07-10-2012, 07:24 PM
Tim,
"Ehrman and others consider it highly unlikely that aramaic speaking (and probably illiterate) jewish peasants from c 30 CE could've written gospels in refined Greek over half a century later."
I don't think you read my post above properly, as I have dealt with some of this for you already. I appreciate also the fact that you don't read Greek, but had you read this thread properly you would already know that of the four gospels, only Luke's is written in a more refined standard of Greek, and as I and others have already pointed out, there are valid grounds for accepting the possibility that this gospel was written by exactly the man it has always been believed it was written by. The other three gospels are written in a more basic standard of Greek and it would be reasonable to accept that they were dictated to scribes who wrote down what they were told.
I appreciate that Mr Ehrman has written much about textual criticism, but is he a noted scholar on levels of literacy in the ancient world or how society dealt with such issues? Also, if you are presenting his work faithfully, has he never met anyone who can speak more than one language, whether or not it was learnt at school? In addition to this, was he aware of the newly identified Dead Sea Scrolls material when he wrote? If not, some of the views expressed in his books may already be out of date.
"The gospels weren't even attributed to specific apostles until a century after they were written."
Well, as I think may have been mentioned already, we don't know this for sure. All we know is that the well known appellations were in use by the mid second century AD. That doesn't mean though that they only date to then, only that our earliest surviving references to the names date to then. It is a terminus ante quem, rather than a definite date of introduction. If you go away for a month and return home to find your wife has a new pair of shoes, does that in itself indicate that she has bought them only that morning or could it be that she bought them the day you went away and didn't tell you?
"It's most parsimonious to attribute them to unknown Greek christians born after the events of 30-33 CE."
Careful there. Make sure your windows are fully open before you cast stones. :wink:
Crispvs
"Ehrman and others consider it highly unlikely that aramaic speaking (and probably illiterate) jewish peasants from c 30 CE could've written gospels in refined Greek over half a century later."
I don't think you read my post above properly, as I have dealt with some of this for you already. I appreciate also the fact that you don't read Greek, but had you read this thread properly you would already know that of the four gospels, only Luke's is written in a more refined standard of Greek, and as I and others have already pointed out, there are valid grounds for accepting the possibility that this gospel was written by exactly the man it has always been believed it was written by. The other three gospels are written in a more basic standard of Greek and it would be reasonable to accept that they were dictated to scribes who wrote down what they were told.
I appreciate that Mr Ehrman has written much about textual criticism, but is he a noted scholar on levels of literacy in the ancient world or how society dealt with such issues? Also, if you are presenting his work faithfully, has he never met anyone who can speak more than one language, whether or not it was learnt at school? In addition to this, was he aware of the newly identified Dead Sea Scrolls material when he wrote? If not, some of the views expressed in his books may already be out of date.
"The gospels weren't even attributed to specific apostles until a century after they were written."
Well, as I think may have been mentioned already, we don't know this for sure. All we know is that the well known appellations were in use by the mid second century AD. That doesn't mean though that they only date to then, only that our earliest surviving references to the names date to then. It is a terminus ante quem, rather than a definite date of introduction. If you go away for a month and return home to find your wife has a new pair of shoes, does that in itself indicate that she has bought them only that morning or could it be that she bought them the day you went away and didn't tell you?
"It's most parsimonious to attribute them to unknown Greek christians born after the events of 30-33 CE."
Careful there. Make sure your windows are fully open before you cast stones. :wink:
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
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