how does ehrman know that jesus' teaching about love go back to him?
Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2022 11:13 pm
BDEhrman September 17, 2022 at 5:24 pm - Reply
I think a lot of them go back to him; it has to be decided on a case by case basis of course — and that leads to problems. E.g., both the Parable of the Good Samaritan and that of the Sheep and Goats are found in only one source. Ugh! Well, decisions have bo be made, and there are grounds for making them other than independent attestation. But the love sayings are so striking and numerous that some of them almost surely go back to Jesus, I would say. I certainly *consider* whether they were all put on Jesus’ lips, but some of them (Sheep and Goats) contain elements almost certainly not fabricated by others (the idea, e.g., that salvation could come to those who had never even heard of Jesus, let alone believed in him)
how is "striking and numerous" evidence ? he says "some of them" so then others which are "striking and numerous" do not go back to jesus?
I think a lot of them go back to him; it has to be decided on a case by case basis of course — and that leads to problems. E.g., both the Parable of the Good Samaritan and that of the Sheep and Goats are found in only one source. Ugh! Well, decisions have bo be made, and there are grounds for making them other than independent attestation. But the love sayings are so striking and numerous that some of them almost surely go back to Jesus, I would say. I certainly *consider* whether they were all put on Jesus’ lips, but some of them (Sheep and Goats) contain elements almost certainly not fabricated by others (the idea, e.g., that salvation could come to those who had never even heard of Jesus, let alone believed in him)
how is "striking and numerous" evidence ? he says "some of them" so then others which are "striking and numerous" do not go back to jesus?