What memories does the New Testament come from?

Answer 1

The New Testament consists of books that purport to tell a history of early Christianity, such as some of the epistles, the gospels and Acts of the Apostles, and books that provide instruction and revelation, such as others of the epistles, Hebrews and Revelation. It is the first class of book that relies on memories of events that may have occurred.

With the possible exception of Hebrews, the epistles of Paul were based on his own experiences and understanding of Christianity, as well as instructions and negotiations with the churches he was associated with. He must have received some information from predecessors, in order to be able to state confidently that the risen Jesus was seen by Cephas, then the twelve, then by more than 500, most of whom were still alive, then by James and all the apostles. That this account is so much at variance with the gospel account suggests that he did not receive it from any eyewitnesses. Moreover, Paul implied that the appearances were all of the same nature, suggesting that all of the appearances to Cephas, the twelve, James and the apostles were no more real than the spiritual appearance he experienced. His source for this information appears to have been preaching a more spiritual Jesus.

It has been shown, and is accepted by most scholars, that the authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke relied on the Gospel of Mark for their knowledge of the life and mission of Jesus. They were not, themselves, actual eyewitnesses or associates of eyewitnesses, as was traditionally supposed. Bishop Spong (Born of a Woman: A bishop rethinks the birth of Jesus) argues convincingly that the two gospel stories of the birth of Jesus are not historical accounts. So we do not need to wonder what memories these were based on, or how the evangelists could have known of family events occurring around a hundred years earlier. Similarly, Father Raymond E Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says that the gospel genealogies of Jesus are unlikely to be literally true.

It has also been shown that John's Gospel was based on Luke's Gospel and, to a lesser extent, Mark's Gospel.

So all the gospel memories lead back to the Gospel According to St Mark. This has some parallels to Paul's epistles and it has been suggested that the author of Mark was able to take some key names and events from Paul's epistles and weave a story around them. The gospel memories may have begun with Paul.