Diane Love Chapter 4

1. All of the Gospels authors were anonymous. This meant that the oral traditions were the main way to spread the Word. There weren't any people who actually witnessed the events talked about in the Gospels so the followers could only go by what they heard. Plus there was anywhere from 30-60 years of time that passed from the time that Jesus died and the Gospels were written.
2. The most important thing that was happening before the writing of the Gospels was the 11 men and seven women that were with him through thick and thin before and after the crucifixion . Paul was converting Jews and Gentiles to Christianity and by the end of 100 C.E there were Christians throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. Also in East Jordan not to mention Asia Minor, Macedonia and Greece. Also, Italy and Spain. The entire Southern Mediterranean was sought out by Christians attempting to convert everyone to the belief in the Son of God who took this part of the world by storm. The events talked about were Jesus' miraculous doings. Healing the sick, casting out evil spirits and saving his followers from the serpent were just a few of the things talked about through the oral traditions of the day. The emphasis was on the miracles He performed which had never been seen before.
3. The authors of the Gospels are questioned by scholars because of the timeline from the crucifixion to the writing of the text. The names came from parts unknown and the personas of the people named as writing them is questionable as to the beauty in which they wrote them. An act of God perhaps? Only He knows.
4. The biographies were like ancient ones. Comparing them to modern biographies there is not the vast amount of sources nor such a chronological list of the subjects' life stories. Ancient biographies were more of an oral way of telling the life of someone and more importantly, the ancient biography did not have such an emphasis on growing character of the person they were writing about. Chapter 5
1. The synoptic problem had to do with the inconsistencies of all of the Gospels. Especially the difference between the words of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The first is the reasoning of the "Markian Priority". Mark was the first Gospel written some 30 years before Matthew and Luke. Those two books are the most alike of the four but at the same time, they both have passages which are similar to the Gospel of Mark. But, it has been said that the sources for Luke and Matthew were all different. These sources are known as "Q" (qelle) but they are no longer available for cross-reference. The "M" and "L" sources make up the rest of the four-source hypothesis.
2. Mark saw Jesus for the martyr that many Christians make Him out to be. He saw Him as the Messiah whom God promised His People and the Old Testament prophesized that He would be killed by His own