RE: Dating Paul's Writings
July 28, 2018 at 8:34 pm
(This post was last modified: July 28, 2018 at 8:34 pm by JairCrawford.)
(July 28, 2018 at 1:37 am)Minimalist Wrote: People seem to see what they want to see.
http://gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/grsm_...uthors.htm
Quote:Passing to Justin Martyr; the evidence as to quotations found in his writings (145-149 A.D.) is especially valuable owing to its greater richness. Dr. Abbott concludes that Justin knew the Synoptic writings but not Jn. But the knowledge by Justin of the Synoptics has been hotly contested both because of the great freedom with which Justin treats the alleged quotations, and also because of several statements he makes on important points which prove conclusively that Justin used other accounts of the nativity and baptism than those in Mt. and Lk. The wide variation also of Justin's quotations from the present text of the Synoptics shows either quotations from memory, or that the original text of the first three Gospels differed very greatly from our present text.
What all of the scholars mentioned fail to consider, including the author, is the possibility/probability that the synoptics were works-in-progress at the time in question. Again, we have no evidence at all that there was any sort of xtian canon prior to Marcion, and xtian writers tell us as much, and it makes a great deal of sense that people thought the idea of writing this shit down made sense even if they didn't agree with Marcion's take on it. But these things take time. They weren't done when Justin was writing but they were by the time Irenaeus attached the names to them.
I agree. There is no evidence for a Christian canon yet, but Justin Martyr's knowledge of these verses, or what would become verses, is still very important. And on top of that, the traditions surrounding Jesus that he knows is significant as well. The Bethlehem tradition especially surprised me.
Other things of note that I thought interesting is that Justin Martyr does not seem to have a complete understanding of the concept of the Trinity yet, ranking God first, Christ second, and the Spirit third. But this makes sense because this was pre Nicene Coucil.
Also, his writings are not as apostolic as I would have suspected, but rather very proto-Catholic. That surprised me.