The Making of the New Testament Documents

This volume identifies and investigates literary traditions and their implications for the authorship and dating of the Gospels and letters. It questions the view that the letters were the sole product of an individual and argues for corporate authorship hitherto unappreciated by critical scholarship.The author contends that four cooperating apostolic missions each produced a Gospel and several letters and faced the same judaizing-gnosticizing countermission. They shared common traditions while pursuing their different tasks. These arguments if persuasive will require a reassessment of the history of early Christianity.