Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE CLIMAX OF JESUS' MISSION §18.4
the diversity is beyond anything we have so far encountered — except in the two
accounts of Judas's death (Matt. 27.3-10/Acts 1.16-19), where the lack of agreement
signals, if anything, the relative lack of importance of the tradition for the
early Christian communities! In contrast, I started by noting that the several accounts
of the appearance to Paul, which all occur in the same writing (Acts), provide
a good example of what has proved to be the typical traditioning process for
the Jesus tradition (§8.4a). But they strictly speaking are not part of the Jesus tradition.
Whereas the appearances to the twelve/eleven are the conclusion to the
Jesus tradition according to the unanimous voice of the canonical Gospels.
Should we then conclude that they too were unimportant for the early communities
of Jesus' disciples?!
(4) Equally baffling is the tension between appearances on earth and appearances
from heaven. How could the appearance to Paul have proved so acceptable
to the Jerusalem leadership if what was clearly perceived as an appearance
from heaven was exceptional? Or does the ambiguity of the Matt. 28.16-20
indicate some confused perception on the point? 143 And we do not know what
'category' other appearances (to the 500-plus, to 'all the apostles') fell into. Is
there room, therefore, for an argument such as that of Peter Carnley, that all the
early appearances were actually 'from heaven'? 144
There is no question, then, as to the diversity of the traditions at this point.
The more important question, however, is whether the differences are out of
character with a traditioning process which took for granted variability among
performances. 145 Which raises the further question whether the obvious conclusion
that the traditions in their present forms are unharmonizable has paid sufficient
attention to the character of the tradition and of the traditioning process. 146
b. A Core Tradition?
In point of fact, however, a number of common elements are readily discernible
in the appearance traditions which span a considerable portion of their diversity.
143. See above at n. 120.
144. Carnley, Structure 236-41: 'the entire thrust of the evidence is towards the view that
whatever was "seen" appeared "from heaven"' (242-43).
145. When Evans observes that 'It is hardly the same Lord who speaks. In Matthew it is
evidently a Matthean Lord who speaks, in Luke a Lukan Lord and in John a Johannine Lord'
{Resurrection 67), is he doing more than simply observing the characteristic features of
performative variation?
146. It is equally unsatisfactory for Craig simply to argue that 'the controlling presence
of living eyewitnesses would retard significant accrual of legend' (Assessing 387). What is required,
and what I try to provide, is a cogent account of the traditioning process itself.
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