An introduction to:
“Jesus Emerges from the Historical-Critical Fog – On the Catholic Campus”
Jerome D. Gilmartin – July 3, 2017
It is a sad irony that while Catholic evangelists — many associated with EWTN — strive mightily and prayerfully to advance the New Evangelization, most Catholic colleges, universities and seminaries cast doubt on the canonical Gospels — and therefore on Jesus as our Divine Savior and risen Redeemer — and have done so since soon after the close of Vatican II in 1965.
In 2002, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger noted that the historical-critical Two-Source Theory, a.k.a. the Markan Priority Two-Source Hypothesis (MPTSH) is “accepted today by almost everyone.” Four years later, as Pope Benedict XVI, he wrote with deep concern:
“As historical-critical scholarship advanced . . . the figure of Jesus — became increasingly obscured and blurred . . . Intimate friendship with Jesus, on which everything depends, is in danger of clutching at thin air.”
Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, xii, ©2006
However, scholars in two different disciplines have published works which, in combination, provide a compelling reason for Catholic colleges, universities and seminaries to discontinue teaching the faith-undermining MPTSH as the “best working hypothesis” and begin teaching the faith-affirming Matthean Priority Two Gospel Hypothesis as the best hypothesis:
The chief weaknesses of the MPTSH as championed by Raymond E. Brown, S.S. in Catholic academia are two essential assumptions: (a) That “Q,” — a collection of the supposed sayings of Jesus — exists, although never found or referred to by early Church writers or others and, (b) That, as Fr. Brown wrote, “no one of the evangelists was an eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus. Rather the evangelists were ‘second generation’ Christians…” (Biblical Exegesis and Church Doctrine, 14).
The Matthean Priority Two-Gospel Hypothesis is not dependent on “Q,” nor on the Gospels having been written by anonymous second-generation Christians. By any objective measure this comparison alone would mean that, as “best working hypothesis,” this faith-affirming hypothesis should replace the MPTSH, the hypothesis associated with relegating seeking Jesus to “clutching at thin air.”
With this change the many Catholic colleges, universities and seminaries that now teach the MPTSH would join the few that now teach the historical authenticity of the canonical Gospels. The result would be that instruction at all Catholic centers of higher learning would be in full accord with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition; a “sure norm for teaching the faith,” as affirmed by Pope John Paul II.
Although Peabody, McNicol and Cope do not suggest that the canonical Greek Synoptic Gospels are translations or largely translations of earlier Semitic Gospels, the Matthean Priority Two-Gospel Hypothesis becomes more credible in light of Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship; not made untenable by it as is the MPTSH.
“Jesus Emerges from the Historical-Critical Fog – On the Catholic Campus,” from which these points are drawn, can be viewed at http://7stepcatholic.org. Comments are welcome.
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