A friend on facebook wrote, "James, ...I recently learned that the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were not written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, respectively. Who did write them? And, also, if no one was actually at the Garden of Gesemity, then how do we really know what happened there? This is of high interest for me and your expertise would be invaluable. -C."
Great question, C.
Like so many important questions about the Bible and the Christian Faith, not everyone agrees. I'll try to break it down into three camps, conservative, moderate, and liberal views. Keep in mind that those distinctions are somewhat arbitrary, that there is a great diversity of opinion out there, and I'm using "broad brush strokes" to paint a big picture.
THE CONSERVATIVE VIEW of AUTHORSHIP: Scripture is written by those bearing the titles of the books. So, for instance, The Gospel of Matthew was written by St. Matthew, The Gospel of John was written by St. John, etc. This is especially true of books that say they are written by someone. The Gospel of Luke/The Acts of the Apostles, a 2 volume set, explicitley say that they are written by Luke.
THE LIBERAL VIEW of AUTHORSHIP: Scripture has been written by many authors, edited, amended, redacted, and changed over time by scribes, scholars, and the communities the read them. This view tends to challenge authorship the most. Ironically, this doesn't bothers liberal thinkers in the least. Rather, it points to how the Holy Spirit has been and continues to be active in the inspiration and formation of the Church.
A MODERATE or "VIA MEDIA" VIEW of AUTHORSHIP: This view holds that some of the books are written by their namesakes and some are not. Scholarship helps us figure it out. While authorship is important, Scripture is Scripture because God has made it so and the community has recognized God's continued action in and through it. This view tries to balance rigourous scrutiny and criticism (Liberal ideals) with the ultimate understanding that Scripture holds authority over our faith (Conservative ideals).
C., I hold the moderate view, myself. And so here are my opinions based on the scholarship I am aware of:
MARK: The first Gospel written was Mark. It is unlikely, yet still very possible, that it was written by John Mark who accompanied the apostle St. Peter on his missionary journeys and perhaps recorded Peter's thoughts. It was written around the time of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem (A.D. 70), while many of the Apostles (Peter, James, John, etc.) and their disciples (Mark, Luke, Timothy, etc.) were living and so has the greatest chance of being the work of one of 12 Apostles or their disciples. It is doubtful that it would have survived without having accurately exemplified the teachings of the 12 Disciples.
MATTHEW/LUKE: Matthew and Luke were probably written a little later by the disciples of the 12 Disciples (Barnabas, Clement, Mark, Luke, etc). They could very well be the collected teachings of their namesakes put into Gospel story form. It is also possible, though less likely, that they are the works or their namesakes. It is clear that both used Mark as a base and then made changes and additions as needed. The Gospel of Matthew was written for a Jewish audience. The Gospel of Luke (with it's second volume, The Acts of the Apostles) was written for a Gentile audience. Luke purposefully speaks of researching and collecting data, and thus probably represents the teachings of many apostles and leaders. This fits with what we know of St. Luke's experience of traveling to the various Gentile churches with St. Paul.
JOHN: The Gospel of John was written very late, perhaps A.D. 90 - 120, when Christians were being alienated from mainstream Judaism and persecuted for their faith. Thus is takes a pretty harsh tone towards "The Jews". To modern understanding, it is probably more accurate to read "the Jews" as "the Judeans". Anyway, it was probably written by the disciples of John or the disciples of the disciples of John, and not John himself. St. John was the last of the 12 Disciples to die and the only one to die of old age. Thus the late date of the Gospel makes sense. At best it was dictated by St. John. Otherwise, it is St. John's teachings remembered and collected by his students and written down by one author.
One last thing to keep in mind: Our understanding of authorship is not the same as the ancient understanding. Many people did not write, some could read, but most were illiterate. When writing a letter or a book, a person hired a scribe who would take down what one dictated. Part of the job description of the scribe was to make the work clear to the reader and thus a scribe might put in phrases or words to further clarify what the speaker was trying to communicate. The final work was still considered authentically the work of the speaker so long as the ideas contained therein were preserved acurately. By those standards, any Gospel that preserves the acurate thoughts and message of its namesake can be considered to be authored by that person.
I hope that helps!
Fr. James+
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