The Gospel of Mark was the first draft of a doctoral candidate’s dissertation. He submitted it to his advisor who suggested the need for more background information about Jesus’ birth, maybe some more teaching material, and a stronger ending. The student rewrote his dissertation and submitted the Gospel of Matthew.
His advisor thought the revision was much stronger but felt that the teaching material should be better integrated into the narrative, thought a story about Jesus’ youth might be helpful, and suggested that the genealogy could be expanded back to Adam, etc. The PhD candidate did another major revision and produced the Gospel of Luke.
Once again the advisor was critical and asked for major revisions. Frustrated, the student took drugs and wrote the Gospel of John. - Jordan R. Scharf
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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Ha!
Now this, I can believe. The poor guy that wrote the Gospel of Thomas got kicked out of school, and had to settle for a low paying job selling camels in Jaffa. But he was enlightened by the experience.
he self-published!!!!
Excellent. Who is this guy?
Dr. Goodacre, I believe that this is the late roommate of a reader of mine.
Jordan was a seminary roommate of mine. He died of leukemia in 1981 or 2. I’ve used his “solution” often and always with proper attribution.
Thanks for letting me know. It’s wonderful — I really love it. A tribute to your roommate!
Brant, I’m not sure how I can do this, or rather, where I intend to use it in the book, but would you mind too terribly if I did? Maybe a chapter heading or something. I’ll include the proper attribution as well.
I was probably going to buy your book anyway but this would seal the deal. You have my permission, for what that is worth.
[...] This makes about as much sense as anything: The Gospel of Mark was the first draft of a doctoral candidate’s dissertation. He submitted it to his advisor who suggested the need for more background information about Jesus’ birth, maybe some more teaching material, and a stronger ending. The student rewrote his dissertation and submitted the Gospel of Matthew. [...]
[...] of theories about how the Gospels originated. This one is certainly the most humorous. From here. Related Posts:A Thought For Our DayCPx: TransformationUntitledA Wealthy Life?Faith or [...]
[...] From Unsettled Christianity: The Gospel of Mark was the first draft of a doctoral candidate’s dissertation. He submitted it to his advisor who suggested the need for more background information about Jesus’ birth, maybe some more teaching material, and a stronger ending. The student rewrote his dissertation and submitted the Gospel of Matthew. [...]
[...] When one turns to the Synoptic Gospel sources and the problem of their literary relationship, Joel Watts has a fun solution and James Bradforth Pate notes Brad Young’s interesting take on [...]