It is just over eleven minutes long. The criterion of multiple attestation focuses on the sayings or deeds of Jesus that are attested to in more than one independent literary source such as Apostle Paul, Josephus, Q and/or the Gospel of the Hebrews. The crucifixion of Jesus is an example of an event that meets the criterion of embarrassment. The Gospel according to Luke, also called the Gospel of Luke, or simply Luke, tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Jesus' crucifixion is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and is established as a historical event confirmed by non-Christian sources, although there is no consensus among historians on the exact details. The criterion of multiple attestation focuses on the sayings or deeds of Jesus that are attested to in more than one independent literary source such as Apostle Paul, Josephus, Q and/or the Gospel of the Hebrews. [3] [4] [5] [6]. There are a number of overlaps between Acts and Josephus, which is also good. Independent, early attestation: S appears in multiple sources which are near to the time at which S is alleged to have occurred and which depend neither upon each other nor a common source. It is just over eleven minutes long. Each has its own distinctive understanding of Jesus and his divine role: Mark never calls him "God", Luke follows Mark's plot more faithfully than does Matthew but expands on him while eliminating some passages entirely, and John, the most overtly theological, is the first to make Christological judgements outside the context of the narrative of Jesus's life. and that the use of criteria is becoming seen as outmoded. On the other hand, you say, the more improbable it is, the likelier it is to be true. NT Pod 61: The Criterion of Multiple Attestation (mp3) NT Pod 61: The Criterion of Multiple Attestation (mp3) (Alternative location) Key texts: Coming soon. Porter suggests three new criteria in the search for the words of the historical Jesus (Porter 2000), which have not yet found broad acceptance: a criterion of Greek language, of Greek textual variance and of "discourse features" at variance with the text's usual style. They contain details which are irreconcilable, and attempts to harmonize them would be disruptive to their distinct theological messages. The gospels are not always independent of each other. Certain Biblical scholars have used this as a metric for assessing whether the New Testament's accounts of Jesus' actions and words are historically probable. It is considered to have taken place at Al-Maghtas, located in Jordan. Scholars have proposed dates of composition as early as AD 60 and as late as AD 140. https://historyofchristianitypodcast.com/podcast-player/804/episode-42-getting-to-know-the-gnostics.mp3, Episode 42 – Getting to Know the Gnostics, Episode 41 – Interview With a Historian: Gord Heath. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Notice that these tools need multiple manuscripts to work. It is possible that something historical was only mentioned once and there could by multiple records of something that … The criterion is one of a number of factors that have been developed by scholars to assess whether a tradition is likely to be historical; the widely-recognized criteria were distinguished by Stanley E. Porter as dissimilarity, coherence, multiple attestation, least distinctiveness and Aramaic linguistic background. …important of these is “multiple attestation”: a passage that appears in two or more independent sources is likely to be authentic. It also appears in an array of literary genres. Similarities and Differences Between Christianity and Islam. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Another limitation is that some sayings or deeds attributed to Jesus could have originated in the first Christian communities early enough in the tradition to be attested to by a number of independent sources, thus not representing the historical Jesus. by Neil Godfrey . Almost all scholars of antiquity agree that a human Jesus existed, but scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the Biblical accounts of Jesus, and the only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. Episode 39 – What is the Secret Gospel of Mark? Or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the founding of Christianity." Scholars speculate that the works were buried in response to a letter from Bishop Athanasius declaring a strict canon of Christian scripture. Gospel originally meant the Christian message, but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out; in this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth, culminating in his trial and death and concluding with various reports of his post-resurrection appearances. The criterion of multiple attestation or independent attestation is a tool used by Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from Historical Jesus.Simply put, the more independent witnesses that report an event or saying, the better. For example, people told anecdotes about Jesus healing the sick and debating with his opponents. These oral traditions included different types of stories about Jesus. Elements whose historical authenticity is disputed include the two accounts of the Nativity of Jesus, the miraculous events including the resurrection, and certain details about the crucifixion. A prime example is the prohibition of divorce, which appears in the letters of Paul and in two different forms in the Synoptic Gospels. The criterion of independent attestation says that if you have a tradition about something Jesus said and did that is attested in multiple, *independent* sources (so that one of them did not get it from others), then it is more likely to be authentic (since no one author made it up). The plural criteria (KRAI TEER ee uh) cannot be used for criterion in such expressions as a criteria, one criteria NT Pod 61: The Criterion of Multiple Attestation (mp3) NT Pod 61: The Criterion of Multiple Attestation (mp3) (Alternative location) Key texts: Coming soon. Simply put, the more independent witnesses that report an event or saying, the better. Simply put, the more independent witnesses that report an event or saying, the better. While all four canonical gospels contain some sayings and events which may meet one or more of the five criteria for historical reliability used in biblical studies, the assessment and evaluation of these elements is a matter of ongoing debate. Multiple Attestation and the usual straw man polemics from a certain blogger This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The historicity of Jesus relates to whether Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure. (The Augustinian hypothesis posits that Mark and Luke used Matthew, so once again triple-tradition material would have originated in a single source). He is author of the series A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, six other books, and more than 70 articles for peer-reviewed or solicited journals or books. The criterion of multiple attestation or independent attestation is a tool used by Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from Historical Jesus.Simply put, the more independent witnesses that report an event or saying, the better. If an event is first mentioned in Mark and the version shared by Matthew and Luke is based on copying that report, that is considered only single attestation. This theory is criticised for its reliance on comparisons between mythologies, and deviates from mainstream views on the historicity of Jesus. conv entional criterion of coh erence is employed to ar gue for the. Advanced by Dennis R. MacDonald, the Q+/Papias hypothesis (Q+/PapH) offers an alternative solution to the synoptic problem. More on the Criterion of Independent Attestation BDEhrman 2020-04-03T19:20:47-04:00 Jesus and the Historical Criteria QUESTION: I've seen, somewhere on the internet (I know, great source!) The criterion of multiple attestation focuses on the sayings or deeds of Jesus that are attested to in more than one independent literary source such as Apostle Paul, Josephus, Q and/or the Gospel of the Hebrews. The force of this criterion is increased if a given motif or theme is also found in different literary forms such as parables, dispute stories, miracle stories, prophecy, and/or aphorism. Oral gospel traditions, cultural information passed on from one generation to the next by word of mouth, were the first stage in the formation of the written gospels. There can be no better place to start than with the criterion of multiple attestation, which asserts that material can be considered historical if it appears in more than one source (and preferably in a number of different forms — parables, sayings, narratives etc). Multiple attestation has a certain kind of objectivity. This criterion cannot be used for sources that are not independent. It is often used as a shorthand for the criterion of double dissimilarity. The quest for the historical Jesus consists of academic efforts to determine what words and actions, if any, may be attributed to Jesus, and to use the findings to provide portraits of the historical Jesus. We can easily imagine scribes toning down a... Criterion of Multiple Attestation. The historical reliability of the Gospels refers to the reliability and historic character of the four New Testament gospels as historical documents. I think this is a good criterion: obviously if you have five people who independently have the same … Still, multiple attestation is a helpful tool when looking at historical documents. Alternatively, in terms given by Bart Ehrman paraphrasing Earl Doherty, "the historical Jesus did not exist. The words attributed to Jesus on the bread and wine during the Last Supper (found in Mark, Paul, the Didache and arguably in John) and on divorce (found in Mark and Paul) are examples of sayings that are multiply attested. The criterion of multiple attestation or independent attestation is a tool used by Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from the Historical Jesus. Most Christians believe he is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. Still, this criterion, however useful, is typically one of a number of criteria, such as the criterion of discontinuity and the criterion of embarrassment, along with the historical method. A final example that shall be mentioned with regard to the attempt to establish a general Scholars differ on the beliefs and teachings of Jesus as well as the accuracy of the details of his life that have been described in the gospels, but virtually all scholars support the historicity of Jesus and reject the Christ myth theory that Jesus never existed. Criterion of Multiple Attestation If a saying appears in Mark, Q, and Gospel of Thomas, etc, this “triple attestation” that is more likely to be original. Criterion of Multiple Attestation. Matthew and Luke, for example, are likely dependent on Mark. The Jesus Seminar was a group of about 50 critical biblical scholars and 100 laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk that originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute. It seems that it only demonstrates that a tradition goes back to the early church, not necessarily a historical event. It is often used to examine the words and deeds of Jesus in the Gospels. See Criteria of authenticity and the Historical Jesus. Finally, there are some sayings or deeds of Jesus that only appear in one form or source that scholars still consider historically probable. For example, a saying that occurs in all three Synoptic Gospels may only represent one source. Criterion of Multiple Attestation There are two ways of formulating this criterion: (1) “A passage [i.e., a saying or story] is more likely to go back to Jesus if it has been preserved in two or more sources which are independent of each other.” Among these scholars was G.A Wells, a well-known mythicist who changed his mind and ultimately believed in a minimal historical Jesus. They look at Second Temple Judaism, the tensions, trends, and changes in the region under the influence of Hellenism and the Roman occupation, and the Jewish factions of the time, seeing Jesus as a Jew in this environment; and the written New Testament as arising from a period of oral gospel traditions after his death. Multiple attestation is not always a requisite for historicity, nor is it enough to determine accuracy by itself. Sanders, 323: "A passage is more likely to go back to Jesus if it has … the criterion of multiple attestation as well. Liked it? The gospels are not always independent of each other. What is the relation between Thomas and the Synoptics? In general (not just when applied to the Gospels), multiple attestation is not perfect. Required fields are marked *. MacDonald prefers to call this expanded version of Q Logoi of Jesus, which is supposed to have been its original title. Examples of its use. Attestation is the act of witnessing the signing of a formal document and then also signing it to verify that it was properly signed. While textual analysis of biblical sources had taken place for centuries, these quests introduced new methods and specific techniques to establish the historical validity of their conclusions. For the other podcasts mentioned in this episode, go here. Under the two-source hypothesis, both the authors of the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke used the Gospel of Mark in their writings; therefore, triple-tradition material represents only a single source, Mark. Criteria of authenticity, whose roots go back to before the pioneering work of Albert Schweitzer, have become a unifying feature of the so-called Third Quest for the Historical Jesus, finding a prominent and common place in the research of otherwise differing scholars. A criterion used by biblical scholars to determine the authenticity of a textual element—multiple different sources attesting to the same material increases the likelihood that the material is original. NT Pod 61 discusses the Criterion of Multiple Attestation in Historical Jesus research. NT Pod 61 discusses the Criterion of Multiple Attestation in Historical Jesus research. some discussion that modern scholarship is moving away from the idea of criteria (such as multiple attestation, dissimilarity, etc.) What's the Difference Between the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha? The baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist is a major event in the life of Jesus which is described in three of the gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. An example of an event that is multiply attested is Jesus's meeting with John the Baptist (found in Mark and John). If a story is found in Mark and a separate tradition is found in Matthew and Luke (common tradition between Matthew and Luke not found in Mark is often called Q), that is considered two sources. However, there are some misconceptions. The force of this criterion is increased if a given motif or theme is also found in different literary forms such as parables, dispute stories, miracle stories, prophecy, and/or aphorism. The crucifixion of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely between AD 34 and AD 35. These are very different, these are very different criteria; and … Historians use several tools to resolve these differences: Criterion of Embarrassment. The Independence hypothesis is a proposed solution to the synoptic problem. alternate case: criterion of multiple attestation. 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