re: #273 freetoken

The Synoptic Gospels are not independent material.

a popular theory, somewhat borne out by the ‘gospel of thomas’, is that the synoptic gospels all draw on ‘sayings gospels’ that were more direct transcriptions of the actual preacher - this theory tends to suppose that there was a real person or persons who originated the preachings

i think the interesting question is who originated the sermons and quotes attributed to jesus? this is a bit like saying shakespeare didnt write shakespeare - the answer is that whoever it was who wrote the plays and sonnets - we can call that person “shakespeare” for the sake of convenience

who wrote “jesus”?

And the 4th Gospel is clearly influenced by the Synoptics. They are not independent things.

john be tripping. he is one tripped out hippie

I am now convinced that the Synoptic Gospels started their literary lives as the material of Passion plays. That is, religious ceremonies would have plays around Passover based on the then-removed-from-Palestine-by-the-Romans Jewish cults that followed key personages of the 1st century.

that’s a new one on me. what are the historical sources that describe these very early passion plays? im only familiar with the much later medieval christian ones…