Subject: Re: Mary Magdalene: Author of the Fourth Gospel?
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 08:30:31 GMT
From:  (Nigel B. Mitchell)
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian

On Sun, 31 Jan 1999 07:58:21 GMT,  (Graeme)
wrote:

>I'm not getting into a discussion on authorship as I am quite
>satisfied with the long-held view that Matthew wrote Matthew, Mark
>wrote Mark as it was dictated by the apostle Peter, Luke wrote Luke
>and Acts, and John wrote John. 

Hi, Graeme,
Are you basing this on Irenaeus, the Muratorian canon, the
tradition of the church, or some other source?

As you rightly point out (and I said much the same thing
earlier), it is the message that counts, not the identity of the
author. Authorship is, however, and interesting and sometimes
illuminating study. 

You have said in the past that you do not think that John 8:1-11
is written by the same author as the rest of the Gospel. Your
decision on that point was based, if I recall correctly, on
manuscript evidence and internal consistency of language and
content. You make the same decision with regard to the longer and
shorter endings to Mark. On the other hand, you reject as
"liberal nonsense" documentary hypothesis on the formation of the
Pentateuch. In the past you have similarly rejected the
suggestion that, based on similar evidence, the pastoral epistles
should be attributed to a different author to the other pauline
epistles, and the authorship of some or all of Colossians and
Ephesians should also be cast into some degree of doubt. You seem
to know with a high degree of certainty who wrote what, and I
would be very interested to know on what that certainty is based.

You have branded this discussion 'boring", so perhaps you will
not reply to this post, and allow someone else to do so, or let
the thread wither. If you do have the time, I would be very
interested to know what sources, ancient or modern, inform your
'satisfaction' with the traditional attributions of authorship
with regard to the four Gospels.

Cheers

N+

Nigel B. Mitchell