more sophisticated apologists claim that oral accounts of Jesus circulated for decades before being written down. This is highly speculative, to say the least.
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Old 01-02-2005, 08:31 AM   #3
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I don't think it's common knowledge among for Christian laity. The traditions are still held to for the gospels and for the "Apostolic" letters. Even a lot of disinterested non-religious types seem a little surprised to find out that nothing in the NT was written by an eyewitness. This is the sort of info you have to find on your own. Christians certainly aren't going to hear it in church and we've all seen how glurge-y and uncritically the popular media treats these kinds of topics even on allegedly more "scientific" media like the Discovery or History Channels.

A lot of contemporary Biblical scholarship tends to be unknown or avoided in the US. It's been common knowledge for years among Israeli archaeologists that there was no Exodus or conquest of Canaan but the American populace is still largely unaware of it and neither their churches nor their news media has any desire to tell them about it.

Hell...we still think that the historicity of Noah's Ark is a serious topic of debate.
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Old 01-02-2005, 08:38 AM   #4
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I've been trying to get someone to debate this over here for a while now. Gospels are NOT first hand accounts and THIS IS VERY COMMON KNOWLEDGE in scholarship today. Conservos are stuck living in the past clutching their long debunked mythologies.
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Old 01-02-2005, 08:45 AM   #5
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Hopefully, Vinnie, hopefully, I'm trying to get you a debate partner!
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Old 01-02-2005, 09:03 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Diogenes the Cynic
Hell...we still think that the historicity of Noah's Ark is a serious topic of debate.
:rolling:
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Old 01-02-2005, 09:11 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinnie
I've been trying to get someone to debate this over here for a while now. Gospels are NOT first hand accounts and THIS IS VERY COMMON KNOWLEDGE in scholarship today. Conservos are stuck living in the past clutching their long debunked mythologies.
It is very common knowledge in Catholicism to wait a hundred years or so before you can declare anybody a saint. This is done so all skeletons in the closet have a chance to die and the Gospels are no different in this respect. And why should they be?
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Old 01-02-2005, 09:30 AM   #8
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My question is why are only 6 of the 12 been included in the Bible?

Can someone provide me with a link or two that at least attempts to explain it?
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Old 01-02-2005, 12:48 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Seraph
My question is why are only 6 of the 12 been included in the Bible?
Six of 12 what?
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Old 01-02-2005, 01:03 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinnie
Gospels are NOT first hand accounts and THIS IS VERY COMMON KNOWLEDGE in scholarship today.
Do you know of any xian/scholarship sites or texts that demonstrate this?
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