Editing Gospel (section)

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2|refs=
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<!-- "a-historical" -->
{{refn|group=note|name="a-historical"|The Gospels are a-historical documents:
* {{harvtxt|Schoeps|1968|pp=261–262}}: "The Gospels cannot be equated with [...] biographies [...] [Their] primary purpose was not to present a detailed historical picture of the life of Jesus. And the non-Christian materials [...] provide us with no essential new knowledge beyond the accounts of the Gospels [...] [Thus] the situation in regard to sources is highly unsatisfactory; legendary and historical accounts are hopelessly intertwined. The historian must recognize that the materials available to us do not enable us to reconstruct Jesus as he really was. [They have] only the Jesus the early disciples saw, the Christ who has survived in the beliefs of the Christian community.
* {{harvtxt|Sanders|2010}}: "John, however, is so different that it cannot be reconciled with the Synoptics except in very general ways [...] Scholars have unanimously chosen the Synoptic Gospels’ version of Jesus’ teaching [...] The Synoptic Gospels, then, are the primary sources for knowledge of the historical Jesus. They are not, however, the equivalent of an academic biography of a recent historical figure. Instead, the Synoptic Gospels are theological documents that provide information the authors regarded as necessary for the religious development of the Christian communities in which they worked."
* {{harvtxt|Ehrman|1999|p=53}}: "... early Christians who passed along the traditions sometimes found it legitimate and necessary to change a historical fact in order to make a historical point [...] since the Gospels preserve traditions that have been modified over time in their retelling, it is impossible simply to take these stories at face value and uncritically assume that they represent historically accurate information."}}
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<!-- "Dunn_1995_teachings_as remembered" -->
{{refn|group=note|name="Dunn_1995_teachings_as remembered"|{{harvtxt|Dunn|1995|pp=371–372}}: "Through the main body of the Synoptic tradition, I believe, we have in most cases direct access to the teaching and ministry of Jesus as it was remembered from the beginning of the transmission process (which often predates Easter) and so fairly direct access to the ministry and teaching of Jesus through the eyes and ears of those who went about with him."}}
<!-- "Dunn_2003_back_to_Jesus" -->
{{refn|group=note|name="Dunn_2003_back_to_Jesus"|In "Jesus Remembered (2003), Dunn asesses "what 'goes back to Jesus'." {{harvtxt|Dunn|2003|p=329}}: "I emphasize again that I do not envisage 'getting back to Jesus' himself. All we have are the impressions which Jesus made, the remembered Jesus."}}
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{{refn|group=note|name="nativity"|As Luke's attempt to link the birth of Jesus to the [[census of Quirinius]] demonstrates, there is no guarantee that the gospels are historically accurate. {{harv|Reddish|2011|p=22}} Indeed, most critical scholars view the nativity of Jesus as a theological, rather than historical, narrative.See: W. D. Davies and E. P. Sanders, "Jesus from the Jewish point of view", in William Horbury (ed.), ''The Cambridge History of Judaism'', vol 3: the Early Roman Period, 1984; ''The [[New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible]]: Volume 3'' Abingdon Press, 2008. pp. 42, 269–70.}}
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<!-- "Sanders_primary_sources" -->
{{refn|group=note|name="Sanders_primary_sources"|{{harvtxt|Sanders|2010}}: "John, however, is so different that it cannot be reconciled with the Synoptics except in very general ways [...] Scholars have unanimously chosen the Synoptic Gospels’ version of Jesus’ teaching [...] The Synoptic Gospels, then, are the primary sources for knowledge of the historical Jesus. They are not, however, the equivalent of an academic biography of a recent historical figure. Instead, the Synoptic Gospels are theological documents that provide information the authors regarded as necessary for the religious development of the Christian communities in which they worked."}}
<!-- "Sanders_public_career" -->
{{refn|group=note|name="Sanders_public_career"|{{harvtxt|Sanders|1995|p=5}}: "The main sources for our knowledge about Jesus himself, the gospels in the New Testament, are, from the point of view of the historian, tainted by the fact that they were written by people who intended to glorify their hero [...] Despite this [...] we have a good idea of the external course of his life, especially his public career."}}
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