Mt connect Jesus and the Church - Mt the most widely spread gospel - Mt's gospel won over the ancient world to living new Christianity, Paul did it for the teachings - Mt 'worked' because of the hidden Q sayings - Why Mt is preferred over Lk - Lk (Acts) first signs of Pauline influence - 'Sayings' conspicuously absent in Acts - Why Mt's use of the sayings is more authentic (in some way, not always) - How the Q-people moved from Galilee to Antioch - The 4 stages of development in Q - Further details about the stages - Jesus as the 'one to Come' - 3) Adaptation of Q-people to Mt's community in Antioch - Where the Q-people eventually landed up - 4) More 'gentile oriented' - "Jewish Christianity' disappearing - But the 'real-Jesus-actual-sayings' still remain - The Church can still listen to them!

Ch 4 - Very Goddess and very Man - Jesus' Better self - Masculine terminology in the teachings about Christ - The feminine side.

The beginning of christology - Some reflections - Jesus about John the Baptist - It all started with Jesus' awareness about his 'calling' - Note about the origin of Lk 1+2.

Possessed by the Spirit - The Spirit of God came upon Jesus at his baptism - The 'beloved Son' - ' Adoptionism' - The way God was involved in Jesus' call and ministry, in possessing him so as to become 'His functional Self', become later used for various 'male-oriented christological titles'.

The gender of God/Spirit - In Hebrew ruach , feminine; in Greek pneuma, neuter; in Latin spiritus, masculine - fitted best in the Trinity dogma - Importance of the femininity of the Spirit - How some ancient texts see this - Apostles Creed replaced the feminine Spirit with the human mother - Spirit as Wisdom

Wisdom and christology - 'Wisdom' and 'prophet' don't only fit Jesus -Wisdom through the ages - Wisdom and JS and Jesus - Mt's 'twist' putting Wisdom's sayings on Jesus' lips - How Wisdom helped the early followers - It became their 'Easter' experiences: Jesus still present in his 'sayings'.

The visual image of Resurrection -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture NINE - Q-Revisited

The sayings gospel as presentation of Jesus - Strong encouragement to 'trust' - How Jesus saw 'God's rule' - How Mt moralized it somewhat - Beatitude about the 'poor' and the Lord's prayer.

More about Jesus' life style - Robinson: 'wandering radicals' - Details based on Q - To act as God acts - What Jesus expected from his followers, he lived himself - About sickness and healing.

Death and Cross in Q - Death mentioned in Q only indirectly - Cross symbol of 'leaving things behind' - No prediction of death - Were the Q-people aware of Jesus death? - Resurrection awareness: 'Jesus rose into his own word' (Bultmann) - "What I say in the dark, speak in the light" (Q 12-3) - How it became 'Easter faith' for the followers - Keeping Jesus' words.

Another chance for 'this generation' - What it involved - Jesus as 'judge' ?

From Q to us - By discovering Jesus in the 'sayings' we can be guided by them - The traditional tract from Jesus to Paul and from Paul to church (teaching) incorrect.

Mt connect Jesus and the Church - Mt the most widely spread gospel - Mt's gospel won over the ancient world to living new Christianity, Paul did it for the teachings - Mt 'worked' because of the hidden Q sayings - Why Mt is preferred over Lk - Lk (Acts) first signs of Pauline influence - 'Sayings' conspicuously absent in Acts - Why Mt's use of the sayings is more authentic (in some way, not always) - How the Q-people moved from Galilee to Antioch - The 4 stages of development in Q - Further details about the stages - Jesus as the 'one to Come' - 3) Adaptation of Q-people to Mt's community in Antioch - Where the Q-people eventually landed up - 4) More 'gentile oriented' - "Jewish Christianity' disappearing - But the 'real-Jesus-actual-sayings' still remain - The Church can still listen to them!

Ch 4 - Very Goddess and very Man - Jesus' Better self

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture EIGHT - Q-Revisited

From sayings to dialogue

Irenaeus saw the original use as a rejection of future resurrection - The 'lower' and 'higher ' meaning as used by Jn - After Peter's 'confession' Mk has Jesus talk like a Christian (Rob.) - It became the starting point of christology with death and resurrection in the center - Mt and Lk skip Mk's observation: 'He said these things openly', but they still place Q's before-Easter-sayings in their post-Easter material - According to the canonical gospels the 'resurrected Christ' only repeats what Jesus said prior to Easter, or: they let Jesus talk like a Christian.

Conclusion - On the track from Easter to the apostles Creed there is a 2-level interpretation of the 'sayings': they exploited the original orientation of the shift in levels in such a way that Easter became the justification for extending from this tradition new interpretations, indeed new sayings, in a dialogue form, with a question-and-answer format, that effectuated higher interpretations - The track also claimed that both levels of meaning created for Jesus-before-Easter helped to increase the process towards the canonical gospel form, that would become a replacement for the uncertain Q-sayings - Also 'Jesus' rising' is seen in 'disembodied radiance' - vs - 'physical bodiliness'.

The H. Spirit in Q - The guidance of the Spirit in Paul - Speaking against the H. Spirit in Q and Mk - Compare Q 3:22 and Mk 1:12 - Easter not a 'point-in-time' in Q, but rather it permeates Q as the reality of Jesus' word as being really valid at this time, at least so it was understood by those who regarded the resurrected Jesus as Spirit - 'Spirit-sign of Easter' reflected in the H. Spirit being 'breathed' on the disciples.

Easter interpretations - There was no preparation for Jesus' death in Q - 'Easter experiences' made up for the shock - Texts testify to this - Jn's own higher interpretation in tension with the synoptics - Though not so out of place in 'Q-context' - Some gnostic influence in Jn? - This kind of interpretation also found in Qumran texts - Meaning of 'parable' in this context of interpretation.

Ch 3 - The real Jesus of the Sayings Gospel of Q

Where the 'Jesus quest' started - Knowledge about Jesus was till then 'twisted toward doctrine, away from history' - Cross and resurrection became the center - Jesus life and ministry were lost - Discovery of the 'sayings of Jesus' changed this - Weisse (1838) first 'discoverer' - The 'sayings' became seen as 'Q'=Quelle=Source for Mt & Lk - No teaching about death and resurrection of Jesus in Q - In general the 'sayings are without 'dogma' - But what Jesus had to say got the attention of not only the scholars but of many Christians - Robinson and his re-construction of Q.

The sayings gospel as presentation of Jesus - 

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture SEVEN - Q-Revisited

Jesus death - How the gospels let Jesus 'foretell' and 'explain' his death - Robinson calls it an 'interpretation christiana', an earliest Christian way of looking at the events - First sign of gnosticism where a 'group of followers' received a 'special revelation' or 'enlightenment' - Literal meaning for the 'un-enlightened', deeper esoteric meaning for the 'enlightened' - Teaching 'openly' and 'in parables' - Texts in Mk and GoTh.

Gnostic influence in Christian writings - In gnostic view Jesus (after the resurrection) was speaking from heaven, free of the body - Pre-Easter Jesus spoke on a lower level - Reminder: gnostic element in the resurrection appearances, as seen before - Also some gnostic influence in 'before Easter' texts: Jesus teaching 'deeper insights' - Gnosticism evolved with the changing times - Some examples - Development to the 'dialogue-form' of teaching; an example in Mk.

Two-level format in GoTh - verse 1 is an introduction to dialogue mode: 'Who discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death' - Following verses point to the dialogue - These original dialogues were later placed by the canonical gospels in the after Easter period - Irenaeus saw the original use as a rejection of future resurrection - The 'lower' and 'higher ' meaning as used by Jn - After Peter's 'confession' Mk has Jesus talk like a Christian (Rob.) - It became the starting point of christology with death and resurrection in the center - Mt and Lk skip Mk's observation: 'He said these things openly', but they still place Q's before-Easter-sayings in their post-Easter material - According to the canonical gospels the 'resurrected Christ' only repeats what Jesus said prior to Easter, or: they let Jesus talk like a Christian.

Conclusion - On the track from Easter to the apostles Creed there is a 2-level interpretation of the 'sayings': they exploited the original orientation of the shift in levels in such a way that Easter became the justification for extending from this tradition new interpretations, indeed new sayings, in a dialogue form, with a question-and-answer format, that effectuated higher interpretations - The track also claimed that both levels of meaning created for Jesus-before-Easter helped to increase the process towards the canonical gospel form, that would become a replacement for the uncertain Q-sayings - Also 'Jesus' rising' is seen in 'disembodied radiance' - vs - 'physical bodiliness'.

The H. Spirit in Q - The guidance of the Spirit in Paul - Speaking against the H. Spirit in Q and Mk - Compare Q 3:22 and Mk 1:12 - Easter not a 'point-in-time' in Q, but rather it permeates Q as the reality of Jesus' word as being really valid at this time, at least so it was understood by those who regarded the resurrected Jesus as Spirit - 'Spirit-sign of Easter' reflected in the H. Spirit being 'breathed' on the disciples.

Jesus' death -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture SIX - Q-Revisited

Q and GoTh in this resurrection development - Overview of the development - Easter itself was thus experienced as an 'interpretative event', that was trying to explain, and making sense of the abrupt end of Jesus life - It influenced the phases through which the 'sayings of Jesus' and the text witnessing to them would move - It took the spotlight away from Jesus - Paul's view on Jesus in this matter - The Damascus road event no 'resurrection experience', but a dramatic transformation into the spiritual realm - Though the canonical gospels in general propose the conventional, t.i. 'bodily' interpretation, the (more gnostic) Q sayings were enclosed in 2 of those gospels - It shows the dual trend - In both Q and the GoTh there is no excuse being made for maintaining, that the principal meaning of who Jesus was, is inherent or innate to the life of Jesus, prior to Easter/resurrection - Death and resurrection no turning point - Q and the Q-people not interested in time and space.

The living Jesus - in the GoTh, was it the 'resurrected Christ'? - Some comparative texts - Keep in mind: 'resurrection' has no place in the time element of Q - Q has the timelessness of 'eternal truth', of 'wisdom literature' - Whether the sayings were spoken 'before' or 'after' Easter is irrelevant to the Q-people - Before of after, an interesting parallel in Paul 1 Cor. - 'I have the Spirit of God' - Priority of the H. Spirit after Easter - Q-people might have experienced Jesus as risen into the H. Spirit, giving new power to his word - It is as Spirit or Wisdom that Jesus (and John) lives on in the sayings tradition - Unknown in Jn's gospel.

Jesus death - How the gospels let Jesus 'foretell' and 'explain' his death - Robinson calls it an 'interpretation christiana', an earliest Christian way of looking at the events - First sign of gnosticism where a 'group of followers' received a 'special revelation' or 'enlightenment' - Literal meaning for the 'un-enlightened', deeper esoteric meaning for the 'enlightened' - Teaching 'openly' and 'in parables' - Texts in Mk and GoTh.

Gnostic influence in Christian writings - In gnostic view Jesus (after the resurrection) was speaking from heaven, free of the body - Pre-Easter Jesus spoke on a lower level - Reminder: gnostic element in the resurrection appearances, as seen before - Also some gnostic influence in 'before Easter' texts: Jesus teaching 'deeper insights' - Gnosticism evolved with the changing times - Some examples - Development to the 'dialogue-form' of teaching; an example in Mk.

Two-level format in GoTh - verse 1 is an introduction to dialogue mode: 'Who discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death' - Following verses point to the dialogue - These original dialogues were later placed by the canonical gospels in the after Easter period - Irenaeus saw the original use as a rejection of future resurrection - The 'lower' and 'higher ' meaning as used by Jn - After Peter's 'confession' Mk has Jesus talk like a Christian (Rob.) - It became the starting point of christology with death and resurrection in the center - Mt and Lk skip Mk's observation: 'He said these things openly', but they still place Q's before-Easter-sayings in their post-Easter material - According to the canonical gospels the 'resurrected Christ' only repeats what Jesus said prior to Easter, or: they let Jesus talk like a Christian.

Conclusion -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture FIVE - Q-Revisited

More on resurrection appearances - Remember: they are not historical facts! - Resurrection central in Christian doctrine - but not mentioned in the early 'sayings' gospels (Q & Th) - Is there a possible connection? - First appearance to Peter, or to Mary Magdalen ? - Appearance to Paul not mentioned in Lk/Acts lists - Nor at the end of Mt and Jn' gospel - Easter and the Transfiguration - Before Lk, Mk placed the 'luminous' appearance to Peter outside the post-resurrection period, and transferred it back into Jesus' public ministry - How 'luminous' and 'bodily' appearances play a role in the early Christian tradition - How did Mary M. 'see' Jesus? - Where appearances are called 'visions' they are more likely 'luminous' appearances - Robinson's double trajectory from Easter to Valentinus - Tension between 'bodily' appearances and 'gnostic spiritualization' - Primary stage: luminous appearances (gnostic view) - Secondary stage: bodily appearances (canonical gospels and Apostles' Creed) - Reason why resurrection is not mentioned in Q: Q-people more gnostic oriented - Signs of 'docetism' (Jesus 'seem' to be human) - Correction might have to be made in our understanding of Easter as based on the canonical gospels - Their Easter experiences were 'secondary' - It all played into the hands of the trajectory to the Apostles' Creed - Robinson: '- orthodoxy defended the 'bodiliness' by replacing 'luminousness' with 'fleshliness', - heresy exploited the 'luminousness' by replacing 'bodiliness' with 'spiritualness'.

Personal resurrection, now or later? - Two 'beliefs': resurrection already taken place at baptism, and, resurrection will happen at the end of time - Regeneration in baptism: A spiritual resurrection.

2 views in the Pauline school - The 2 'beliefs' as found in the Pauline writings: 2 Tim(2:16-18) vs Col(3:1-4) + Eph(2:5-6) - An 'in between' in 2 Pet(1:3-5) - Reflections of the 2 views in Jn - Robinson: 'It is clear the 2 views are documented in the NT itself' - Big question: what was 'lost, what was 'gained'?

Q and GoTh in this resurrection development - Overview of the development - Easter itself was thus experienced as an 'interpretative event', that was trying to explain, and making sense of the abrupt end of Jesus life - It influenced the phases through which the 'sayings of Jesus' and the text witnessing to them would move - It took the spotlight away from Jesus - Paul's view on Jesus in this matter - The Damascus road event no 'resurrection experience', but a dramatic transformation into the spiritual realm - Though the canonical gospels in general propose the conventional, t.i. 'bodily' interpretation, the (more gnostic) Q sayings were enclosed in 2 of those gospels - It shows the dual trend - In both Q and the GoTh there is no excuse being made for maintaining, that the principal meaning of who Jesus was, is inherent or innate to the life of Jesus, prior to Easter/resurrection - Death and resurrection no turning point - Q and the Q-people not interested in time and space.

The living Jesus -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture FOUR - Q-Revisited

Jesus' ministry in Galilee - Robinson's description - Caparnaum center - Details on how Jesus moved around - Not to synagogues but to homes - Became later 'safe houses', 'house churches' (Paul), though Jesus had no intention of starting a church - A practical example of Jesus' ministry: visiting a home - Requirements for those wanting to work in the kingdom - Leave relationships behind - Rules for treating other people - Requirements for the kingdom 'not easy' - The consequences - Short note about the 'death' of Jesus.

Ch 2 - Jesus from Easter to Apostles Creed

Time period: from 30-100 - 'Oral tradition' being used to develop the 'sayings' and 'canonical' gospels - Also: a period of development of christology (=early Christianity) parallel with gnosticism - Closer look at that 'parallel' - Also a parallel in Christian 'unification' ('orthodoxy'), and the Rabbinic one - 'It is on currents such as these (gnosticism and unification), rather than on the traditional assumption of a straight-line development through the 'apostolic age' with its unwavering faith once for all delivered to the saints, that we are to discuss the topic before us - It is indeed in terms of such currents that the polarization of early Christianity into orthodoxy vs heresy is to be understood - So we have here the historical fact of an 'outcome', that made the 'winner' of this competition to be known as 'orthodox', and the loser 'heretical' - The theological consequences - What was 'lost', what was 'gained'? - The NT writings, including Q, have traces of the so called 'heresy'.

Resurrection in this contexts - Sheenan : Resurrection in the NT is expressed in symbolic, apocalyptic language - God awoke Jesus from the dead, exalted him to God's right hand, and designated him as the coming Son of Man - In theology Easter became: God rescued Jesus form the fate of eternal death, appointed him absolute savior, who would return at the end of time to usher in the reign of God - Robinson sees the appearances of the resurrected Christ expressed in a 'two-directional word structure', namely: 'bodily' and 'luminous' - In Paul's 1 Cor. it is 'bodily', while later in Phil. it is 'luminous', as well in what happen on the road to Damascus.

More on resurrection appearances - Remember: they are not historical facts! - Resurrection central in Christian doctrine - but not mentioned in the early 'sayings' gospels (Q & Th) - Is there a possible connection? - First appearance to Peter, or to Mary Magdalen ? - Appearance to Paul not mentioned in Lk/Acts lists - Nor at the end of Mt and Jn' gospel - Easter and the Transfiguration - Before Lk, Mk placed the 'luminous' appearance to Peter outside the post-resurrection period, and transferred it back into Jesus' public ministry -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture THREE - Q-Revisited

Judgement & 'generation' further explained - Judgement not by the Q-people, but by God - Q² an adaptation to the circumstances of the time (fall of Jerusalem, destruction of the Temple).

Original sayings of Jesus in Q¹ - 'Freedom from anxiety' (ref. to G of Thom) - Sample of Scribal error, a prove of antiquity of the text - Other examples: Lord's prayer (Q 11:2b-4) and commentary (9-13) - Also the Sermon on the Mnt (Mt embedded his long version in other collections) Q 6:20-49 - Contrast with Q² vision - Q¹ contains many of Jesus' sayings - many others are lost - The 'sayings of Jesus' have not become the teaching model of the gospels - Cross and resurrection over took them.

The sayings of Jesus and Jesus' ministry - Q 10:2-26 Instructions to the workers for the kingdom - How to read these instructions - They give a picture of Jesus' own practice - Some instructions are found in Mk, is proof of a varied oral tradition - Mt updates the instructions - And Lk in some way 'revokes' them (Lk 22:35-8) - Stick vs sword - Again: development in tradition.

Jesus' ministry in Galilee - Robinson's description - Caparnaum center - Details on how Jesus moved around - Not to synagogues but to homes - Became later 'safe houses', 'house churches' (Paul), though Jesus had no intention of starting a church - A practical example of Jesus' ministry: visiting a home - Requirements for those wanting to work in the kingdom - Leave relationships behind - Rules for treating other people - Requirements for the kingdom 'not easy' - The consequences - Short note about the 'death' of Jesus.

Ch 2 - Jesus from Easter to Apostles Creed

Time period: from 30-100 - 'Oral tradition' being used to develop the 'sayings' and 'canonical' gospels - Also: a period of development of christology (=early Christianity) parallel with gnosticism - Closer look at that 'parallel' - Also a parallel in Christian 'unification' ('orthodoxy'), and the Rabbinic one - 'It is on currents such as these (gnosticism and unification), rather than on the traditional assumption of a straight-line development through the 'apostolic age' with its unwavering faith once for all delivered to the saints, that we are to discuss the topic before us - It is indeed in terms of such currents that the polarization of early Christianity into orthodoxy vs heresy is to be understood - So we have here the historical fact of an 'outcome', that made the 'winner' of this competition to be known as 'orthodox', and the loser 'heretical' - The theological consequences - What was 'lost', what was 'gained'? - The NT writings, including Q, have traces of the so called 'heresy'.

Resurrection in this contexts -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture TWO - Q-Revisited

One to Come - John the Baptist saw Jesus as 'the one to come' - How Jesus fitted that role - How Q shows the deeper meaning of Jesus' actions - Q and 'trust' - Jesus' 'trust-teaching' became miracle stories in the gospels, and a basis for the passion narratives and resurrection appearances - cf the Apostle's Creed - How Q has the substance of the Church kerygma (teachings) !! - The Q-people, by proclaiming the 'sayings', were practicing their faith in the 'resurrection'.

Redaction of Q - An historical aspect - Redaction was influenced by a deuteronomistic view on the first destruction of the Temple in 587 bce - Was seen as a punishment for the unfaithfulness of Israel to the 'covenant' - In Q² this view was applied to the destruction of the Temple in 70 ce - Expressed in Jesus' 'sayings'.

"This generation" - Mentioned repeatedly in Q (8 x) - Refers to those who (like others in the past) rejected the prophets (John the Baptist and Jesus) and their message - The judgement on the 'generation' - Weakness in the statements: God as judge vs Jesus' God as 'Father full of pity' - Contrast in the layers of Q¹ and Q² - Jewish War a reason.

Judgement & 'generation' further explained - Judgement not by the Q-people, but by God - Q² an adaptation to the circumstances of the time (fall of Jerusalem, destruction of the Temple).

Original sayings of Jesus in Q¹ - 'Freedom from anxiety' (ref. to G of Thom) - Sample of Scribal error, a prove of antiquity of the text - Other examples: Lord's prayer (Q 11:2b-4) and commentary (9-13) - Also the Sermon on the Mnt (Mt embedded his long version in other collections) Q 6:20-49 - Contrast with Q² vision - Q¹ contains many of Jesus' sayings - many others are lost - The 'sayings of Jesus' have not become the teaching model of the gospels - Cross and resurrection over took them.

The sayings of Jesus and Jesus' ministry - Q 10:2-26 Instructions to the workers for the kingdom - How to read these instructions - They give a picture of Jesus' own practice - Some instructions are found in Mk, is proof of a varied oral tradition - Mt updates the instructions - And Lk in some way 'revokes' them (Lk 22:35-8) - Stick vs sword - Again: development in tradition.

Jesus' ministry in Galilee -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture ONE - Q-Revisited

Introduction - How I got to Q - Short explanation of how we got Q.

Q as 'earliest witness' - Lectures a resumé of Robinson's book "JESUS, according to the earliest Witness" - Will show the complex nature of the development of the Q document - What 'earliest witness' stands for.

It's beginning - Q as a 'gospel', a 'happy news' - How the sayings Q show us the real picture of Jesus - This 'Jesus' vs 'doctrines' - What the Apostle's Creed missed - Note about Easter/resurrection in the sayings of Jesus.

CH 1, Critical edition of Q - What Q 'has', and the gospels 'miss' - 'Sitz im Leben'.

Narrative gospels vs Sayings gospels - Critical view on the canonical gospels - Lack of historical data makes the development of the personality of Jesus impossible - Gospels give 'stories' not history - Q present Jesus as 'speaker' but also as 'doer'.

One to Come - John the Baptist saw Jesus as 'the one to come' - How Jesus fitted that role - How Q shows the deeper meaning of Jesus' actions - Q and 'trust' - Jesus' 'trust-teaching' became miracle stories in the gospels, and a basis for the passion narratives and resurrection appearances - cf the Apostle's Creed - How Q has the substance of the Church kerygma (teachings) !! - The Q-people, by proclaiming the 'sayings', were practicing their faith in the 'resurrection'.

Redaction of Q - An historical aspect - Redaction was influenced by a deuteronomistic view on the first destruction of the Temple in 587 bce - Was seen as a punishment for the unfaithfulness of Israel to the 'covenant' - In Q² this view was applied to the destruction of the Temple in 70 ce - Expressed in Jesus' 'sayings'.

"This generation" -

- - - - -

Notes for Lecture THIRTEEN 

Particulars: Of the following 4 were chosen

1) 'Trust' in Q

2) Q apocalyptic - yes/no                   

Horsley on apocalyptic                                

Jesus as Apocalyptic prophet

3) Life Style in Q                           

Cynics - Criticism of cynicism 

Itineracy problem (Theissen)        

Uprootedness - fact or principle

4) John Baptist in Q 

Chilton on John and Jesus                          

Q individualistic vs social reform  

Kingdom of God in Q                       

Christology in Q 

Views and Opinions 

Harnack and Q                                           

Wisdom & prophet in Q 

Wisdom of God 

Covenantal Renewal Q 6:20-49  

Covenant in Hebrew Scripture 

Q 6:20-49 as Covenant Renewal    

vs. Sapiential Covenantal Teaching 

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture TWELVE

Q in Mt and Lk - Robinson's quote about the way Q came 'to be', will be repeated, since it tells so well the story and the effort that was involved.

Consequences of the reality - Q as a document shows the Jesus-movement was not 'Christian' - Jesus didn't teach Christianity - The Q-people are trustworthy because they were there 'at the beginning' - Later Christian communities must be explained as emerging from the Q/Jesus-movements, not the other way around - Cross and resurrection not at the center in Q - Jesus was founder-teacher - Narratives of the Gospels no longer to be taken as 'historical write-ups' - they are myth-making, story-telling.

Application - Will Q make a difference? - The bible concept and theology make it difficult - The art of story-telling was and is to be accepted; modern publications and especially film-making mis/abuse it - The breakthrough of Q is for some difficult, for others liberating - Q catches sight of people struggling with a social vision, and putting the Golden Rule into practice.

Reluctance in accepting Q - Because the Gospels are preferred as the historical point of origin, the Jesus 'life-story' - But Q is the basic part of that life-story - Gospels made Jesus into a martyr, dying for a cause (for our sins) - Q's challenge is absolute and critical, driving a wedge between the story of the gospels and the historical beginnings - These are troubling times for thinking Christians - Q can help by giving authority to the words and deeds of Jesus at the very beginning of the story.

The Jewish Christian dialogue - Bond between Jews and Christians is important - Jesus was a Jew - The message was for the Jews - It's basis is trust in the same God

Final thoughts - Q story shows that the Q-people took what was offered by Jesus and coined new myths for new circumstances because of compelling social visions - Christianity has constantly be re-defined by social forces and re-thinking that changed the 'picture' - What Q could make if it was read anew, and seriously questioned. Who knows? The story of things lost and found may never sound the same'.

Particulars: The following is the list of subjects I/we have to choose from (time is limited):

Q individualistic vs social reform  

Kingdom of God in Q                       

Christology in Q 

'Trust' in Q 

Views and Opinions 

Harnack and Q                                           

Wisdom & prophet in Q 

Wisdom of God 

Q apocalyptic - yes/no                  

Horsley on apocalyptic                                

Jesus as Apocalyptic prophet 

Life Style in Q                               

Cynics - Criticism of cynicism 

Itineracy problem (Theissen)        

Uprootedness - fact or principle 

Covenantal Renewal Q 6:20-49  

Covenant in Hebrew Scripture 

Q 6:20-49 as Covenant Renewal    

vs. Sapiential Covenantal Teaching 

John Baptist in Q 

Chilton on John and Jesus                          

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture ELEVEN

Parallel modes of contemporary literature - What was the criterion used when ascribing sayings to a person? - Use of proverbs, etc. - Preoccupation with sayings of a sage not just an expression of interest in the past, but to conserve its 'self-evident truth' - Also to get to the 'life-style' of the sage - A saying was understood as an expression of the 'character' of the sage - Mack shows the parallel between philosophical school and Q.

Anecdote - An interesting building block of Greek biography - Saying with 'double duty' - Judging the appropriateness of a speech attribute to a person had little to do with the modern notion of 'historical truth', but with 'ethos' (how speech and character connect).

Character and Ethos - were neutral concepts without moralistic connotation - Character had to do with speech, adaptation and life-style - In Greco-Roman mentality sayings of an author were an expression of a particular ethos, attributed to the author - So, ethos more than personality was of importance - Applied to sayings about Jesus - In Q : the loyalty to the movement was the same as the loyalty to Jesus, whose image idealized the ethos of his 'school' (Mack) - The sayings powerfully shaped the movement and its particular ethos - Changes in Q's history (3 stages) relate to change in social circumstances, experience and formation - How the Q-people adapted sayings of Jesus to those changing circumstances - Happened gradually - Intolerable ethical tension became a stimulus to adaptation (esp. in Q³) - The image of Jesus shifted with the changes in relation to the function of his teaching.

Stages - The character in Q¹ has a likeness near to the profile of a cynic, but also speaking 'in proverbial wisdom' - In Q² a sense of expansion and growth is obvious, but not as a 'reform society', demanding 'conversion' - This shift is attributed to Jesus - Jesus' voice became that of a 'founder-teacher' instructing in the life that should characterize his 'school' - We can find teachings (doxai) and doctrines (dogmata) - Social conflicts were leading to this change of direction - Painful separations brought on language of judgement - Over time the Q-people became a movement with 'recognizable borders' - The voice of the 'wisdom child' took a tinge of revelation, private knowledge for 'in-house use' - Q³ is the last bit of evidence for the people whose history we have followed.

Q in Mt and Lk -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture TEN

Jesus as speaking for God - Jn's view: "I am" sayings - In Q Jesus points away from himself - Does not take credit - Everywhere it is: God at work!

Jesus' view of his own death - No passion narrative in Q - Yes, killing of prophets and JB and Jesus were considered such - In Mk Jesus' prediction of his death are now seen as Mk's recollection of what happened to Jesus - Mack's thoughts on this.

Re-conception of Christian origins - authority of 'Jesus sayings' - What value should be given to the words put on Jesus' lips? - Mack: The history of Christian origins was put together as 'myth-making', t.i., stories that made history - Q looks at 'origin' differently and so asks for special consideration.

Sayings - What came from Jesus? - Scholars accept Jesus couldn't have said everything ascribed to him - What is not accepted - Some saying in gnostic writings.

In the Gospels - A more difficult tasks - Many words of Jesus in John's gospel are seen as formulated by the community of John - Some explanation - List of authentic sayings of Jesus is short - Reaction from the people in the pew - Comparison with Greco-Roman teachers is helpful.

Parallel modes of contemporary literature - What was the criterion used when ascribing sayings to a person? - Use of proverbs, etc. - Preoccupation with sayings of a sage not just an expression of interest in the past, but to conserve its 'self-evident truth' - Also to get to the 'life-style' of the sage - A saying was understood as an expression of the 'character' of the sage - Mack shows the parallel between philosophical school and Q.

Anecdote - An interesting building block of Greek biography - Saying with 'double duty' - Judging the appropriateness of a speech attribute to a person had little to do with the modern notion of 'historical truth', but with 'ethos' (how speech and character connect).

Character and Ethos -

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Notes for Lecture NINE

Q as the gospel of Jesus - Some thoughts from Kloppenborg - 'The purpose of the Q collection was to hand on the sayings of Jesus in an authentic form. In its earlier stages 'it revealed the free, almost revolutionary Gospel of Jesus himself', and at the same time afforded the best portrait of the early Jesus-movement communities' - 'Q can be seen as a basis of faith and theology, providing a historical source of unparalleled value of a relatively complete account of the gospel of Jesus' - Q is a record of Jesus' teachings 'The core of what Jesus considered his own gospel' (Robinson) - 'In spite of the terrible death, his message of complete trust in God was resumed by the Q-people as being as true as ever' (Robinson [Jr 239])

Jesus' view of himself in Q - Jesus did not use titles - He let people know about himself by what he said and did - A word about 'titles' - MESSIAH, in Jewish tradition and in early Christian writings - SON OF GOD, there is a Jewish way of using that term - How Jesus saw it (Q 6:27-8) - SON OF MAN - a few texts - Use in Judaism - JUDGE - used about Jesus - Jesus makes reference to 'judging' - JUDGE ON JUDGING DAY - Mt elevates Jesus to the role of judge - SOPHIA'S CHILDREN (sophia=wisdom) - Wisdom in Jewish tradition - Q sees 'Wisdom' sending Jesus to Jerusalem to proclaim his message and to be rejected, as it had sent the prophets through the ages - How Jesus and John are 'Sophia's children' - THE ONE TO COME - John asked if Jesus was 'the one to come' - OT connections - How it became (a verb) 'the one who is coming'.

Jesus as speaking for God - Jn's view: "I am" sayings - In Q Jesus points away from himself - Does not take credit - Everywhere it is: God at work!

Jesus' view of his own death - No passion narrative in Q - Yes, killing of prophets and JB and Jesus were considered such - In Mk Jesus' prediction of his death are now seen as Mk's recollection of what happened to Jesus - Mack's thoughts on this.

Re-conception of Christian origins - authority of 'Jesus sayings' -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture EIGHT

Q and the Gospels - Gospels were composed as a 'reflection', and the thinking of a particular community' of Jesus' followers in a specific area about the person and the teaching of Jesus - It happens between 70-100 - Basis for those compositions was: the oral tradition, which also shaped Q - Oral tradition was in a constant process of development influenced by the thinking of the local communities - Mk, Mt, Lk, Jn - From Q to Jn is a long, long way in the development of the Jesus movement - The privilege given to the 'narrative' gospels caused Q to be forgotten/neglected - Now Q presents the challenge 'to the history of religion' to revise the understanding of early Christianity - Q is offering a more plausible account for the first 40 yrs of the Jesus-movement - Q is the basis to the actual composition of the narrative gospels of Mt and Lk - Take Q out, they are void of significant instructions - Notice: No last supper, nor mentioning of Jesus' death in Q - This too challenges the Christian mind - Mack's observation about how Old and New Testament were 'united' and the 'why' - A remarkable story!

[Why Q is not in Mk]

Q and the Gospel of Thomas (GoT) - GoT helps to understand Q better - 35 percent of is sayings have parallels in Q - The 'writing style' was "in" - a common form of Wisdom literature (Robinson) - GoT-people saw the significance of Jesus' teachings in the capacity to 'enable a person to withstand society's pressure to conform' - GoT-people formed their own community - Q + GoT vs Mk's view of Jesus - Three features in GotT make it different from Q - 1) use of dialogue - importance of dialogue - 2) deeper teachings, such as: 'true knowledge is self-knowledge' ... is in touch with higher knowledge, divine light (proto-gnostic) - 3) riddle-like sayings only understood by 'insiders'.

Q as the gospel of Jesus - Some thoughts from Kloppenborg - 'The purpose of the Q collection was to hand on the sayings of Jesus in an authentic form. In its earlier stages 'it revealed the free, almost revolutionary Gospel of Jesus himself', and at the same time afforded the best portrait of the early Jesus-movement communities' - 'Q can be seen as a basis of faith and theology, providing a historical source of unparalleled value of a relatively complete account of the gospel of Jesus' - Q is a record of Jesus' teachings 'The core of what Jesus considered his own gospel' (Robinson) - 'In spite of the terrible death, his message of complete trust in God was resumed by the Q-people as being as true as ever' (Robinson [Jr 239])

Jesus' view of himself in Q - Jesus did not use titles - He let people know about himself by what he said and did - A word about 'titles' - MESSIAH, in Jewish tradition and in early Christian writings - SON OF GOD, there is a Jewish way of using that term - How Jesus saw it (Q 6:27-8) - SON OF MAN - a few texts - Use in Judaism - JUDGE - used about Jesus - Jesus makes reference to 'judging' - JUDGE ON JUDGING DAY - Mt elevates Jesus to the role of judge - SOPHIA'S CHILDREN (sophia=wisdom) - Wisdom in Jewish tradition - Q sees 'Wisdom' sending Jesus to Jerusalem to proclaim his message and to be rejected, as it had sent the prophets through the ages - How Jesus and John are ' Sophia's children' - THE ONE TO COME - John asked if Jesus was 'the one to come' - OT connections - How it became (a verb) 'the one who is coming'.

Jesus as speaking for God -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture SEVEN

Q: sayings vs discourses - Harnack: Jesus did not found communities, nor suggested that his disciples organize a 'church' - How did communities start and develop? - Mack: the beginning formation of the movement derives from the nature of a discourse - One cannot start by categorizing and characterizing the individual sayings - 'social context' should come first - Individual sayings are intelligible only in larger groupings or discourses as 'units of communication' - Some sample of discourses: (see your Q-copy!!) 10:2-16, 11:2-4, 6:20-49 (27-38), 11:39-52, 22:28-30, 12:22-31, 12:49-59, 13:18-21

Structure of the discourses - 5 Steps as Horsley sees it: 1) 'present order' is turned upside-down 2) economic admonitions 3) social commands 4) inner motivation 5) double parable that sanctions 2+3.

Q and the Gospels - Gospels were composed as a 'reflection', and the thinking of a particular community' of Jesus' followers in a specific area about the person and the teaching of Jesus - It happens between 70-100 - Basis for those compositions was: the oral tradition, which also shaped Q - Oral tradition was in a constant process of development influenced by the thinking of the local communities - Mk, Mt, Lk, Jn - From Q to Jn is a long, long way in the development of the Jesus movement - The privilege given to the 'narrative' gospels caused Q to be forgotten/neglected - Now Q presents the challenge 'to the history of religion' to revise the understanding of early Christianity - Q is offering a more plausible account for the first 40 yrs of the Jesus-movement - Q is the basis to the actual composition of the narrative gospels of Mt and Lk - Take Q out, they are void of significant instructions - Notice: No last supper, nor mentioning of Jesus' death in Q - This too challenges the Christian mind - Mack's observation about how Old and New Testament were 'united' and the 'why' - A remarkable story!

[Why Q is not in Mk]

Q and the Gospel of Thomas (GoT) - GoT helps to understand Q better - 35 percent of is sayings have parallels in Q - The 'writing style' was "in" - a common form of Wisdom literature (Robinson) - GoT-people saw the significance of Jesus' teachings in the capacity to 'enable a person to withstand society's pressure to conform' - GoT-people formed their own community - Q + GoT vs Mk's view of Jesus - Three features in GotT make it different from Q - 1) use of dialogue - importance of dialogue - 2) deeper teachings, such as: 'true knowledge is self-knowledge' ... is in touch with higher knowledge, divine light (proto-gnostic) - 3) riddle-like sayings only understood by 'insiders'.

Q as the gospel of Jesus -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture SIX

The Jesus people in the Q strata - Kloppenburg and the 3 strata - Social history of Q-people began with early periods of fervor, not without social critique, and with counter-cultural experimentation - Later came 'frustration' because of failed expectations - Judgement on those who place obstacles - In the end more accommodations to other currents in the Jesus-movement, as well as to some Jewish and Hellenistic values.

Form of speech - Mack helps us see an influence of cynicism in the 'wisdom talks' - some samples - This form of speech difficult for some to accept, didn't fit the picture of 'Christian mission' - In Q² the cynic parallels subside - Authority of Jesus enhanced by association with 'mystical figure of wisdom' to have knowledge for sweeping judgements - In Q ³ John Baptist enters the picture with moral lessons and pointing to strict account of one's deeds - Mack warns not to be fooled by finding a parallel between Q and the gospels - The many studies made about the Q texts have been of great benefit, but also have proven that the sayings of Q can only be understood in their own settings, without any connotation with the gospels - This kind of interpretation helps to understand that the Q-people were not Christians, because they didn't think of Jesus as Messiah, didn't recognize a special group as their leaders, didn't see Jesus as going to Jerusalem to cleanse the Temple and reform the Jewish religion, didn't regard Jesus' death as an unusual divine event, and didn't follow Jesus' teachings to be a 'saved' and 'transformed' people - The Q-people were a lively Jesus-movement that can best be placed in its own Galilean environment.

Q and the historical Jesus - Q and Jesus 'mindset' - Jesus' sayings were to 'instruct and console' - Q² gives more 'signs of secondary expansion in an ecclesiastical context' (J.Jeremias) - Q² is a situation of a 'starting (Q) community' - One can feel the presence of 'church-community as much as the presence of Jesus - Q³ adds the person of John Baptist, and the answers to the 'temptor' - Q³ is not only concerned with 'community', but also with 'rivals' (John's disciples and others) with a need to cite Scripture to correctly understand and interpret Jesus' deeds - Q is in no way a record of historical events but a first and earliest interpretation of Jesus.

Q: sayings vs discourses - Harnack: Jesus did not found communities, nor suggested that his disciples organize a 'church' - How did communities start and develop? - Mack: the beginning formation of the movement derives from the nature of a discourse - One cannot start by categorizing and characterizing the individual sayings - 'social context' should come first - Individual sayings are intelligible only in larger groupings or discourses as 'units of communication' - Some sample of discourses: (see your Q-copy!!) 10:2-16, 11:2-4, 6:20-49 (27-38), 11:39-52, 22:28-30, 12:22-31, 12:49-59, 13:18-21

Structure of the discourses -

- - - - -

Notes for Lecture FIVE

Galilee - it's society and economy - Galilee was under Roman domination - Q needs to be considered in that setting - Changes in daily life as a result of Jesus' teaching in that setting found expression in the Q document - Some details : taxes etc. , production, village-living, transportation, trade.

Effects on Galilean village life - Two social worlds in collision: social world of Judaism and the one of Hellenistic culture and Roman power - Impact of the tax-system on Jewish living - Importance of literate administrators - role of synagogue.

Q in this setting - Internal evidence shows a setting in Galilee - Not narrowing it to certain places (like the gospels) - There is some linking across the northern border (S. Syria) with Mt and Gosp of Thom - Importance of Jonah as a Galilean prophet - References to urban life are few - Larger cities are not mentioned - Chilton sees an involvement in 2 steps - First one: Jesus' repeated teaching (mishna) arranged by the disciples - Final stage: quasi-biographical in accordance with the order of Peter's teaching (as later found in Mt) - Mack's observation: Q warns us against the traditional view that Christianity emerged as a reformation of Judaism ... 'The attraction of the new community was not rooted in a plan to 'reform' a religious tradition that had 'missed its calling', or in a clarion call to start a 'new world religion' based on a recent revelation, but rather in the 'enhancement of human values' experienced in the process of social formation itself'.

The Q-people - a community of Jesus-followers devoted to his teachings - How Mack sees the Q-people - a) they were not Christians - b) didn't think of Jesus as the Messiah (Christ) - c) didn't see Jesus' teaching as indictment of Judaism - d) did not see Jesus' death as 'saving' - e) didn't consider 'resurrection' - A few other items that are typical - Q-people didn't see their mission as 'evangelizing' - How did this vision of Jesus' teaching develop into the Christ-cult? - The answer to be found in the historical facts of that development - Q forces us to 'rethink Christian origins' - Q-text had as purpose to serve the Q-people in their adaptation to the change of social setting.

The Jesus people in the Q strata - Kloppenburg and the 3 strata - Social history of Q-people began with early periods of fervor, not without social critique, and with counter-cultural experimentation - Later came 'frustration' because of failed expectations - Judgement on those who place obstacles - In the end more accommodations to other currents in the Jesus-movement, as well as to some Jewish and Hellenistic values.

Form of speech - Mack helps us see an influence of cynicism in the 'wisdom talks' - some samples - This form of speech difficult for some to accept, didn't fit the picture of 'Christian mission' - In Q² the cynic parallels subside - Authority of Jesus enhanced by association with 'mystical figure of wisdom' to have knowledge for sweeping judgements - In Q ³ John Baptist enters the picture with moral lessons and pointing to strict account of one's deeds - Mack warns not to be fooled by finding a parallel between Q and the gospels - The many studies made about the Q texts have been of great benefit, but also have proven that the sayings of Q can only be understood in their own settings, without any connotation with the gospels - This kind of interpretation helps to understand that the Q-people were not Christians, because they didn't think of Jesus as Messiah, didn't recognize a special group as their leaders, didn't see Jesus as going to Jerusalem to cleanse the Temple and reform the Jewish religion, didn't regard Jesus' death as an unusual divine event, and didn't follow Jesus' teachings to be a 'saved' and 'transformed' people - The Q-people were a lively Jesus-movement that can best be placed in its own Galilean environment.

- - - - -

Notes for Lecture FOUR

Who composed Q - Arnal (Jesus and the Village Scribes) gives insights into the composition of Q - Who the 'composers' were comes from the document itself, 'the world of experience behind it' - Composers were 'literate' - Document not just a translation of orally circulated material, but a carefully constructed work - Pipers gives details how this shows: 1) pattern of progress from general to specifics -2) an interpretive key at the end 3) rhetorical questions in the center 4) change of imagery in the progress 5) strong appeal to 'experience and reason' - Arnal sees Q not only as 'literate', but rather as 'literary'= well versed - Importance of use or lack of OT texts in the strata - Writing was not simply a vehicle for recording oral messages, it was a medium of promoting fundamental principles and agenda - Kloppenborg gives details how scribel activities found expression in Q - Horsley's different opinion: Scribes are not required for the composition of Q, even when its complexity and organization are recognized'... he leaves open the probability (of Arnal) that the scribes were involved in preparing the proclamation of the 'sayings' in the community context. 'Q must (therefore) be understood first of all as orally composed, and only written down by means of scribal technology'.

Galilee - it's society and economy - Galilee was under Roman domination - Q needs to be considered in that setting - Changes in daily life as a result of Jesus' teaching in that setting found expression in the Q document - Some details : taxes etc. , production, village-living, transportation, trade.

Effects on Galilean village life - Two social worlds in collision: social world of Judaism and the one of Hellenistic culture and Roman power - Impact of the tax-system on Jewish living - Importance of literate administrators - role of synagogue.

Q in this setting - Internal evidence shows a setting in Galilee - Not narrowing it to certain places (like the gospels) - There is some linking across the northern border (S. Syria) with Mt and Gosp of Thom - Importance of Jonah as a Galilean prophet - References to urban life are few - Larger cities are not mentioned - Chilton sees an involvement in 2 steps - First one: Jesus' repeated teaching (mishna) arranged by the disciples - Final stage: quasi-biographical in accordance with the order of Peter's teaching (as later found in Mt) - Mack's observation: Q warns us against the traditional view that Christianity emerged as a reformation of Judaism ... 'The attraction of the new community was not rooted in a plan to 'reform' a religious tradition that had 'missed its calling', or in a clarion call to start a 'new world religion' based on a recent revelation, but rather in the 'enhancement of human values' experienced in the process of social formation itself'.

The Q-people -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture THREE

Written or oral tradition? - Kelber helps us to focus on oral tradition - His theory of 'orality' vs 'literacy' as different modes of communication - The survival of the orally transmitted 'sayings' depended on the 'social context'.

Social context - Horsley: the Jewish 'great tradition' about the Torah was passed on in Israel in 'oral form' because of the limited literacy of the people - Q should be treated as an 'orally' transmitted text, though it is difficult for us not to judge things from out 'print culture' - Some important points that can help: 1) texts came from 'public performances' - 2) 'sayings delivered' were centered on community concerns - They became so a community memory - 3) the 'performance' involved a life situation in the community that involved 'conflict' - The performed discourses became 'interactive' by repetition to others - 4) keeping oral tradition in mind helps to establish the meaning of words and sayings in the discourses.

Oral communication environment - How 'performance' effected the 'hearers' - Performance should be an 'enabling event' - Misunderstanding by early Christian interpretation.

Q and Jewish tradition - Horsley and the 'great' and 'little' Israelite tradition - The 'little' was oral, though based on the written 'great' tradition - Performance made the reference to the 'great' tradition resonate with the 'hearers' - Kloppenborg on the 'written nature' of Q², his reasons.

Reflection - Performance is the way the words of Jesus were used after his death in the small communities of followers - Words were used in talks, sermons, and admonitions according to the particuler need at that time.

Who composed Q - Arnal (Jesus and the Village Scribes) gives insights into the composition of Q - Who the 'composers' were comes from the document itself, 'the world of experience behind it' - Composers were 'literate' - Document not just a translation of orally circulated material, but a carefully constructed work - Pipers gives details how this shows: 1) pattern of progress from general to specifics -2) an interpretive key at the end 3) rhetorical questions in the center 4) change of imagery in the progress 5) strong appeal to 'experience and reason' - Arnal sees Q not only as 'literate', but rather as 'literary'= well versed - Importance of use or lack of OT texts in the strata - Writing was not simply a vehicle for recording oral messages, it was a medium of promoting fundamental principles and agenda - Kloppenborg gives details how scribel activities found expression in Q - Horsley's different opinion: Scribes are not required for the composition of Q, even when its complexity and organization are recognized'... he leaves open the probability (of Arnal) that the scribes were involved in preparing the proclamation of the 'sayings' in the community context. 'Q must (therefore) be understood first of all as orally composed, and only written down by means of scribal technology'.

Galilee - it's society and economy -

- - - - -
Notes for Lecture TWO

Order and setting of Q - The better 'order' of the Q document is from Lk, though Mt's might be the more original - Galilee is presumed to be the immediate setting of the Q collection - Some info about the Galilean towns - Arnal links Q to gospel of Mt and gospel of Thomas, who came from across the Syrian border, and as reinforcing the Galilean setting - Some details of that 'setting' - Towns mentioned - Also the person of Jonah mentioned, who was a 'northern' prophet and from Galilee, and what this means for Q' setting - Arnal argues that since Q as a document failed to survive (apart fromn its final form in Mt + Lk), indicates that even the final text (in 3 strata) was not widely distributed - Lack of interest in Q for larger cities as Tiberias and Sepphoris.

Date of Q and strata - At all started in early 20's (founding of Tiberias) according to Arnal - Origin of the text seems to be from a 'Q community' in Galilee - Details about village life - Reasons given for the Galilean assumption - General dating of Q from the 30's or 40's (preferably the earlier, Arnal) - Q² from the 40-50's - The mentioning of the Temple (and the lack ot it) as a factor in the 'dating' - Connection between Q and Paul's Thess. I, and the impact on Q's dating.

Original language of Q - It seems safe to support the idea that Q for the most part came to Mt and Lk in Greek writing - Does not exclude the possibility that it was originally transmitted orally in Aramaic (Q is strongly Semitic).

Written or oral tradition? - Kelber helps us to focus on oral tradition - His theory of 'orality' vs 'literacy' as different modes of communication - The survival of the orally transmitted 'sayings' depended on the 'social context'.

Social context - Horsley: the Jewish 'great tradition' about the Torah was passed on in Israel in 'oral form' because of the limited literacy of the people - Q should be treated as an 'orally' transmitted text, though it is difficult for us not to judge things from out 'print culture' - Some important points that can help: 1) texts came from 'public performances' - 2) 'sayings delivered' were centered on community concerns - They became so a community memory - 3) the 'performance' involved a life situation in the community that involved 'conflict' - The performed discourses became 'interactive' by repetition to others - 4) keeping oral tradition in mind helps to establish the meaning of words and sayings in the discourses.

Oral communication environment - How 'performance' effected the 'hearers' - Performance should be an 'enabling event' - Misunderstanding by early Christian interpretation.

Q and Jewish tradition - Horsley and the 'great' and 'little' Israelite tradition - The 'little' was oral, though based on the written 'great' tradition - Performance made the reference to the 'great' tradition resonate with the 'hearers' - Kloppenborg on the 'written nature' of Q², his reasons.

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Notes for Lecture ONE

Introduction - historical background of my Q-study - Note on the Bibliography

Why a course about 'Q' - In my lectures on 'Exploring Christian Roots' Q was mentioned quite often as a valuable source for getting to know Jesus - This prodded my interest to make a deeper study about Q - How I planned the course: collecting all books available, - making a 'lay-out' for the lesson plan for the course.

Q's historical background - Mk, Mt and Lk have a lot in common - reason why they are called synoptic gospels (sun together, optein seen) - Mt and Lk have a lot in common - Reason: they used the gospel of Mk almost completely as a Greek source, not a translated Aramaic one - How this sharing between the two worked and were they differed

Two Source Theory - Mt and Lk show indications they also used another source (later called Q=Quelle=source) - This led to the 'two source theory' - Some historical details - From this second source Q, Mt and Lk have about 200 verses in common - Q was not known as a 'document' - Besides the material from the 2 sources, Mt and Lk have some material of their own, now indicated by M and L. - Basics of the 'Two Source Theory':

a) Mt & Lk hold independently written versions of Mk

b) They used a second source - known as 'Q'

c) They have their own material called: M & L

d) There might have been a different version of Mk being used

Q was found 'in', and 'recovered from' the gospels of Mt and Lk - It never had a name from its origin and did not survive time as a 'independent' document, reason why it's called sometimes 'the Lost Gospel' (Mack) - Q was basically an 'oral' tradition.

How did we get Q? - Robinson - with the help of graduate students - lifted the material from Q out of the Mt and Lk gospels and put it in order [Handout 'Q text'] - The material was also divided in 3 sections/strata designated as Q¹, Q² , Q³ - This was done based on the study by Kloppenborg - Q is a 'sayings' gospel without narratives (stories) - Helps very much in re-imagining the character of Jesus' original message and gives a clearer insight into the beginning of Christianity.

Order and setting of Q - The better 'order' of the Q document is from Lk, though Mt's might be the more original - Galilee is presumed to be the immediate setting of the Q collection - Some info about the Galilean towns - Arnal links Q to gospel of Mt and gospel of Thomas, who came from across the Syrian border, and as reinforcing the Galilean setting - Some details of that 'setting' - Towns mentioned - Also the person of Jonah and what that means for Q' setting

Date of Q and strata - At all started in early 20's (founding of Tiberias) according to Arnal - Origin of the text seems to be from a 'Q community' in Galilee - Details about village life - Reasons given for the Galilean assumption - General dating of Q from the 30's or 40's (preferably the earlier, Arnal) - Q² from the 40-50's - The mentioning of the Temple (and the lack ot it) as a factor in the 'dating' - Connection between Q and Paul's Thess. I, and the impact on Q's dating.

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NOTES Q-LECTURES - SUMMER '08

TWO

Lecture FOUR

Gospel of Thomas note - Discovered in 1945 - was a big help in understanding and accepting the findings of Q - GoT has 35% of its saying parallel with Q - Proves a certain writing style and makes comparative study possible - Both are a collection of 'wisdom sayings' of Jesus understood as instructions of a wise teacher.

Gospel of Jesus - Harnack: 'Q expresses most clearly the message of Jesus, and indeed ... the essence of Christianity - With a certain degree of completeness it is a representation of the major features of Jesus' relationship with his environment. Q can be seen as a basis of faith and theology, and it provides a historical source of unparalleled value, and, - as a relatively complete account of the 'gospel of Jesus', - it serves as the foundation of theology' - Q was a record of the preaching of Jesus - Robinson sees in the sayings of Q "what Jesus was up to" - It is the core of Jesus' own gospel - For the followers of Jesus it was their 'experience of Jesus after the resurrection', and it was still calling them 'to continue his message and lifestyle'; in other words Q was the substance of their 'resurrection experience'.

Jesus view of himself in Q - Jesus in Q did not use 'titles' - Jesus made himself known by what he said and did - A word about titles - Messiah, the anointed one - Son of God - Mk started it (1:11) , but what was its meaning?

Jesus' view of his own death - Q has no passion narrative - There was awareness of the 'killing of the prophets' - Q saw Jesus' death in line of that vision - But Mk gives us Jesus' predictions about his death - They are now seen as Mk's recollections of what had happened to Jesus - Jesus, by what he said and did, was, no doubt, taking his life into own his hands, and he must have been aware of that reality. He must have known that he could become 'the victim of his own vision' - Q people saw any reference to the cross as an example of the integrity required of any of his followers, an integrity that was still being measured by commitment to the-way-of-life as it was lived within the movement' - In Q² there is a change of focus from the 'teachings of Jesus the 'teacher' Jesus.

Re-conception of Christian origins - Hinges on the understanding of 'which sayings of Jesus are really his' - A study of the subject can affect the traditional reading of the history of Christian origins - Mack's explanation: Q has documented a 'Jesus movement' that produced a 'myth/story of origin', simply by adding new sayings to a 'collection of the instructions of the teacher'. That kind of myth-making has been difficult for modern scholars to accept - We need to learn understand the process by which 'sayings continued to be ascribed to Jesus long after he lived' - The important matter become therefore: what is in-authentic.

Sayings - what came from Jesus? - Not all 'sayings' ascribed to Jesus came from him - From a collection of 530 sayings about 10% is considered authentic - Some examples of what could not have come from Jesus.

Sayings in the gospels - Sayings in John are considered coming from the author of the gospel - For the 'synoptics' this rule is kept: judging the authenticity have generally been based on the opinion, that since Jesus was a 'unique individual', his teachings must have been 'novel' - This became a 'criterion' - Also sayings that had to do with the 'theological or ethical concerns of a particular community' were seen as inauthentic - Studies involved with these criteria have become quite valuable, since they have situated many of the teachings of Jesus in their appropriate settings, eliminating in that way a majority of sayings as inauthentic, even though they were 'ascribed to Jesus' - For 'people in the pew' all this can be disturbing "How can they say that Jesus did not say what Mark, Matthew and Luke claimed he had said?" - Problem is caused by the lack of basic knowledge among average Christians about the way the gospels came to be.

Helpful modes of contemporary literature - In general a given 'saying' was ascribed to a known figure in discourses - The culture of that time used proverbs and pithy sayings as a 'convenient way for remembering' - Any 'sayings collection' was an important way to conserve the wisdom of the past - It was also used as containing the 'individual's distinctive life-style', his character - The sayings of a sage or teacher were understood as an expression of their character - Besides 'speech' the profile of the 'individual in action' was of interest - Oral tradition was the means by which 'the life' of an eminent person was preserved - All this is reflected in the Q document - No summary of Jesus' doctrine/philosophy, but the format of 'memorable sayings' was used - Numerous pictures of the person in this or that occasion became 'snapshots' of his character, a profile of the person.

Anecdote -

- - - - -
Lecture THREE

Q-people - Mack's The Lost Gospel observations: -Q-people not Christians, -for them Jesus was not Messiah/Christ, -his teachings no indictment of Judaism, -his death not a saving event, -they had no resurrection idea - For them, Jesus was a teacher, whose teachings made it possible to live 'with energy and enthusiasm in troubled times' - Q-people did not worship/honor Jesus as 'a god' - There was no 'cult of Christ' as in the Paul-communities - Q-people were 'Jesus-people', not Christians - Some more remarkable differences - Q-people had no purpose of evangelizing Jews or gentiles - Jesus sayings were handed over to help their own to understand Jesus' message and live accordingly - 'Q challenges the popular concept of Christian origins' - How did then later the stories of the Gospels and the 'Christ cult' develop? - The answer can be found in studying the history of the following decades and centuries - Q forces us to re-think Christian origins.

Form of speech - Q sayings are 'wisdom instructions' -but of a specific kind - Cynic influence - Some examples that point in that direction: less tight connections with one's family, voluntary homelessness, evading normal standards of cleanliness, simple attire, and unashamed begging - Though there was cynic social critique, the early Jesus-movement wan not a 'reform movement' - From this point of view a closer look at the development in the different strata - Where Mack sees the pattern of Christian beginnings in the Gospels - Therefore he says: the 'picture painted by the narrative gospels', seems to continue to function in a incorrect way as 'the pattern for Christian beginnings' - Studies have shown there is a theme common to Q and the Gospels that takes different meanings in each literary context - Q's themes are better understood if 'their gospel connotations' are avoided - This process can be painful, but rewards are rich: Q and the Jesus-movement can now be seen as a lively Jesus movement, and the Jesus movement can now be placed in its own Galilean environment.

Q: its sayings vs discourses - Harnack: Jesus did not found communities suggesting they should organize a 'church' - A look at how the communities in the Jesus-movement emerged - Mack sees it in 'the nature of a discourse', the discourses caused the formation of small communities - Mistake must be avoided to 'categorize' and 'characterize' individual sayings - Social context should come first - Individual sayings are intelligible 'only' in larger groupings or discourses as 'units of communication' in Q - Q vs Gosp of Thom - List of different discourses keeping in mind the 'community background'

10:2-16 instruction regarding mission, the sending of envoys to preach and heal and generally spread the movement village by village

11:2-4 instruction and encouragement about prayer

6:20-49 Jesus' inaugural sermon (Beatitudes) - end in 17:23-37

6:27-38 instruction on social-economic relations 'within the community', - not merely a religious teaching for individuals.

11:39-52 condemnation of some of the principal opponents of the movement

22:28-30 Jesus' declaration about the restoration or liberation of Israel

12:22-31 which addresses the Q-people's anxieties about necessities of life

12:49-59 proclaims the disruptive, conflicting effect the Jesus movement might have to endure, and the challenge if one does not respond to the crisis

13:18-21 two parables about the amazing expansion of the Kingdom as manifest in the Q/Jesus movement

Q and the Gospels - Four gospels are a 'reflection and thinking of a particular community of Jesus followers in different areas about the person and teaching of Jesus - Basis in final analysis is 'oral tradition', 'embellished and dramatized by way of myths/stories and animated by miracles' to fit the thinking and theological system of the particular group - Mk based on Peter's account, Mt and Lk independent, Mt more following Peter's tradition, Lk influenced some by Paul's thinking - Jn made miracles into 'signs' as indications that the Jesus movement had replaced the Jewish religion - From Q to Jn is a long, long way of development of the Jesus movement - The privilege granted the narrative gospels was cause that the message of Q was forgotten and neglected - Q's challenge: it offers a more plausible account of the first 40 years of the Jesus-movement - As an 'independent' document it might have been dismissed like f.ex., the Gospel of Thomas - But since it forms the basis of the actual composition of 2 narrative gospels it cannot be dismissed or ignored - 2 Details: Jesus' death and the Last Supper.

Gospel of Thomas note - Discovered in 1945 - was a big help in understanding and accepting the findings of Q - GoT has 35% of its saying parallel with Q - Proves a certain writing style and makes comparative study possible - Both are a collection of 'wisdom sayings' of Jesus understood as instructions of a wise teacher.

Gospel f Jesus - Harnack: 'Q expresses most clearly the message of Jesus, and indeed ... the essence of Christianity - With a certain degree of completeness it is a representation of the major features of Jesus' relationship with his environment. Q can be seen as a basis of faith and theology, and it provides a historical source of unparalleled value, and, - as a relatively complete account of the 'gospel of Jesus', - it serves as the foundation of theology' - Q was a record of the preaching of Jesus - Robinson sees in the sayings of Q "what Jesus was up to" - It is the core of Jesus' own gospel - For the followers of Jesus it was their 'experience of Jesus after the resurrection', and it was still calling them 'to continue his message and lifestyle'; in other words Q was the substance of their 'resurrection experience'.

Jesus view of himself in Q

Lecture  TWO

Written or Oral - We are hang up on 'written text', we are print-oriented - Oral communication was a reality in the 1^st c. - Kelber's impact in this matter - Comparison of the 'oral' Q text with Mk's 'written' text - Orally transmitting a message can be done according to one's own ability/imagination - Written transmission is depending on text put together with literate ability

Social context - Oral mentality calls for social context - The Jewish 'great tradition' was passed on in 'oral form' because of the limit literacy of the people in general - Social context included: 1) public performance, 2) in short speeches that concerned the needs of the listening community, 3) involved in a life situation, 4) the meaning of the words and sayings came from the discourses.

Oral communication environment - Effect of the 'performance of the discourse' on the 'hearers' - Performance an 'enabling event' that included Jewish culture

Q and the Jewish tradition - Horsley makes distinction between the 'great' Israelite tradition (scribes) and the 'little' popular tradition, which was 'oral' though based on the 'great' tradition - And it was the way in which a 'performed text' was making reference to the 'great' tradition, that did make such 'performance' resonate with the hearers - A Kloppenborg note - Further word about 'performance'.

Who composed Q - strata ? - End 80's acceptance of the strata indicated by Kloppenborg - Arnal gives further insight (JVS) - 'The only evidence we possess, who these individuals might have been, comes from the document itself; two items, namely: the 'world of experience' behind it, and its own 'essential make-up' - Composers were literate - Q was a written document, not just as a 'transcript of orally circulated material', but as 'carefully constructed arguments and discourses' - Pipers offers further details - Arnal: Q not merely a 'literate document', but also 'literary' = well versed - Interesting observations about the different strata - Q¹ has no OT texts - Q² appeals to deutoronomistic understanding of the tradition with references and proof texts etc. - Q³ is basis for authoritative revelation - Summary: 'one can conclude that the document produced at the Q¹ -level, evidently came to serve as a kind of 'basic or official document' for the group that produced it; and this can be derived not only from its preservation within that group, but also by its continual improvements in the following strata in order to suit the group's changing situations' - Arnal: Writing not simply a passive vehicle for recording, but a major and comfortable vehicle for promoting values and agenda - Village scribes seen as the responsible persons - Reasons why - Horsley's narrower view: 'Q must be understood as first of all orally composed and only written down by means of scribal technology'.

Galilee - society and economy - Arnal ch. 4 - Galilee was under Roman domination and imperial policy - Q composed against this background by the early 'Jesus-movement', a Jewish sect - Q reflects society and culture of the area (few details) - Impact of Roman occupation on Galilee - Villages - crops - fish - Village life was self-regulated - Trade limited - Taxation - Society levels.

Q in this setting - Time is 'before the war' - Setting mostly around the northern rim of the lake - Jonah and his Galilean importance - Scribes - Basis of Q: Jesus' mishnah - his 'repeated' teaching - Order in Q and purpose of mission to Israel - Influence of Peter's teaching in Q³.

Q-people -

Lecture  ONE

Why a course about 'Q' - In my lectures on 'Exploring Christian Roots' Q was mentioned quite often as a valuable source for getting to know Jesus - This prodded my interest to make a deeper study about Q - Result was a plan to share my many renewed findings with my students ('the plan' will be available in the 'Content of the Fall course', given as a 'handout' at the final summer lecture)

Historical Background - Mk, Mt and Lk have a lot in common - reason why they are called synoptic gospels - First cause of this commonality is that Mt and Lk used the gospel of Mk almost completely as a source - We will see how this sharing worked and were the two differed.

Two Source Theory - Besides Mk, Mt and Lk also used another source - This led to the 'two source theory' - From this second source Mt and Lk have about 200 verses in common - The second source - (called Q probably after 'Quelle', German for 'source') - was not known as a 'document' - Besides the material from the 2 sources, Mt and Lk have some material of their own, now indicated by M and L.

How did we get Q? - Robinson - with the help of graduate students - lifted the material coming from Q out of the Mt and Lk gospels and put it in order [Handout 'Q text'] - The material was also divided in 3 sections/strata designated as Q¹, Q² , Q³ - This was done based on the study by Kloppenborg.

Order and setting of Q - The better order is from Lk, though Mt's might be the more original - Galilee is presumed to be the immediate setting of the Q collection - Some info about the Galilean towns - Arnal sees links to Mt and GospThom, from across the Syrian border, as reinforcing the Galilean setting

Date of Q and strata - At all started in early 20's (founding of Tiberias) according to Arnal - Origin of the text seems to be from a 'Q community' in Galilee - Reasons given for the assumption - General dating of Q from the 30's or 40's (preferably the earlier, Arnal) - Q² from the 40-50's

Composers - A look at the question of who put Q together - The 'village scribes' are the most probable composers - More details about his matter and time of composition -

Language - What was the original language? - Some hold the origin was in Greek - Backed up by quotes from the LLX (Septuagint) - Not valid for Q¹ that has no quotes - Since Q is strongly Semitic an Aramaic basis seems preferable, especially for Q¹ - Kloppenborg's opinion

Written or Oral - We are hang up on 'written text', we are print-oriented - Oral communication was a reality in the 1^st c. - Kelber's impact in this matter - Comparison of the 'oral' Q text with Mk's 'written' text - Orally transmitting a message can be done according to one's own ability/imagination - Written transmission is depending on text put together with literate ability

Social context - Oral mentality calls for social context - The Jewish 'great tradition' was passed on in 'oral form' because of the limit literacy of the people in general - Social context included: 1) public performance, 2) in short speeches that concerned the needs of the listening community, 3) involved in a life situation, 4) the meaning of the words and sayings came from the discourses.