The Reliability of the Gospels: How the Gospels Make the Case for Jesus

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

5. How the Gospels Make the Case for Jesus (Reliability of the Key Events in Jesus’ Life)

We will overview the significance of certain key events in Jesus’ life, utilising our discussion of cultural scripts and giving a core storyline for how the events tie together and show who Jesus is through what he does as much as by what he says."