Semitic Residue: Semitic Traits that Indicate Early Source Material Behind the Gospel of Matthew

Author(s)

Brian Gray Chilton, Liberty UniversityFollow

Date

10-3-2022

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Theology and Apologetics (PhD)

Chair

Leo Percer

Keywords

Oral Traditions, Gospel of Matthew, Early Christianity, Informal Controlled Model, Kenneth Bailey, Semitic Sources, Transmission of Oral Traditions, Christology

Disciplines

History of Christianity | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Recommended Citation

Chilton, Brian Gray, "Semitic Residue: Semitic Traits that Indicate Early Source Material Behind the Gospel of Matthew" (2022). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 3874.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/3874

Abstract

Skeptics have often argued that the Gospels were written too late to have contained any valuable information about Jesus. Furthermore, the likes of Rudolf Bultmann and the Jesus Seminar claim that very little can be known about the voice of the historical Jesus. However, this work argues that the oral traditions stemming from community-based transmission provides a basis to hold that the oral traditions that undergird the finished Gospels are much earlier than the written texts themselves. Using the Gospel of Matthew as a test case and seven criteria to gauge the strength of residue, this study argues that the Gospel of Matthew is based on early oral traditions and that the early church transmitted accurate information based on Kenneth Bailey's informal controlled model.