Memory, Jesus, and the Synoptic Gospels

✍ Scribed by Robert K. McIver

• Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 256
• Series: SBL Resources for Biblical Study 59
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Before they were written in the Gospels, the teachings and deeds of Jesus were preserved in human memory—with all its frailties and strengths—for perhaps as long as 30 to 60 years. Much can happen to traditions preserved in memories for so long, and this groundbreaking work addresses the impact that the qualities of human memory would have had on the traditions of the historical Jesus found in the Synoptic Gospels. It uses the insights gained from over a century of psychological experimentation to investigate the qualities and potential reliability of individual and collective memories underlying the various elements that make up the Gospel traditions.

✦ Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Personal and Collective Memory
1. Eyewitness Memory
2. Transience and the Reliability of Long-Term Human Memory
3. Personal Event Memories
4. Suggestibility and Bias
5. Collective Memory

Part 2: Jesus Traditions as Memory
6. Collective Memory as an Explanation of Gospel Origins
7. Eyewitness Memory and the Gospel Traditions
8. Memory Frailties and the Gospel Traditions
9. Collective Memory, Jesus as Teacher, and the Jesus Traditions
10. Conclusions: Memory, Jesus, and the Gospels

Appendix A. The Potential Pool of Eyewitnesses at the Time the Gospels Were Written