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New Testament scholars often talk about "oral tradition" as a means by which material about Jesus reached the writers of the Gospels; but despite the recent flowering of interest in oral tradition, the study of memory, and the role of eye-witnesses, the latest scholarly advances have yet to fully penetrate the mainstream of academic Gospels scholarship, let alone the wider public. There is no convenient book-length treatment that can be used by students, or indeed by anyone else wishing to be informed about this crucial topic.
Behind the Gospels fills this gap, both by offering a general theoretical discussion of the nature of oral tradition and the formation of ancient texts, and by providing a critical survey of the field, from classical form-criticism down to the present day.
- Sales Rank: #1256728 in Books
- Published on: 2014-07-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.99" h x .48" w x 6.06" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 224 pages
About the Author
Eric Eve is fellow and tutor in theology at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, and is the author of The Jewish Context of Jesus' Miracles (2002) and The Healer from Nazareth: Jesus'Miracles in Historical Context (2009).
Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Scholarship, Buy this Book!
By Johnny Walker
In Behind the Gospels: Understanding the Oral Tradition, Eric Eve has made a judicious and much-appreciated contribution to the study of early Christianity. Being that it has only been in the last several decades, following the near implosion of form-criticism, that the oral tradition has earned a central role in the study of the Gospels and Christian origins, there is a shortage in up-to-date introductory material. It is this lacuna in scholarship that Eve satisfies—though his work is much more than that. Rather than be a strictly descriptive exercise, Eve makes a good deal of prescriptive contribution as well.
Eve begins his discussion by introducing readers to the preliminary matters of oral tradition. He offers a heuristic definition of oral tradition (in contradistinction to oral history and common conversation) and then charts out the relevant evidence for understanding ancient media.
The descriptive survey begins with a discussion of the form critical approach to the oral tradition behind the Gospels. Eve rightly employs Martin Dibelius and Rudolf Bultmann as key exemplars for detailing form criticism. After offering a fair exposition of this approach, Eve offers his own evaluation of its suitability as a model for understanding the oral tradition. Standing on the shoulders of practically all of recent scholarship, Eve practically dismantles it. Though, his critique is not limited to his direct attacks here. In many ways this whole book functions as an attempted ousting of form criticism.
If Eve’s handling of form criticism can be described as an attempt to depose a monarch, then what follows is the search for a new king. The quest begins with the Rabbinic model, as famously laid forth by Birger Gerhardsson. Eve finds it a much-needed corrective to Bultmann, yet, he rightly notes that Gerhardsson’s model goes too far. Thus, the search continues.
Werner Kelber’s approach is considered next. Well, I should say, Kelber’s earliest approach, being that he has made considerable changes in recent years. Most importantly, Kelber is concerned to note the vast contrast between oral texts and written texts. Discussion of Kelber leads into an evaluation of Kenneth Bailey, followed by a consideration of the various social memory approaches.
In Eve’s evaluation, he seems most appreciative of the social memory approach, particularly that espoused by Rafael Rodriguez (he also considers James Dunn and Richard Horsley). Having discussed the social memory vision of oral tradition, Eve then considers the work of Samuel Byrskog and Richard Bauckham. Both stress the importance of eyewitnesses for the Jesus tradition. While Eve is highly critical here, especially of Bauckham, he accepts some of their contributions as legitimate.
He concludes his survey by probing the tradition himself in order to see which of the above models appears most suited to the evidence itself. He looks at the Gospel of Mark and the writings of Paul in relation to one another to explore the contours of the tradition. He then considers Mark in relation to Josephus. He concludes, with most of the models above (minus Bultmann’s and Gerhardsson’s) that the tradition reveals considerable stability along with variation in the peripheral. This is the resounding note throughout the entire volume; the oral tradition is relatively faithful in transmitting the core, while it is flexible in the periphery.
He finally concludes with suggested implications for both historical Jesus research and source-criticism of the Gospels. In alignment with the likes of Chris Keith and Anthony Le Donne, Eve questions the appropriateness of criteria of authenticity. He argues that rather, historical Jesus scholars should look for recurring themes and general outlines of Jesus. As for source-criticism, Eve calls for a reconsideration of the Synoptic Problem.
Throughout this work Eve maintains a great measure of fairness (perhaps the only exception being his treatment of Bauckham). This volume is incredibly clear and insightful. Readers will no doubt come away with a strong base understanding of the current oral tradition conversation. I really would consider this essential reading for those interested in historical Jesus research, the Gospels, oral tradition, and early Christianity in general. This work represents the vanguard of current Gospel research. Most everyone will benefit from Eve’s work. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Note: This book was provided free of charge in exchange for an honest review.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent, even–handed treatment!
By Eric Chabot
Even though the Christian can always offer certain dates for the Gospels, it should remembered that there was a gap of time between the ascension of Jesus and when the Gospel authors actually wrote their individual biographies about the life of Jesus. Therefore, there was a period where the words and deeds of Jesus were committed to memory by the disciples and transmitted orally. The home, the synagogue, and the elementary school was where Jewish people learned how to memorize and recall information such as community prayers. There is evidence for “oral tradition” language in the New Testament. For example:
If we look at Luke 1:1-4, we see even though Luke was not a direct eyewitness of Jesus’ ministry, he says the information he received was given to him by those who were “from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word” (1:2). Luke’s reference to the information as being “handed down” would be understood in a Jewish culture as something a rabbi did when he would “hand over” a body of teaching or legal opinion to his disciple or disciples (Mark 7:3-5).
Paul employs oral tradition terminology such as “delivering,” “receiving,” “passing on” “learning,” “guarding,” the traditional teaching within his letters in the following places:
Romans 16: 17: “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.”
1 Corinthians 11:23: For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread.
Philippians 4:9: The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
1 Thessalonians 2:13: For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
2 Thessalonians 2:15: So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.
In Eric Eve’s book, Behind the Gospels: Understanding the Oral Tradition, we find a critique of various scholars who have written on the oral tradition topic. Eve discusses scholars such as Birger Gerhardsson (the rabbinic model), and Kenneth Bailey‘s model (Informal Controlled Oral Tradition and the Synoptic Gospels). Bailey discusses his observations of three types of oral transmission: informal uncontrolled tradition, informal controlled tradition, and formal controlled tradition.
In Bailey’s research, he concluded that the oral culture of the New Testament period can faithfully record and hand down what Jesus would have said. Interestingly enough, prominent New Testament scholars such as James D.G. Dunn have adopted Bailey’s model for oral tradition. Eve critiques Bailey, Dunn (author of Jesus Remembered), Richard Bauckham (author of Jesus and the Eyewitnesses) Samuel Byrskog (author of Story and History) Richard Horsley, Jonathan Draper, Rafael Rodriguez (author of Structuring Early Christian Memory) and Walter Kelber (The Oral and the Written Gospel: The Hermeneutics of Speaking and Writing in the Synoptic Tradition, Mark, Paul, and Q).
Eve is fair handed in offering both the positives and negatives of each model. Regarding defining oral tradition, Eve says “to call something oral tradition is to imply that it has been handed on over a period of time”-pg, 1. He goes onto say “Oral Tradition is to be distinguished from oral history. According to Jan Vansina oral tradition is that which is passed down from one generation to another, or persists over a number of generations, while oral history (or reminiscence) is what you get when you ask eyewitnesses (or those whom they have informed within living memory) for their recollections. To survive, oral tradition has to be both memorable and significant to the society or group that transmits it, which means among other things that it must be shaped in such a way as to allow it to endure.”- pg 1.
Eve shows the strengths and limitations of each model.
Questions that need to be addressed are the following:
1. Can we trust memory?
2. If there is a oral tradition, what kinds of controls are in place?
3. Is the tradition ‘fixed’ ‘stable’ or ‘fluid’? In other words, was the tradition capable of being changed before its final form? If there were witnesses that were the bearers of the tradition, wouldn’t they be interested in stabilizing the tradition?
Eve is correct when he says the following:
“It seems equally possible to start with skeptical or with credulous presuppositions about the nature of the Jesus tradition, and arrive at reasonably consistent results. If one approaches the tradition with radical skepticism, then it becomes entirely possible to account for nearly everything in the tradition as late, secondary, unhistorical and shaped by the interests of the Church without contradiction, since any evidence that might potentially challenge one’s skeptical approach can be skeptically dismissed as suspect. Conversely, if one approaches the tradition with broadly credulous presuppositions, than one can consistently appeal to aspects of the tradition (the role of apostolic witnesses in Acts say) that appear to support one’s view”-pg 177-178.
Implications of Oral Tradition for Historical Jesus Research
One might ask what are the implications of oral tradition/oral history for Historical Jesus studies? First of all, from an apologetic perspective, when skeptics try to say the Gospels are dated late and this means that they contain legendary or invented material, we tend to forget there was an oral period. In other words, even if the Gospels were actually written 50-90 A.D. there was an oral phase that was an oral phase that proceeded the written phase
Eve says that Rodriguez and Dale Allison (author of Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History) have noted “the project of trying to separate from authentic and inauthentic material is fundamentally misconceived. The workings of memory and oral tradition simply do not allow such a neat separation.”- pg 181.
Some Conclusions About Eve’s Research and Oral Tradition
1. Yes, there was some kind of oral tradition. He says “the evidence seems to suggest that Mark and the other evangelists had access to, and were some extent constrained by earlier traditions and did not invent their own material”- pg 176.
2. Despite all the models that the scholars have out on the table, we still don’t seem to know for sure what conditions were in place to show us whether the tradition is ‘fixed/stable’ or ‘fluid/open to change.’
3. We have no evidence that Jesus was a gifted oral poet contributing to the Jesus tradition; it is an assumption scholars seem quick to adapt.-pg 163.
4.Memory: Memory can be distorted: Eve says some of the Jesus tradition may have come to us through a distorted lens. I think that Bauckham went to great lengths to show the way memory/testimony works in his work. High impact events can be remembered with great accuracy. Eve also says that “the Gospels do contain genuine memories of Jesus, but not everything in the Gospels is a genuine memory in the sense of approaching what we would regard as an objective historical fact”- pg 180.
5. At this point, as Eve says “it seems the oral tradition model has come to be understood in the context of social memory, and it may be that in future research memory will turn out to be a more useful category than oral tradition”- pg 185.
If your’e interested in an overview of oral tradition, this is an excellent, even–handed treatment.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Eve delves into the hottest topic in biblical scholarship now: oral tradition.
By Jeri
Ever since Gerhardsson wrote "Memory and Manuscript with Tradition and Transmission in Early Christianity" more and more attention has been paid to the concept of oral tradition. Clearly, Second Temple Judaism had a flourishing belief in oral tradition. For example:
Josephus Antiquities 10.2.1 XIII,297 ...The Pharisees have passed on to the people a great many observances handed down by their fathers, which are not written down in the law of Moses.
Philo in The Special Laws IV talks about "unwritten laws, the decisions approved by men of old, not inscribed on ...leaves of paper...but on the souls... he who faithfully observes the unwritten deserves commendation, since the virtue which he displays is freely willed.
The old concept of how the gospels came to be written included a vague Jesus tradition, spread rather like folktales, filtered through the needs and viewpoints of various communities. This view has now been challenged by a newer version, a tradition which was based on a controlled transmission, with many more checks and a much greater requirement for accuracy.
Eve gives an evenhanded overview of the subject, discussing all the major scholars who have contributed to the discussion, as well as noting the main ideas. The fact is, just about everybody has a slightly different take.
Gerhardsson thesis was of a controlled transmission based on rabbinic schools.
Or: "Dunn argues that the degree of verbal agreement in the parallel passages he examines is so low that a theory of direct literary copying is not the best one to explain the evidence; the different accounts look not so much like literary redactions of one another as oral retelling" (p 111).
One thing that has become clearer as the scholars studied oral tradition is that almost all previous scholarship only considered textual evidence.
Horsley "puts the greatest weight on the notion of metonymic referencing...the Isrealite little tradition" (p 117). of the poor and the Pharisees. Eve puts forward a number of objections to Horsley. And he rejects the idea that Mark could have once been an oral performance (p 120).
I was surprised by this conclusion, given the history of oral performances throughout the ancient world, the evidence of impressive feats of memory in many situations. The fact that all the ancient schools we know emphasized vast amounts of rote memorization. I have always thought that the scriptures read in synagogues had to be half-memorized, given the difficulty of trying to read aloud from a hand copied text without spacing.
Rodriquez argued that "the Gospels were embedded in and surrounded by the tradition rather than being new sources of tradition" (p 124). One important fact that backs up this argument is audience who listened to the Gospels being read will already have heard these stories many times. Any deviance from the oral tradition they had heard in any important truth they had heard dozens of times before would be immediately apparent.
Although I didn't agree with Eve always, especially in his criticisms of Bauckham, overall, Eve gave a wonderfully fair hearing to all sides. Anyone interested in oral tradition would want to put this book on your list to read.
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