Actually, I am quite surprised at how small the differences are between the gospels. I don't know enough about it to know if the gospels were written "independently" i.e. how far removed the author of the second gospel was from the readers of the first, and so on. I think most people accept these inaccuracies and differences because they know that they're inevitable. What people are looking for is a general agreement, so if one person told you something happened on a certain day, but someone else told you something happened on the next day, this would be generally acceptable (unless the date itself is critical). Most people would expect some stories to add detail, others to change or be devoid of detail. People read the patchwork and make a quilt. That seems reasonable, in daily life.
So quibbling over small details doesn't seem very helpful.
What is fascinating is what the original story might have been, where all the supernatural elements came from (previous prophesies, other religions), and how the two were combined.. by whom, when, and for what purpose exactly.
At the end of the day, *something* happened that was worth talking about. It would be fascinating to know if it was a tiny insignificant thing that was blown out of proportion by one or two people - and then it went viral (just like on the internet today), or whether there was any substance to the story that was worth talking about in the first place. And then, who put the supernatural stuff in - was that just people saying "oh yeah, that could've been this or that", or was it contrived by a few powerful literate people?
I am an atheist and am not sure if I believe a character called Jesus ever existed. I certainly don't believe anything miraculous or supernatural happened. Still fascinating though.
So quibbling over small details doesn't seem very helpful.
What is fascinating is what the original story might have been, where all the supernatural elements came from (previous prophesies, other religions), and how the two were combined.. by whom, when, and for what purpose exactly.
At the end of the day, *something* happened that was worth talking about. It would be fascinating to know if it was a tiny insignificant thing that was blown out of proportion by one or two people - and then it went viral (just like on the internet today), or whether there was any substance to the story that was worth talking about in the first place. And then, who put the supernatural stuff in - was that just people saying "oh yeah, that could've been this or that", or was it contrived by a few powerful literate people?
I am an atheist and am not sure if I believe a character called Jesus ever existed. I certainly don't believe anything miraculous or supernatural happened. Still fascinating though.
