GRGR: Gospels & stuff

[rj]

> Is this distinction between Thomas' 'stenography' and
> the other Gospels 'evangelism' really valid?  Doesn't
> this rest on the assumption that Thomas really wrote
> the text?  I've heard lots of scholars question the
> historical authorship of the other Gospels. 
> "Compilations" was a description used here earlier.

It's the difference between writing a story where Jesus says such and
such after he performs this or that miracle, or after such and such
happens, or comparing what he says with what Solomon/the Pharisees/the
Philistines etc are up to; and simply keeping a list of what He said
without such narrative embellishments. I guess both could equally be
elaborate frauds, or oral traditions passed down (and altered, or
tweaked, along the way). Or, as Doug cites, hoaxes.

> > 
> > Beyond all that, there are many who would call all
> > Biblical text a form of "dictation,"  from God's mouth
> > to the scribe's pen. 

You? Even the Vatican is bending on this one I think.

best