reasons led to the stories about Jesus taking written form? Broadly four reasons seem probable, within which scholars then debate the precise reasons for each individual Gospel being written. First and most practically, the period of writing the Gospels was a time when the original eyewitnesses were dying. For example, Luke presents himself as part of this ‘second generation’ by separating ‘us’ and ‘those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses’ (Luke 1:2). This would give an urgency to preserving