Oral Tradition, Form Criticism, and the Gospels

What kind of sources were used by the authors of the anonymous texts that were written in 35-70 years after Jesus’ death and were subsequently defined as “Gospels” is a topic discussed among researchers. In this context, it has been revealed that the authors of the Gospels use not only each other’s texts as sources but also some hypothetical sources. However, it is also accepted that there is a corpus of narrative called the “oral tradition” behind the Gospels. The oral tradition consists of small, separate, independent, and oral narratives about Jesus which spread from around 30 C.E. to the second quarter of the second century. With reference to the written texts called Gospels today, scientific research for the understanding of the oral tradition behind these texts and how the Gospel writers to shape this tradition as redactors have highlighted a methodological approach called “form criticism”. Form criticism is a discipline that aims to define the structure, original basis and the process of the oral tradition. This discipline makes it possible to reach important conclusions in the field of Gospel studies. German researchers such as Wellhausen, Schmidt, Dibelius, and Bultmann are leading names in this field. Nevertheless, just like the other methods included in Biblical Criticism, form criticism is not known by the Turkish academy. This article aims to attract the attention of the Turkish scholars to the oral tradition behind the Gospels and to the form criticism method that tries to clarify the oral traditio