The Flimsy Folklore of Gospel Authorship

Are the traditional attributions of the gospels rooted in evidence, or are they a product of centuries-old excuses? Join us as we explore the arguments and counterarguments presented by @TestifyApologetics and @InspiringPhilosophy No more excuses!

“Dr. Stephen Boyce” and the Problem of the Pseudo-Credentialed Apologist

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[jaya]

"all kinds of books don't mention my name, I wonder if I wrote any of those". Now that is some top quality snark!!

[EmissaryOfStuff]

"Ever since I've been on TikTok..."

Well that's your first mistake.

[kamilgregor]

At this point, these guys speaking is not them giving arguments, it's them chanting slogans to keep themselves from a breakdown

[ianlockett]

I get so frustrated that “theologians” try to pretend they are historians. It’s like an astrologer trying to tell an astronomer they don’t know what they are doing.

[chables]

Mathew was trained to read the Talmud?! A commentary that wouldn’t even be written for 300 years?! Now THATS a miracle

[CaseAgainstFaith]

“Excusogist” is more snarky than we usually get from Paulogia. I like it!

[bobbarron]

That panel must be exhausted after all of that tap dancing. 🙄

[cakeman]

If mental gymnastics were an Olympic sport... these guys would be world class.

[dade-murphy]

Fantastic job, Paul. These kinds of re-responses are very important but very time consuming. I really appreciate you taking the time to rebut and showing how most replies are simply people talking in circles.

[baarbacoa]

The Gospels should be titled, "The Gospel of Some Dude, " "The Gospel of Some Other Dude, " etc.

[RiiDii]

It's got to be a good feeling when you're debating a topic, and your opposition has that many compliments for your arguments.

[poisontango]

I'm baffled at how any challenge to an apologist's fundamentalism is perceived by them as a huge affront. Why can't they concede something as innocuous as gospel authorship? Is their faith in Christ, or in later Christian traditions that developed after Christ? It's like if they think that if they concede on one issue, they'll have to acknowledge there may be reasons to investigate and reexamine all their other beliefs, and the whole thing may come down crumbling. That doesn't strike me as faith; that strakes me as fear. They cannot afford to lose any ground, or they have...nothing.

[lnsflare]

Dearest Theophilus,

New York City hot dogs are awesome!

Yours truly,

Spider-Man

[gruuvmunky]

Remember when you listen to all of this discussion...this is the way god wanted it. The most powerful being in the Entire Universe had a plan to come to earth, visit a few people, leave nothing behind, leave zero evidence, have NOBODY write anything down during his visit...then have people a 1, 000 miles away write down some crap they heard about the visit and do it 100's of years later.
Facepalm THROUGH my HEad.

[drlegendre]

3:44 - Paul is nothing, if not fair. That's one of the main reasons he's so damn effective at what he does.

Of course, it never hurts to be on the correct side of an argument, either! ;-)

[stevenbyers]

The real problem here is a presumed all-powerful god that has failed the church completely. The fact that we are debating this stuff 2000 years after the fact because their god couldn't have figured out the importance of authorship and reasonable evidence speaks a lot about the validity of the bible, church, jesus and god..

[jaynajuly]

The amount of straws grasped by the panel is enough to reduce oceanic pollution

[hearts]

About the "Theophilus" thing.

I agree the "Luke was writing to this person" interpretation is reasonable, but I think there are two other possibilities worth keeping in mind.

1. Theophilus is not anyone in particular, it is an honorary title Luke gives to the audience he is writing for. "Theophilus" means "friend of God" in Greek.

2. Luke is a forgery and this "Theophilus" thing is a verisimilitude. If Luke is a forgery claiming to be a traveling companion of Paul (see the "we" passages), it would make sense for him to address his writing to a specific person to make his account seem more believable, even though he was actually writing later to no one in particular.

Edit: I missed Paul bringing up my first alternate explanation.

[MsLemon]

I just saw this in my feed. I’m in so much pain, and I’m going to lie down on a block of ice and hope your soothing voice helps me out.

Then again, it could go the other way with their bad arguments worsening my migraine…but let’s hope their arguments are good!

[CharlesPayet]

As much as I LOVE the gentle way you normally present information the vast majority of the time, I love seeing you hit back a little more firmly. Being so explicit about the Excusigetics is really important, showing exactly how IP, Testify, etc are trying to weasel around the tough reality that is known about Gospel authorship.