10-08-2003, 09:48 AM
Gentile Wrote:This is quite an important issue I wish to raise. Generally, scholarship has interpreted from the 4 gospels that Matt, Mark and Luke are 'synoptic' in the sense that they concord more with each other, whereas John doesn't. I think we can see from John's gospel the introduction of a view of Yishu that is heavily influenced by Greek ideas and culture. I believe in the synoptics we tend to get a more 'semitic' portrayal of Yishu than in John. Can we thus regard John's version of the gospel as truly authentic? Was the Church of the East willing from the start to accept John in the canon?
On the contrary, I think Yokhanan is completely Jewish, but perhaps with a greater emphasis on "Essene Jewish" than the rest of the Gospels. I think the Essenes were the purest form of Judaism in the 1st century, and if that is true, the reason that out of all the major Jewish sects the Essenes alone go unmentioned may be because the entire Peshitta canon was written from an Essene position or a modified/restored (by Y'shu) Essene position.
Shlama, Craig