"Introduction: A Radical Thesis"

"Introduction: A Radical Thesis" Wenham, xxi-xxiv

I picked this book up for a course project report in a seminary class. Wenham seems to be approaching the idea of New Testament criticism from a point of view similar to that which I was trained in as a philologist. He looks at the Gospels as pieces of literature which were influenced and informed by the time and setting of their authors, including by other pieces of literature known to the authors. Here are a few quotes that I think summarize the introduction well.

xxi "Each evangelist writes in the way he habitually teaches, literary dependence being minimal in so far as his choice of words is concerned."

xxii "The book is in fact an investigation of the whole synoptic problem, considering both internal and external evidence, believing that there is an overall consistency between them. Dating plays a significant part in the web of evidence."

xxiii "A new approach to the synoptic problem is attempted which denies literary dependence as the primary explanation of the likenesses of the gospels and which also questions complete literary independence."

xxiii "As this book is an argument in favour of the high value of Christian tradition with regard to three major books of the New Testament, I am naturally predisposed towards the traditional authorship of its other books. They have all had able defenders and I shall provisionally assume that their conclusions are satisfactory and then try to see how the case looks when this assumption is made."