a few last comments on the gospels

The more I think about Paul's letters, especially Romans where he seems to sum up his message in his longest text, the more I think that his lack of biographical data on Jesus reflects the fact that in the 50s among many christian communities in the Roman Empire there was very little known about the "historical" Jesus. Paul spent so many years with so many christians -- he went to Jerusalem and spoke to some of the apostles (see his version versus Luke's version in Acts) -- he knew other missionaries and disputed their gospels -- he was no isolated hermit. He lived fully in the early christian community, yet he seemed to know almost nothing about Jesus' life and teachings -- it was the functional value of the death/resurrection that was the whole point of Jesus for Paul, not what he said and did.

I conclude then that very little of what Jesus said and did was known to most early Christians in the 50s (CE) -- there is the death/resurrection, the last supper -- and that's about it!

Mark put together a rough gospel from what he knew in his community: Parables, healings, miracles, speeches. Matthew and Luke used this as the basis for their works, along with Q, L, and M. John wrote a gospel from a very different set of data. All of them linked events in JC's life to "biblical prophecies."

Read Randal Helms' Gospel Fictions -- he's got it! They are literary constructions using various oral stories and earlier written lists of JC sayings. The early christians believed that JC's life was foretold in the Bible (HB) -- so that by reading it they could "reconstruct" his life -- without knowing any (or very little) details from those who knew JC.

For example, since the Bible predicts that JC will be born in Bethlehem, they write up a story to show he was born there. A literary composition based on a belief in biblical prophecy -- not a story based in "fact."

Some parables probably do reflect what JC taught. He probably was a baptized follower of John the Baptist who then became a leader of his own group. He made some claims that upset the Romans and got him crucified. He claimed to his followers to be the Messiah, but not to the public directly.

the rest -- gospel fictions.