Synoptic Gospels Midterm

The BASICS

Mark wrote Mark, Matthew wrote Matthew, Luke wrote Luke

How many stages were there for writing the Gospels?

Four:

1. Historical Events

2. Oral Tradition

3. Written Sources

4. Gospels

Within the discipline of historical criticism, there are three major branches of critical research:

1. Formed Criticism

   1. Miracle story

   2. Pronouncement story

2. Source Criticism

   1. Where the pericopes come from

3. Redaction Criticism

   1. What the evangelists served

What is the Synoptic Problem?

Which Gospel was written first, and how are the Gospels dependent or non-dependent on each other?

THIS CLASS IS BASED ON THE MARKIAN PRIORITY, meaning that the Gospel of Mark formed the basic story, and Matthew and Luke followed it, but added on to it.

Special Sections in Matthew and Luke

Matthew’s: Jesus’ Five Discourses

Luke’s: Perean Section

As we are wrestling with the Synoptic Problem, Strauss says that two of the Gospels differentiate quite a lot. But, the third Gospel is in the other to quite a bit. Which Gospel is this?

Mark

Source Q

The Second source that scholars say Matthew and Luke had in addition to the Gospel of Mark when they were writing their Gospels. It has never been found.

Q is coming from the German word Quelle, meaning “source.”

(Matthew used his own knowledge of the events to write his Gospel)

The Two-Source Theory