Synoptic Gospels

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In the New Testament, the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, are written in a very similar style. They are referred to as the synoptic gospels.The forth of the evangelists, John, also tells similar stories, but his style of writing is different. The synoptic problem is to explain why three of the four evangelists have a very similar structure, and the fourth does not.

• There might have been one common text that is now lost, that three of the four evangelists used.
• There might have been a profession of "evangelists", which learned the texts by heart, and which then recited or told them when they were asked.
• There might have been two sources. The gospel of Mark is the oldest. Matthew and Luke used the text of Mark, plus this other common source, plus other texts to which they had access.
• Two-gospel hypothesis. This hinges on the fact that Matthew and Luke share things which are absent in Mark. John is still more different than Mark.

The strong parallelism among the three gospels suggests they were written at more or less the same time. Or, Matthew and Luke made use of the gospel of Mark as a source.

Synoptic Gospels Media

• Brooklyn Museum - Jesus Stilling the Tempest (Jésus calmant la tempête) - James Tissot - overall.jpg

  The calming of the storm is recounted in each of the three synoptic gospels, but not in John.

• Saint Mark - Google Art Project.jpg

  Mark writing his Gospel, from a medieval Armenian manuscript

• Synoptic word-for-word.png

  The preaching of John the Baptist in Matthew and Luke, with differences rendered in black. Here the two texts agree verbatim, with an isolated exception, for a span of over sixty words. Mark has no parallel.

• Griesbach - Synopsis Evangeliorum p24.jpg

  A page of Griesbach's Synopsis Evangeliorum, which presents the texts of the synoptic gospels arranged in columns

• Synoptic Theory Mk-Q en.svg

  The Two-source (Mark-Q) theory, proposed as a solution to the synoptic problem.

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  Synoptic Farrer Theory Mk-Mt en

• Three-source (Mark-Q/Matthew) theory. "The arrows indicate information flow. As with the two-source hypothesis, supporters of the three-source hypothesis may or may not posit that Mark had access to the sayings collection." (w:Three-source hypothesis)

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  Synoptic Wilke Theory Mk-Lk en