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Subject: Kata Markon

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  • From: "Antonio Jerez" <antoniojerez AT swip.net>
  • To: "Kata Markon" <gmark AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Gospel Creation
  • Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 20:56:38 +0100


Rikki E Watts wrote:

> Might I suggest that you get hold of Kenneth Bailey's article on oral
> tradition in the Near East "Informal Controlled Oral Tradition and the
> Synoptic Gospels," Themelios 20 (1995) 4-11.). To quote from an earlier
> posting:
>
> Bailey had decades to observe how near eastern villagers passed on
> traditions and he noted several categories in which memory was employed in
> very different ways. E.g. atrocity stories from outside the village or its
> sphere were largely uncontrolled and could be embellished liberally. On the
> other hand proverbs were strictly controlled and bewilderingly extensive
> passages from the Koran memorized verbatim.

Rikki has mentioned Bailey´s work many times on X-talk. I´m not going to argue
that Bailey's studies are without any worth - I'm sure they are. And they may
shed
some light on certain phenomena in the NT. But does it explain all? I think
not. May
I point out that Bailey appears to be dealing with ORAL traditions and ORAL
transmissions
in village cultures. The gospels on the other hand appear to belong to a
jewish SCRIBAL tradition
in a SCRIBAL culture with roots going back hundreds of years before the
gospels were written.
Scenes like Mark 6:30-44 and its parallels are most easily explained as
scribal products.


Best wishes

Antonio Jerez
Göteborg, Sweden









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