The New Testament and the People of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God Book 1)

by N.T. Wright

The material available would, then, have been ‘oral history’, that is, the often-repeated tales of what Jesus had said and done. This is to be distinguished from ‘oral tradition’ proper, according to which a great teacher will take pains to have his disciples commit to memory the exact words in which the teaching is given.19 If that had been Jesus’ intention, and the disciples’ practice, one might have supposed that at least the Lord’s Prayer, and the institution narrative of the eucharist, would have come out identical in the various versions (in Paul as well, in the latter case) that we now possess.20 Jesus, it seems, did not act as a rabbi, saying exactly the same thing over and over until his disciples had learned it by rote. He acted more as a prophet, saying similar things in a variety of contexts; not only his disciples, but most likely many of his wider circle of followers, would have talked about them, in their own words, for years to come.