Synoptic Gospels
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The synoptic Gospels are three Gospels in the New Testament the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark, and the Gospel of Luke, that display a high degree of similarity ( see also the Gospel according to the Hebrews) in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence and paragraph structures. These gospels are also considered by Biblical scholars to share the same point of view. [1] The fourth canonical Gospel, John, differs greatly from these three, as do the Apocryphal gospels. The synoptic gospels are the first three books of the canonical New Testament. The synoptic problem concerns the nature and origin of the literary relationship among these three accounts.
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[edit] Differences with the Gospel of John
The Gospel of John differs significantly in theme, content, time duration, order of events, and style, reflecting a Christian tradition different from that of the synoptics.[2]
Some differences:
| Item | Matthew, Mark, Luke | John |
|---|---|---|
| First event mentioned | Jesus' birth (Matthew), Jesus' baptism (Mark), Foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist (Luke) | The assertion that the Word of God is God, and has always been God |
| Authors: according to conservative Christians | Apostle Matthew; Mark, secretary of Peter; and Luke, co-worker of Paul | Apostle John |
| Authors: according to liberal Christians | Unknown authors | 2 or more unknown authors |
| Virgin birth | Mentioned in Matthew, Luke | Not explicitly mentioned |
| Jesus as Son of God... | From the time of his birth or baptism | From the time that the universe was created |
| Description of Jesus | Jesus' humanity emphasized in Luke for Gentile audience. Messianic secret, Jesus did not tell the disciples who he was in Mark. | Jesus' deity emphasized[3] |
| Jesus' baptism | Described | Not Mentioned |
| Preaching style | Brief one-liners; parables | Essay format |
| Jesus teaches as: | A sage[citation needed] | A philosopher and mystic[citation needed] |
| Exorcism | A main function of his ministry | None performed |
| True parables | Many | None |
| Theme of his teaching: | Kingdom of God/Heaven[citation needed] | Jesus himself. Kingdom of God is a background theme.[citation needed] |
| Jesus' theology | Deviated little from 1st century AD liberal Judaism. Similar to beliefs taught by Hillel the Elder. (eg. "golden rule")[4][5] | Largely independent of Judaism and in opposition to much of its teaching.[citation needed] |
| Response expected from the reader | Respond to God's will as expressed in the Mosaic law[citation needed] | Respond to Jesus as the definitive expression of God's will or revelation[citation needed] |
| Involvement with the poor and suffering | Focus of his ministry | Rarely mentioned |
| Involvement with Scribes (Jewish teachers) | 26 references to scribes, who are puzzled and angered by Jesus' teachings | No references at all.[citation needed] |
| Miracles performed by Jesus | Many "nature miracles", healings, and exorcisms | Few; all "nature miracles" |
| Jesus references to himself | Rare | Focus of the gospel, including the many "I am" sayings |
| Duration of ministry | 1 year | 3 years |
| Location of ministry | Mainly Galilee | Mainly Judea, near Jerusalem |
| Clearing of the money-changers from the Temple | Near the end of his ministry | Near the start of his ministry |
| Date of the Last Supper | Passover eve | Night before Passover eve |
| Ceremonial event at the Last Supper: | Communal meal | Foot washing |
| Who carried the cross? | Simon | Jesus |
| Visitors to the tomb on Sunday with Mary Magdalene? | One or more additional women | None; Mary Magdalene went alone |
| Who was present in the tomb? | One angel or two men | Two angels |
| Burial shroud | A single piece of cloth | Multiple pieces of cloth, as was the Jewish practice at the time. (John 20:5-7) |
| Jesus' first post-resurrection appearance to disciples | At Emmaus or Galilee | Jerusalem |
However, the origin of the concept, per se, stems from much earlier: As early as the 4th century, these three books were "seen together with the same eyes", starting with the Church historian Eusebius of Caesarea, who had devised a method that enabled scholars to find parallel texts.
In the 5th century, Augustine of Hippo developed what was later known as the Augustinian hypothesis, which proposed why these three gospels were so similar. In this view, the gospels were written in order of presentation, but that Mark was Matthew's "lackey and abbreviator"[citation needed] and that Luke drew from both sources (see illustration).
This view went unchallenged until the late 18th century[citation needed], when Anton Büsching posited that Luke came first, and Mark conflated Luke and Matthew.
In 1774 Johann Jakob Griesbach published his landmark parallel study, calling it a Synopsis. Over the subsequent years, he developed what became known as the Griesbach hypothesis, and now called the two-gospel hypothesis, or simply "2GH". This hypothesis maintains the primacy of Matthew, but proposes that Luke is directly based on it, while Mark is based on both (see illustration).
Since then, other hypotheses have been proffered in order to deal with the synoptic problem. These hypotheses include the Ur-Gospel hypothesis (1778), the two-source hypothesis (1838, 1863), Farrer hypothesis (1955), the Lindsey hypothesis (1963), Jerusalem School hypothesis (1973), and the Logia Translation hypothesis (1998).[6]
The widely accepted modern scholastic understandings (the two-source and four-source hypotheses) agree[citation needed] that Mark's Gospel was the first written, and published in Rome in the early 70s AD (see Gospel of Mark). This Gospel was independently available, along with other verbal traditions, to Matthew and Luke, both of whom wrote in the 80's or 90's.[7][8]
Yet other material is common to Luke and Matthew that is absent from Mark. The name given to this material is Q document, abbreviated to Q (see illustration).
The question of the origin of the remainder of the content of each of the latter two synoptic Gospels remains an open one, yet the name commonly given[citation needed] to sources unique to these authors is L for Luke, or M for Matthew. In the culture at the time, it was very common for communities to preserve and pass on important stories and evidence by word of mouth from person to person.[citation needed]
[edit] Dating
Scholars[who?] generally date the synoptic gospels as having been written after the epistles of Paul and before the gospel according to John, thus between 60 and 115 AD. As to the specific dates for each book, this largely depends on (or supports) the particular hypothesis used to account for the books' textual relationship.
A student of Polycarp, a disciple of John, wrote that Polycarp taught that Matthew wrote his Gospel first, Mark wrote Peter’s Teachings, Luke wrote Paul’s teachings and John wrote his last. Papias, also a disciple of John, confirms the order of the writing.
Clement I wrote that Mark wrote the teachings of Peter and when Peter learned of it, he gave it his blessing.
[edit] Similarities
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The relationship between the texts is the subject of the synoptic problem, which essentially seeks answers to the question of why the texts are so similar. At times the texts use exactly the same wording and mention the same sequence of events, despite the fact that other intervening events must have happened, even if they were mundane events such as Jesus sleeping or people gossiping about him.
The synoptic gospels all tell the story of Jesus, proclaiming him the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Messiah (Christ), the judge of the future apocalypse. The synoptic gospels start either with Jesus' birth or his baptism and conclude with the empty tomb and resurrection appearances, though some texts of Mark end at the empty tomb (see Mark 16). In these gospels, Jesus cures diseases, exorcises demons, forgives sins, and displays dominion over nature.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "synoptic". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989.
- ^ "USCCB - NAB - John - Introduction". http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/john/intro.htm. Retrieved on 2008-10-21.
- ^ John 20:31 Template:Bibleverse-NIV
- ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Quote/hillel.html
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_the_Elder
- ^ "Synoptic Problem Home Page". http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/synopt/. Retrieved on 2007-07-08.
- ^ Ehrman 2004, p. 110 and Harris 1985 both specify a range c. 80-85 for Matthew
- ^ Brown, Raymond E. (1997). Introduction to the New Testament. New York: Anchor Bible. pp. 226. ISBN 0-385-24767-2. dates Luke around 80s - 90s
- 1914: The New Testament from the Greek Text as Established by Bible Numerics. New Haven: Bible Numerics Co.
- Dr. Chuck Missler Evidence of Design
