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The historical reliability of the Gospels refers to the reliability and historic character of the four New Testament gospels as historical documents. Although some claim that all four canonical gospels meet the five criteria for historical reliability,〔Sanders, E. P. The historical figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993.〕 others say that little in the gospels is considered to be historically reliable.〔The Myth about Jesus, Allvar Ellegard 1992,〕〔Craig Evans, "Life-of-Jesus Research and the Eclipse of Mythology," Theological Studies 54 (1993) p. 5,〕〔Charles H. Talbert, What Is a Gospel? The Genre of Canonical Gospels pg 42 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977).〕〔“The Historical Figure of Jesus," Sanders, E.P., Penguin Books: London, 1995, p., 3.〕〔Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word (Vol. II): Meditations on the Gospel According to St. Matthew – Dr Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, Introduction〕〔Grant, Robert M., "A Historical Introduction to the New Testament" (Harper and Row, 1963) http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1116&C=1230〕 Almost all scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed,〔In a 2011 review of the state of modern scholarship, Bart Ehrman (a secular agnostic) wrote: "He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees" B. Ehrman, 2011 ''Forged : writing in the name of God'' ISBN 978-0-06-207863-6. page 285〕〔Robert M. Price (an atheist) who denies the existence of Jesus agrees that this perspective runs against the views of the majority of scholars: Robert M. Price "Jesus at the Vanishing Point" in ''The Historical Jesus: Five Views'' edited by James K. Beilby & Paul Rhodes Eddy, 2009 InterVarsity, ISBN 0830838686 page 61〕〔Michael Grant (a classicist) states that "In recent years, 'no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non historicity of Jesus' or at any rate very few, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary." in ''Jesus'' by Michael Grant 2004 ISBN 1898799881 page 200〕〔Richard A. Burridge states: "There are those who argue that Jesus is a figment of the Church’s imagination, that there never was a Jesus at all. I have to say that I do not know any respectable critical scholar who says that any more." in ''Jesus Now and Then'' by Richard A. Burridge and Graham Gould (Apr 1, 2004) ISBN 0802809774 page 34〕 but scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the Biblical accounts of Jesus,〔''Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee'' by Mark Allan Powell 1998 ISBN 0-664-25703-8 page 181〕 and the only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate.〔''Jesus Remembered'' by James D. G. Dunn 2003 ISBN 0-8028-3931-2 page 339 states of baptism and crucifixion that these "two facts in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent".〕〔''Prophet and Teacher: An Introduction to the Historical Jesus'' by William R. Herzog (Jul 4, 2005) ISBN 0664225284 pages 1-6〕 Elements whose historical authenticity is disputed include the two accounts of the Nativity of Jesus, the miraculous events including the resurrection, and certain details about the crucifixion.〔Who is Jesus? Answers to your questions about the historical Jesus, by John Dominic Crossan, Richard G. Watts (Westminster John Knox Press 1999), page 108〕〔James G. D. Dunn, ''Jesus Remembered'', (Eerdmans, 2003) page 779-781.〕〔Rev. John Edmunds, 1855 ''The seven sayings of Christ on the cross'' Thomas Hatchford Publishers, London, page 26〕〔Stagg, Evelyn and Frank. ''Woman in the World of Jesus.'' Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1978 ISBN 0-664-24195-6〕〔Funk, Robert W. and the Jesus Seminar. ''The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus.'' HarperSanFrancisco. 1998. "Empty Tomb, Appearances & Ascension" p. 449-495.〕〔Bruce M. Metzger's ''Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament'': is missing in some important early witnesses, varies between the Alexandrian and Western versions.〕 According to the majority viewpoint the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, collectively referred to as the Synoptic Gospels, are the primary sources of historical information about Jesus and of the religious movement he founded.〔〔"The Synoptic Gospels, then, are the primary sources for knowledge of the historical Jesus" "Jesus Christ." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 27 November 2010 ().〕〔Vermes, Geza. The authentic gospel of Jesus. London, Penguin Books. 2004.〕 The fourth gospel, the Gospel of John, differs greatly from the first three gospels. Historians often study the historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles when studying the reliability of the gospels, as Acts was seemingly written by the same author as the ''Gospel of Luke''. Historians subject the gospels to critical analysis, attempting to differentiate rather authentic, reliable information from possible inventions, exaggerations, and alterations.〔Sanders, E. P. ''The historical figure of Jesus''. Penguin, 1993.〕 Since there are more textual variants in the New Testament (200-400 thousand) than it has letters (c. 140 thousand),〔Bart D. Ehrman: ''Misquoting Jesus - The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why'', p. 90 ((review) ).〕 scholars use textual criticism to determine which gospel variants could theoretically be taken as 'original'. To answer this question, scholars have to ask who wrote the gospels, when they wrote them, what was their objective in writing them,〔 what sources the authors used, how reliable these sources were, and how far removed in time the sources were from the stories they narrate, or if they were altered later. Scholars can also look into the internal evidence of the documents, to see if, for example, the document is misquoting texts from the Hebrew Tanakh, is making claims about geography that were incorrect, if the author appears to be hiding information, or if the author has made up a certain prophecy.〔The Gospel of Matthew claims, the title Nazarene for Jesus was derived from the prophecy "He will be called a Nazorean" (), despite the lack of any Old Testament source.〕 Finally, scholars turn to external sources, including the testimony of early church leaders, writers outside the church (mainly Jewish and Greco-Roman historians) who would have been more likely to have criticized the early churches, and to archaeological evidence. ==Methodology== When judging the historical reliability of the gospels, scholars ask if the accounts in the gospels are, when judged using normal standards that historians use on other ancient writings, reliable or not.〔"Historicity", ''(The Oxford English Dictionary )''.〕 The main issues are what are the 'original' gospels, whether the original gospel works were accurate eyewitness accounts, and whether those original versions have been transmitted accurately through the ages to us. In evaluating the historical reliability of the Gospels, scholars consider a number of factors. These include authorship and date of composition,〔Craig L. Blomberg, ''Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey'' (2nd Edition).425.〕 intention and genre,〔Paul Rhodes Eddy & Gregory A. Boyd, ''The Jesus Legend:A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition.'' (2008, Baker Academic).309-262.〕 gospel sources and oral tradition,〔Craig L. Blomberg, ''Historical Reliability of the Gospels'' (1986, Inter-Varsity Press).19-72.〕〔Paul Rhodes Eddy & Gregory A. Boyd, ''The Jesus Legend:A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition.'' (2008, Baker Academic).237-308.〕 textual criticism,〔Craig L. Blomberg, ''Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey'' (2nd Edition).424.〕 and historical authenticity of specific sayings and narrative events.〔 The genre of the gospels is essential in understanding the intentions of the authors regarding the historical value of the texts. New Testament scholar Graham Stanton states that "the gospels are now widely considered to be a sub-set of the broad ancient literary genre of biographies."〔Graham Stanton, ''Jesus and Gospel.'' p.192.〕 Charles H. Talbert agrees that the gospels should be grouped with the Graeco-Roman biographies, but adds that such biographies included an element of mythology, and that the synoptic gospels also included elements of mythology.〔 E.P. Sanders states that “these Gospels were written with the intention of glorifying Jesus and are not strictly biographical in nature.”〔 Ingrid Maisch and Anton Vögtle writing for Karl Rahner in his encyclopedia of theological terms indicate that the gospels were written primarily as theological, not historical items.〔Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi by Karl Rahner 2004 ISBN 0-86012-006-6 pages 730-741〕 Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis notes that "we must conclude, then, that the genre of the Gospel is not that of pure 'history'; but neither is it that of myth, fairy tale, or legend. In fact, 'gospel' constitutes a genre all its own, a surprising novelty in the literature of the ancient world."〔 Some critics have maintained that Christianity is not founded on a historical figure, but rather on a mythical creation.〔Examples of authors who argue the Jesus myth hypothesis: Thomas L. Thompson ''The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David '' (Jonathan Cape, Publisher, 2006); Michael Martin, ''The Case Against Christianity'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991), 36–72; John Mackinnon Robertson〕 This view proposes that the idea of Jesus was the Jewish manifestation of a pan-Hellenic cult, known as Osiris-Dionysus,〔Freke, Timothy and Gandy, Peter (1999) The Jesus Mysteries. London: Thorsons (Harper Collins)〕 which acknowledged the non-historic nature of the figure, using it instead as a teaching device. Scholars tend to consider Luke's works (Luke-Acts) to be closer in genre to "pure" history,〔〔〔Richard Bauckham, ''Jesus and the Eyewitnesses''. 117.〕 although they also note that “This is not to say that he () was always reliably informed, or that - any more than modern historians - he always presented a severely factual account of events.”〔 New Testament scholar, James D.G. Dunn believes that "the earliest tradents within the Christian churches () preservers more than innovators...seeking to transmit, retell, explain, interpret, elaborate, but not create ''de novo''...Through the main body of the Synoptic tradition, I believe, we have in most cases direct access to the teaching and ministry of Jesus as it was remembered from the beginning of the transmission process (which often predates Easter) and so fairly direct access to the ministry and teaching of Jesus through the eyes and ears of those who went about with him."〔James D.G. Dunn, "Messianic Ideas and Their Influence on the Jesus of History," in ''The Messiah'', ed. James H. Charlesworth. pp. 371-372. Cf. James D.G. Dunn, ''Jesus Remembered''.〕 Nevertheless, David Jenkins, a former Anglican Bishop of Durham and university professor, has stated that “Certainly not! There is absolutely no certainty in the New Testament about anything of importance.”〔(), retrieved 15nov2010〕 Critical scholars have developed a number of criteria to evaluate the probability, or historical authenticity, of an attested event or saying represented in the gospels. These criteria are applied to the gospels in order to help scholars in reconstructions of the Historical Jesus. The criterion of dissimilarity argues that if a saying or action is dissimilar to, or contrary to, the views of Judaism in the context of Jesus or the views of the early church, then it can more confidently be regarded as an authentic saying or action of Jesus.〔Norman Perrin, ''Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus'' 43.〕〔Christopher Tuckett, "Sources and Method" in ''The Cambridge Companion to Jesus.'' ed. Markus Bockmuehl. 132.〕 One commonly cited example of this is Jesus' controversial reinterpretation of the Mosaic law in his Sermon on the Mount, or Peter's decision to allow uncircumcised gentiles into what was, at the time, a sect of Judaism. The criterion of embarrassment holds that the authors of the gospels had no reason to invent embarrassing incidents such as the denial of Jesus by Peter, or the fleeing of Jesus' followers after his arrest, and therefore such details would likely not have been included unless they were true.〔Meier, John P., ''A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus'', Doubleday: 1991. vol 1: pp. 168–171.〕 Bart Ehrman, using the criterion of dissimilarity to judge the historical reliability of the claim Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, notes that "it is hard to imagine a Christian inventing the story of Jesus' baptism since this could be taken to mean that he was John's subordinate."〔Bart D. Ehrman, ''The New Testament:A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings.''194-5.〕 The criterion of multiple attestation says that when two or more independent sources present similar or consistent accounts, it is more likely that the accounts are accurate reports of events or that they are reporting a tradition which pre-dates the sources themselves.〔The criteria for authenticity in historical-Jesus research: previous discussion and new proposals, by Stanley E. Porter, pg. 118〕 This is often used to note that the four gospels attest to most of the same events, but that Paul's epistles often attest to these events as well, as do the writings of the early church, and to a limited degree non-Christian ancient writings. The criterion of cultural and historical congruency says that a source is less credible if the account contradicts known historical facts, or if it conflicts with cultural practices common in the period in question.〔The criteria for authenticity in historical-Jesus research: previous discussion and new proposals, by Stanley E. Porter, pg. 119〕 It is, therefore, more credible if it agrees with those known facts. For example, this is often used when assessing the reliability of claims in Luke-Acts, such as the official title of Pontius Pilate. Through linguistic criteria a number of conclusions can be drawn. The criterion of "Aramaisms" as it is often referred〔Bart D. Ehrman, ''The New Testament:A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings.''193.〕 holds that if a saying of Jesus has Aramaic roots, reflecting Jesus' Palestinian context, the saying is more likely to be authentic.〔Stanley E. Porter, ''The Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research: previous discussion and new proposals.''127.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Historical reliability of the Gospels」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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