Wikipedia's first sentence called it “tool used by some biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by jesus in the new te”. Today it says “tool used by biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by jesus in the new testame”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2010
The criterion of multiple attestation or independent attestation is a tool used by some Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from Jesus or from the Church that followed.1The force of this criterion is increased if a given motif or theme is found in both different literary sources and different literary forms. Multiple attestation has a certain kind of objectivity. Given the independence of the sources, satisfaction of the criterion makes it harder to maintain that it was an invention of the Church. Still, this criterion, however useful, is typically one of a number of criteria, such as the criterion of discontinuity and the criterion of embarrassment , along with the historical method .2
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The opening as it stood in 2015 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Criterion of multiple attestation: Last Supper The criterion of multiple attestation or independent attestation is a tool used by Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from Historical Jesus .Simply put, the more independent witnesses that report an event or saying, the better.See Criteria of authenticity and the Historical Jesus .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 628581387.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Criterion of multiple attestation: Last Supper The criterion of multiple attestation or independent attestation is a tool used by Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from Historical Jesus . Simply put, the more independent witnesses that report an event or saying, the better.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 909236000.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
The criterion of multiple attestation , also called the criterion of independent attestation or the cross-section method , is a tool used by Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from the Historical Jesus . Simply put, the more independent witnesses that report an event or saying, the better. This criterion was first developed by F.Burkitt in 1906, at the end of the first quest for the historical Jesus .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1168482365.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Evaluating method for checking stories' historicity The criterion of multiple attestation , also called the criterion of independent attestation or the cross-section method , is a tool used by Biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are from the Historical Jesus . Simply put, the more independent witnesses that report an event or saying, the better. This criterion was first developed by F. Burkitt in 1906, at the end of the first quest for the historical Jesus .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1275561843. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “tool used by some biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by jesus in the new te”. Today it says “tool used by biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by jesus in the new testame”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
tool used by some biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by jesus in the new te
Now
tool used by biblical scholars to help determine whether certain actions or sayings by jesus in the new testame
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
