The Anonymous Gospel Manuscripts

[athrock]

http://christianity.stackexchange.com/qu...to-the-gos

Thanks.

The article that you cited is very instructive.

Ireanaeus (AD 120-AD 200) was a disciple of Polycarp (AD 69 - AD 155), and Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John (d. AD 95). Citing Papias (AD 70 - AD 153), another disciple of John, Irenaeus reports the authorship of Matthew and Mark. Schematically, knowledge of their authorship looks like this:

John > Papias > Irenaeus.

John told Papias who is cited by both Irenaeus and Eusebius. Papias is declaring authorship before the middle of the second century.

That's what? Two generations and less than 100 years overall from John's mouth to Papias's pen? This is long before the Council of Nicaea, long before the Edict of Milan, and long before skeptics want to acknowledge a canon.

So, there are two key points. First, this is really not a lot generations and time for the errors of the "Telephone Game" to take effect. John told Papias who the authors of the gospels were, and Papias wrote it down. Which is why believers do not accept that the authors of the gospels were anonymous or that the gospels were written as late as atheists try to claim.

Second, if you insist that 100 years is plenty of time (ignoring that the transmission from John to Papias was only one link in the chain), then I ask again:

Where are all of the anonymous copies of the gospels? What museums house these manuscripts?