( H 12) Summary Development of the Jesus Tradition

Was the New Testament a product of the early Christian

communities? YES

Was the early Christian church a product

of the NT? NO

Were the Church teachings-dogmas the product of the

New Testament writings? YES

This is the Process:

  From Jesus

     -> Early Christian Communities

-> NT writings

                -> Formation of Dogma

Going through these four Stages:

1. Jesus and the assent by the disciples - the root of all Christian tradition is to be found in the human person of Jesus Of Nazareth, his life and his teachings.

2. Witness of the Disciples = the oral tradition, happened in the time between the death of Jesus, and the first written gospel, approximately from 30-70.

3. The Early Church communities and the Evangelists. All the Gospels are: ‘a conscious rewording and remodeling of already existing understandings about Jesus and his teachings as received from the oral tradition’.

The gospel writers gathered these diverse collections to put together their gospels. [BDict]

4.Formation of Dogma took place during the 3rd and 4th c. with final decisions by the Councils.

Stage 1 will be treated in more detail when we talk about Jesus

Stage 2 & 3 we will talk about in this and the following lectures

Stage 4 will be looked at when we talk about the political impact on the formulation of the dogma (in Part III)

At Stage 3:

Be mindful that the gospel tradition is the result of a ongoing process of tradition, of passing on, transmitting ‘sayings’ of Jesus, and by doing so it is a process of re-interpretation and remodeling, which stretches

- from the original oral teaching of Jesus,

- through the oral transmission of the early Jesus-movement, the Q-people,

- through the first written documents, - sources other than the gospels, like 'Q' and Paul's writings

- down to the particular gospel.

Funk expresses it this way PP 3:

A very complex process is being represented schematically here:

Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God

      (e.g., in Parable)

First disciples talking about:

Jesus talking about the kingdom of God

      (e.g., Pronouncement Stories)

First disciples talking about:

Themselves talking about:

Jesus talking about the kingdom of God

      (e.g., Sons of Zebedee, Mark 10:35-45)

Community talking about:

First disciples talking about:

Jesus talking about the kingdom of God

      (e.g., Acts, Gospels)

Community talking about:

Itself talking about:

First disciples talking about:

Jesus talking about the kingdom of God

      (e.g., Galatians 1-2)

In this complex process a religious tradition was taking its rise,

and in these layers of talk something considered of great importance

was struggling to come to expression.