Tackling Tradition 77: Who Wrote Matthew?
In skeptical circles these days, it is not at all unusual to hear that the Gospels are anonymous works. The implication is that the ascriptions are fabrications. If / When you run across this assertion, pay careful attention to the way it is often argued. You’ll get a range of opinions, some of which argue against this Levi person being the author because nobody writes themselves into the story that way, Others argue that the people who added the ascription “Kata Matthaion” were motivated by the need to render the text authoritative in light of competing claims of authenticity of any number of works, as if doing so means the traditional authorship is inaccurate, Bart Ehrman has been known to assert that nobody writes in “Title according to author name” form. 1. Authors throughout history have written in 3rd person / 3rd person omniscient form . The issue therefore isn’t whether or not an author would do such a thing. The issue is whether or not Matth...
