Could the disciples of Jesus have remembered His teachings accurately enough for them to be reliably recorded in the Gospels? Oral transmission sounds so unreliable from our modern perspective, but it was a common method in ancient times. I’ve read several articles recently on how modern technology is hindering our memories. We can quickly look things up, rather than having to focus on information more deeply and remember it.
Craig Keener discusses the oral transmission of the Gospels in this 6 minute video. Hope you’ll give it 6 minutes of your time – Keener makes a number of good points.
This was absolutely fascinating, Laura. He made a great point when he asked why we should think that all the other teachers in antiquity had disciples who could remember accurately what they said, but we cast doubt on Jesus’ followers because of a standard not applied to anyone else. Good question.
Tim
Thanks for your comment Tim. Keener made so many good points in only 6 minutes that could all be expanded on further. Besides the one you mention, I appreciated the difference made between chain transmission vs. net transmission.
Enlightening video. Just found your blog through reading over at Tim’s.
Thanks Josh. Craig Keener has a lot of worthwhile material on these (and other) issues…books, a web site, etc. His site is here: http://www.craigkeener.com/
Tim is great at helping bloggers connect and network! Thanks Tim, and thanks Josh for following over to my blog.