Embellishments in the Gospel of Mark.

[Godscreated]

They may have "gathered" nothing other than each others works and whatever common anecdotes were popular at the time.  The q hypothesis states, effectively, that there was a group of cynic philosophers, and this movement can be traced back to 500bc at least...and that notions common to this movement formed the basis of whatever various authors attributed to whatever or whomever the gospel authors may have -assumed- to be historical..or just straight up made up.

I think that you might really want to curb the use of phrases like "no doubt exists" and..if the aim is to identify how we might -establish- a historical jesus, try to move beyond the point of assuming one as part of that process.  Those two items lead directly to the failure of historians to identify a historical jesus in the first place, or even be able to agree on who it is they're trying to identify.

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Hell, at some point, you may even want to consider whether the question is fundamentally malformed.  When we discuss these things, are we actually working around the history of some man or the history of a story?

The question "how do historians expect to establish the authentic character of the person" may actually be "how do historians attempt to establish the authentic motivations of the authors".

I am convinced that the historical Jesus was a real individual, which, as I have stated before, was born in northern Galilee.  The son of a carpenter, Jesus likely suffered from some mental illness, turning in his 20s into a Jewish apocalyptic prophet, who preached that the "Son of Man" (an angel from Heaven) would soon come to destroy the Roman control over Palestine.  Encouraged by his followers, he took his message to Jerusalem, and shortly arriving, went into the Temple to preach his message.  An altercation ensued and the Romans were on the scene almost immediately, and after arresting Jesus, they threw him into the Roman jail ("tank").  After a brief examination by a Roman proconsul, the local Jewish authorities (not Herod) were consulted (the Romans were federalists.)  The proconsul summarily found Jesus guilty of sedition against the Empire, and Pilate signed the order for Jesus' execution without the two ever meeting in person.  Jesus was executed by crucifixion the next day (Friday), and after his death, his body was removed from his cross, thrown into a nearby pit where it was consumed by ravenous dogs and birds of prey.

Interesting, and you get your facts from where. By the way Matthew was a eyewitness, he was one of the twelve disciples. We know he wrote his gospel before the late 60's.

GC