Listeners will remember, I argued that, because Matthew has strong incentive to invent such a story, we should not take it at face-value – we can’t assume its historicity – we need arguments. The fact that Paul’s letters, Mark’s Gospel and contemporary jewish sources don’t mention the polemic when they should plausibly be expected to do so isn’t just an argument from silence and so isn’t insignificant. And again, the fact that the account records a private conversation between members of the chief priests should also be a historical red flag. |