The Reliability of the Gospels: The Synoptics and John

"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 2 in a 5 part series on 'The Reliability of the Gospels and Their Picture of Jesus'.

2. The Synoptics and John

The Synoptics and John present Jesus distinctly while getting to the same place. We will look at how this works and how they work together. "