Advances in Statistical Analysis of a Scripture Episode

• Activity Number: 552
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Guillermo Frank*+ and Luis Frank
• Companies: University of Buenos Aires and University of Buenos Aires
• Keywords: Bible ; Gospels ; Textual analysis

Abstract

Textual criticism and exegetical reasonings have done a remarkable work in tracing back the very early drafts of biblical episodes. By making a great effort in the understanding of ancient languages and written styles, they are able to identify which pieces of information are likely to belong to one tradition or another. Our investigation follows a different approach. We look into a specific biblical episode through the four gospels, isolate the transmitted facts or events, and use statistical tools to identify the most probable number of sources (traditions) that can be traced back from the episode. Our results are able to confirm some of the scholars conclusions, while being textual style independent. They also show that, at least for the studied episode, there is a weak dependency between the episode itself and the surrounding context.