Note 4 — Chapter XIV · ORTHODOXY AND THE “ORAL” HYPOTHESIS
Reading edition
This plausible but dangerous detail, however, is not insisted on; what is essential is the datum of long oral tradition. Orthodox as he is, too, Mr. Wright holds that Luke i; ii; iii, 23–38, “are comparatively late additions, which never formed part of the primitive oral teaching.”4 Thus he can summarily get rid of a number of incredibilities which the other schools more prudently leave to be excised by the reader as he sees fit. But we shall find him making a stout fight for many others.