Jesus Emerges from the Historical-Critical Fog – On the Catholic Campus

By Mr. Jerome Daniel Gilmartin

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) isaccepted 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:   

  1. The Birth of the Synoptic Gospels, © 1984, French; © 1987, English, by abbé Jean Carmignac. Having heeded the call of Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflante Spiritu that biblical scholars study Semitic languages, this eminent Hebraist studied the Dead Sea Scrolls (i.e., the Hebrew / Aramaic of the time of Christ as opposed to Old Testament and later Mishnaic Hebrew) for twenty years. He then concluded that the canonical Greek Matthew, Mark and sources of Luke were translations of earlier Gospels that may well have been written while the apostle-eyewitness Matthew, as well as Mark and Luke, lived; therefore, we can conclude, probably written by them. [Paul warned believers about letters falsely attributed to him (2 Thes 2:1-2)]. Abbé Carmignac cites more than thirty other scholars, some of whom found the canonical Greek Matthew, others Mark, to be a translation of an earlier Semitic Gospel written in either Hebrew or Aramaic. Abbé Carmignac soundly refuted the objection that the many Semitisms in the canonical Greek Gospels were the result of the writer imitating the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament in which many Hebraisms are found, or that they reflect the native language of the writer.  
  1. One Gospel from Two: Mark’s use of Matthew and Luke, © 2002, by three biblical scholars: David B. Peabody, Allan McNicol and Lamar Cope. This 427-page work of text criticism refutes the faith-undermining MPTSH and makes a compelling case for the faith-affirming Matthean Priority Two-Gospel Hypothesis. This hypothesis has earned peer recognition, as noted in The Synoptic Problem: Four Views, © 2016. In this latter book David B. Peabody defends the Matthean Priority Two-Gospel Hypothesis against the MPTSH and two other hypotheses, both Markan Priority.

 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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