The article deals with the criteria of authenticity developed by New Testament scholars as a basic methodology for assessing historical authenticity of a gospel text. These criteria were developed in order to bring biblical studies to the positivistic ideals of scientific knowledge, since it is assumed that any researcher can use them regardless of their worldview or academic position, while the results of applying these criteria should strive for unambiguity, verification, and uniformity. The article analyzes the most applicable criteria, namely: the criterion of double dissimilarity, coherence, multiple attestation, consistency with the historical context, “embarrassment”, as well as traces of Aramaic and Hebrew. The article briefly describes the history of each of the criteria; general formulation and the principle of assessing historical reliability of the text have been proposed. The article also outlines the most significant difficulties related to the application of these criteria. The problems of using the criterion of double dissimilarity have been considered in more detail, since it is the basic method for assessing historical authenticity that the results of application of other criteria largely depend on. In the conclusion it has been noted that the criteria of authenticity developed by biblical scholars can be applied to other areas of religious studies.

Andreev Alexey Vasil’yevich, Master of Theology, Lecturer, Department of Biblical Studies, Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox University, 6-1, Lihov ln., Moscow, 127051, Russian Federation, tel.: 8(495)1145080, e-mail: alexey.andreevtf@gmail.com

Andeev A.V. Criteria of Authenticity as the Methodology for Assessing Historical Reliability of a Gospel Text. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Political Science and Religion Studies, 2019, vol. 29, pp. 91-100. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3380.2019.29.91 (in Russian)

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