How to cite this article: David Flusser, “Teaching with Authority: The Development of Jesus’ Portrayal as a Teacher within the Synoptic Tradition,” Jerusalem Perspective (2021) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/22992/].
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This article is a translation of an excerpt from David Flusser’s German book on parables entitled Die rabbinischen Gleichnisse und der Gleichniserzähler Jesus.[1] It appears here in English for the first time.[2]
Not long ago, while I was lecturing on the rabbinic background of the Sermon on the Mount, a New Testament professor objected, “How can you speak of Jesus’ rabbinic exegesis when we learn from Mark [In a redactional sentence!—DF] that Jesus taught ‘as one having authority, and not like the scribes’ (Mark 1:22)?” I replied to the theologian with all seriousness: “If Jesus was a person with authority, then he could also make rabbinic arguments based on his personal authority.” It was not until later that I [210] realized how this curious sentence in Mark’s version of the Capernaum Synagogue narrative (Mark 1:21-28) came into being. Without Lindsey’s synoptic theory[3] —according to which Luke is the earliest of the Synoptic Gospels, Mark is based primarily on Luke, and Matthew is based on two sources, Mark and one of the sources known to Luke—I would not have been able to understand the process that led to its formation.
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- [1] David Flusser, Die rabbinischen Gleichnisse und der Gleichniserzähler Jesus (Bern: Peter Lang, 1981). In this article page numbers from the original version are marked in blue within square brackets (e.g., [209])—JP. ↩
- [2] For an overview and evaluation of Flusser’s German book on parables, see Peter J. Tomson, “Review: David Flusser’s Die rabbinischen Gleichnisse und der Gleichniserzähler Jesus (1981),” at WholeStones.org—JP. ↩
- [3] For an introduction to Lindsey’s hypothesis, see Robert L. Lindsey, “Unlocking the Synoptic Problem: Four Keys for Better Understanding Jesus”—JP. ↩
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Comments 3
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I’ve been puzzled by Flusser’s odd use of the term “flashback” in this article, but I just came across a parallel usage in Flusser’s introduction to Judaism and the Origins of Christianity (xxv n. 35): “Not only is the wording in Mark 3:6 dependent upon Luke 6:9 but it is also a clear flashback to Luke 22:2 (private conversation with R. L. Lindsey).” What Flusser calls a “flashback” is really pulling something from a later part of the narrative back into an earlier part of the story. Is “flashback” Flusser’s term for the phenomenon, or was it coined by Lindsey?
By the way, I’m pretty sure that Flusser’s reference to Luke 6:9 in the quotation from JOC above is a mistake. The correct reference is Luke 6:11.