𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 – 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 – 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 For over half a century, Gospel scholarship has operated under the near-universal assumption that each Gospel was written for a particular local Christian community, such as the so-called “Matthean” or “Johannine” communities. This view, popularized in the late twentieth century through redaction criticism and sociological reconstructions, has shaped an entire generation of interpretation. Yet this consensus rests on a fragile foundation: it was never convincingly argued, but simply assumed. The purpose of this article is to challenge that assumption and to demonstrate that the canonical Gospels were not narrowly crafted for isolated communities, but rather written with the wider Christian church in mind. The myth of the Gospels as “community documents” must be shattered in favor of recognizing them as literature intended for general ...