James Tabor - Helen Bond - John Dominic Crossan - James Charlesworth - Excavating the Empty Tomb TV - Mysteries of the Bible TV -
If you just put the Gospels in a kind of chronological order it’s actually layered. You can just peel off the layers like a sort of forensic investigation. At the bottom you’ve got that core story of Mark – Mark was our earliest Gospel ... Matthew who writes next has ratcheted it up considerably – Pilate washes his hands; his wife has a dream; Jesus is a righteous man; don’t bother him. And the Jews take on the guilt. And then you go to Luke – it’s the Mark story but it’s amped up, and it’s getting louder and louder. And the basic idea is Pilate was just an innocent bystander, an unnecessary part of the story. And then John – he has them almost having a philosophical discussion. We are removing completely I think out of the realm of just straight history. Professor James Tabor
Luke and Matthew probably wrote some time in the eighties or nineties of the first century. We’ve actually no idea who Luke is. Most people nowadays don’t think he was an eye-witness of events. Professor Helen Bond
Matthew for example wants Jesus to be a second Moses. And so his birth story is very much modelled on the birth of Moses. Helen Bond
I do not think the Nativity story in either Matthew or Luke is historical ... Parable rather than history. John Dominic Crossan, Biblical historian
The motive cannot be, as Matthew says, he wants money. Well he was in charge of the money ... Thirty pieces of silver – big deal! Professor James Charlesworth
Matthew was simply copying Mark’s copy almost verbatim with some key theological edits and embellishments. Excavating the Empty Tomb, National Geographic 2016
Was Matthew recording exactly what Jesus said or was he simply lifting phrases from the Book of [Psalms &] Isaiah? ibid.
Matthew and Luke may have copied the work of Mark. Mysteries of the Bible s3e7&8: Who Wrote the Bible? A&E 1996