Week 8: Section 2, Chapter 7 — Principle #1: Were They There?

1.Wallace now shifts from general detective principles to applying them specifically to the Gospel accounts. The first question he asks is whether the Gospel writers — or their immediate sources — were eyewitnesses to what they report. What is the traditional identification of the four Gospel authors, and what evidence supports placing them (or their primary sources) at the scene?

2.He draws particular attention to the Gospel of Mark as likely reflecting the eyewitness testimony of the Apostle Peter. What evidence does he cite — from both early church sources and from the internal texture of Mark's Gospel — for this connection? Why would a detective find this kind of "chain of custody" significant?

3.Wallace uses the metaphor of an artist painting a portrait: someone close to the subject will include details that only proximity could supply. What "proximity details" does he identify in the Gospels — moments where the text seems to carry the texture of personal memory rather than secondhand report?