The Reliability of the Gospels: The Role of Cultural Scripts

Many people question whether the New Testament Gospels can be trusted, given they were written decades after the events they portray and with some debate about whether we can know who wrote them. Does the combination of eyewitnesses, oral culture, tradition, and the floating nature of memory work well in an ancient setting that produced these four key books of the Bible? This class will consider how the Gospels emerged in an oral cultural context with a note about how the tradition worked, how the Gospels relate to each other (especially the relationship between the Synoptics and John), dealing with the differences between them, the role of cultural background, and finally a look at how the Gospels make a case for who Jesus is.

This is Part 4 in a 5 part series on 'The Reliability of the Gospels and Their Picture of Jesus'.

4. The Role of Cultural Scripts

Cultural scripts are shorthand in which much can be said in a brief space because the writer and audience share that background. We will examine how this opens up how the Gospels, especially the Synoptics, present Jesus.