Note 5 — Chapter XIV · ORTHODOXY AND THE “ORAL” HYPOTHESIS

On the “oral” theory every Church had its own tradition,5 “differing both in contents and wording from that of other Churches, and in particular exhibiting much mixture and many sayings of Christ which are not in our Gospels at all”6—an interesting approximation, in effect, to the theory of scattered leaflets. Thus is to be accounted for the endless variety in Gospel phrasing and detail. For Mr. Wright, further, it is inconceivable that any evangelist left out anything he knew of. “The common idea” (before Dr. Petrie) “that they picked and selected what was specially adapted to their readers, I most confidently reject.”7 Matthew would gladly have given the parable of the Prodigal Son, and Luke the story of the Syrophœnician woman, which would so well have suited his purpose.8 “He did not give it because he had never heard of it.” Thus, in brief, Mr. Wright posits much teaching lost even from the oral tradition, as Dr. Petrie posits many lost leaflets.