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The Psychology of Memory and Rumor Transmission and Their Bearing on Theories of Oral Transmission in Early Christianity

The discipline of Form Criticism, as applied to New Testament scholarship, presupposes that prior to the actual writing of the gospels, there was a period during which traditions concerning Jesus circulated orally within the early Christian community. These oral traditions are believed to have existed in the guise of individual, self-contained units (pericopae) which at some later time were collected, arranged, and edited in the writing of the gospels by the Evangelists. By classifying the various narrative units in the gospels by virtue of their structure and "form," Form Critics believe that they may be able to deduce the changes to which the various sayings and narratives were possibly subjected, and from this analysis to determine which of the sayings and deeds ofJesus are authentic and which are the creation of the early Church. Furthermore, by noting the various changes to which the tradition was subjected, Form Critics contend that this analysis will enable them to penetrate through to the actual conditions within the early Christian communities which initially gave rise to this testimony. For instance, R. Bultmann has been a leading exponent of the view (termed "radical" Form Criticism) that nearly all of the traditions concerning the person of Jesus are not factual,' but rather originated in the imaginations of the early Christian community in response to its practical needs. In his opinion, the "life-situation" (Sitz im Leben) behind the traditions was the Church's need to establish for itself and