The Origins of Christianity and the New Testament. Rebecca I. Denova

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       Language The four gospels are written in Greek (the common language for government, education, and trade in the Eastern Empire). However, the tradition was that Jesus spoke Aramaic, a Semitic language from Syria that arose in the sixth century bce. It was adopted by Jews in the region of the Galilee and parts of Judea after the period known as “the Exile.” It shares many loan words with Hebrew and was also written in a form of Hebrew script.To determine if a saying of Jesus was original, scholars translated the Greek text of Mark into Aramaic. If it “worked,” meaning not just a word-for-word translation, but grammatically, syntax, etc., it did not prove that Jesus said it, but went into a pile as “perhaps.” On the other hand, if it could not be translated correctly, it was thrown out.Some scholars have now challenged this criterion as archaeology continues to provide more information on the region. Towns and cities in the first century were “mixed,” meaning that Jews and Gentiles lived side by side and shared many cultural elements, such as theaters and baths. Shared cultural elements indicates more than one language. In other words, as Jesus traveled around the Galilee in these “mixed cities,” would he have been bilingual?

       Multiple-Attestation Multiple-Attestation as a test for Jesus sayings is often misunderstood. If a saying is “attested” (appears) in the four gospels, that does indicate four separate sources (and thus historical credibility). The other gospels used Mark as their source. Multiple-Attestation refers to a saying or deed of Jesus in the gospels that is found in another contemporary source or another New Testament document. Multiple-Attestation is rare and when scholars find it, it is a “gem” in the research. Two examples of this are in Mark and Paul. Mark says that Jesus taught against divorce. Paul (writing earlier) knows this tradition where he cites “the Lord” as having taught it. Paul also repeats a Eucharistic formula (“This is my body…”) that repeats Mark’s words almost verbatim.

       Coherence This criterion is also known as that of “consistency.” If a saying of Jesus is already determined to be authentic, the material that “coheres” with the same concept or teaching can then be placed in the “probable” pile.

       Dissimilarity This criterion can be somewhat confusing, as it originally had two elements. A centuries-long tradition in Christian theology taught that Jesus came into the world to undo a corrupted Judaism. “Dissimilarity” became the idea that any sayings of Jesus against the “Judaism of his day” therefore must be historical. At the same time, any sayings of Jesus that went against the earliest Christian communities (the “church”) must be part of an earlier, original tradition.This criterion of “dissimilarity” has fallen out of use, as it was based on scholarly nuances and a priori decisions on what was historical and what was not. Instead, it has become part of what is now deemed the criterion of “embarrassment.” For example, Mark reported that when John the Baptist was in the wilderness “baptizing a repentance for the forgiveness of sins,” Jesus came to him and was baptized. Did this mean that Jesus had sinned? No one after Mark repeated this line. According to the criterion of “embarrassment,” there must have been an early and well-known tradition that John had baptized Jesus. Each of the gospels “edits” the story to help explain this tradition. In other words, this story was not likely “created” by the writers.The second quest is also noteworthy for the application of new methods of literary criticism in various approaches to ancient texts (see Box I.1).