Bauckham's argument: Papias assumes oral tradition's value depends on derivation from living eyewitnesses

Bauckham (p. 28-29) argues that if oral tradition were essentially independent of eyewitnesses (as the community tradition view supposes), it would not matter whether the eyewitnesses were still living. But Papias clearly cares whether they are still alive and speaking. This assumption — that oral tradition's value decreases with distance from the personal testimony of living eyewitnesses — destroys the underpinning of the community tradition view and delegitimizes the Jesus Seminar's approach of cutting and reconstructing.