For anyone who actually read the Bible....

[intaglio]

94. Not looked at Funk's group

My knowledge of C. Siniaticus and C. Alexandrinus comes from a job I had years ago when I was lucky enough to work with those whose job it was to study those Mss. and some of the P.Oxyrhincus.

Ehrlmann's book "Forged" is a useful guide to the anonymity of the authors of the Bible.

My personal theory regarding Jesus is that it was a common name at the time and wandering preachers, whilst not 2 a penny, were far from rare so there is a pretty good chance that several of these minor figures existed. Following the disastrous First Jewish/Roman war fragments of tales were gathered, together with the ideas of the Pauline, Gnostic and Essene mystery religions. Looked at in this light -
1) Mark becomes an allegory of the end of that War using these old fragments:

2) The Matthew author reinterprets Mark adding a more Jewish flavour:

3) Luke is a response to that possibly at the urging of Saul/Paul:

4) John may have been three people, a collector of tales perhaps as early as 40-50 CE; the author who wrote the Epistles and the Apocalypse (the last as an allegory of the destruction of the Temple) and the editor who pulled them all together:

5) Lastly there is Paul the purveyor of a Jewish mystery religion to the Gentiles.

It is even possible that the origin of Jesus "of Nazareth" or "the Nazarine" or "the Nazarite" may have been Mark's allegorical attempt to tie the foundations of the Jewish/Roman War to the earlier final battle of the Galilean revolt in 6 CE.

I stress this is only my personal idea