Prof Bauckham debated Prof Ehrman on the naming of the Gospels

Dr Richard Bauckham said:

Everybody—except you, Bart—thinks that Papias referred to the Gospels of Mark and Matthew.

He then cited Justin Martyr, who cited the Gospels of Mark and Luke, to support his claim that early Christians were familiar with multiple gospels.

Dr Ehrman replied:

{Justin] doesn't call them Mark and Luke; he doesn't tell us which followers he's referring to; he's simply saying that there are gospels in circulation. First of all, there's absolutely no evidence that any of these gospels was written by any of the followers of Jesus.

Bold added. I don't think Ehrman understands the dictionary meanings of absolutely or evidence. In fact, he had already cited some evidence in the previous sentence.

Bauchham:

We talk about when the gospels acquired these names. Are you saying that Justin knew these gospels but he knew them as anonymous gospels? What were these gospels that he knew called?

Ehrman:

That's what I want to know. I don't think they were called anything in Justin's day.

The bickering fun continued :) Click the above link if you want to listen to them.

Bauchham:

My point is that they had to be called something. Did they call them gospel one, gospel two, gospel three?

Even the moderator laughed at this point :) I don't blame him.

For my money, Bauckham won the debate :)