I've read books that describe the relationship between the synoptic gospels, Q, etc., and how the 4 gospels that made it into the New Testament were originally anonymous. It was tradition or guesses that attached the names Mark, Matthew, Luke and John to them. At least for roughly 100 years or more they circulated as anonymous gospels.

But who really wrote them?

What I'm getting at, is there a good book or essay somewhere that attempts to identify the original authors with some specificity? I know Joseph Atwill tried to tie the Flavian dynasty to them in his book Caesar's Messiah. But I was not persuaded by his parallelomania. Other than Atwill or some fringe source such as Roman Piso who cites no sources, I've never read a good attempt to identify their authors and tie them to some actual living people.

Do some of you learned folk know of some good studies in this regard? Specifically, who in history wrote the gospels? Will we ever know?

Heberjgrunt wrote:

>...Specifically, who in history wrote the gospels? Will we ever know?

I've read quite a bit on this subject, and, after all is said and done, the general concensus is that we will probably never be able to identify specific authors.

Yep. The authors are unknown, and will probably never be known. It's highly unlikely (close to certain in some cases) that the "traditional" authors did *not* write them.

No original autographs exist for any of the "gospels." The oldest *copy* we have is the Rylands fragment of "John," which is a tiny piece of a 2nd century copy of a few verses of that "gospel." The earliest complete copies are from the 3rd-4th centuries.

> I've read quite a bit on this subject, and, after all is said and done, the general concensus is that we will probably never be able to identify specific authors.

i'll second that. and: who cares? apparently gerd lüdemann does. but in my eyes it's a waste of time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerd_L%C3%BCdemann

http://www.gerdluedemann.de/

http://wwwuser.gwdg.de/~gluedem/eng/00con.htm

http://wwwuser.gwdg.de/~gluedem/eng/the-earliest-christian-text.htm

I don't see where Luedemann identifies the author of any gospel. His book "Earliest Christian Text" is about 1 Thessalonians, which is not a gospel, but an epistle whose authorship is universally (even by mythicists) ascribed to Paul.

Did I miss something?

I think you are on to something. They are definitely written as propaganda.

Or as fan fiction.

How I understand it is that Church Tradition ( ie Catholic) says it was Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

That's all we have to go on apparently.

There were some other gospels as well but they were deemed(by the catholic church) to be unauthentic/perhaps outright false and excluded in the New testament Canonisation process.

If the Mormon church is a restoration with Prophets and Apostles, why haven't these so called Prophets and Apostles gone through the Canonisation process all again to check it was done right. All the rejected gospels and various letters still exist I think.

Why do the Mormon leaders seemingly trust the apostate church got the right ones canonised?

At the end of the day they don't really give a hoot for the bible or New testament, they just use it to bait and switch for Smith and Young's made up drivvle anyway.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/25/2014 07:24PM by Zeezromp.

Read Bart Ehrman; The best author on the subject; check his books. "Forged" "jusus Interrupted".

Some sort of Greek sages. They are a Hellenistic mythology with a Jewish theme. The gospels were written to euhemerize the mythical Christ figure invented and promoted by Paul. Jesus is in many respects a Greek myth.

I agree that Bart Ehrman is the best source. Those two books and half a dozen more.

They were written by highly educated Greek speaking people many years after the death of Jesus, certainly not by any eye witness. What I find interesting is how the story evolves from the earliest gospels to the latest.

You might want to look up the Italian family of Piso re: this issue.