An investigation of synoptic history and style by means of a comprehensive assessment of syntax chains

This thesis compares the relative plausibility of three contemporary Synoptic Gospel source critical hypotheses: the Two-Gospel Hypothesis (2GH), the Two-Document Hypothesis (2DH), and the Farrer Hypothesis (FH). The plausibility of each hypothesis is evaluated by the extent to which the implied redaction of miracle tradition is consistent with: (a) the evangelist’s synchronically detected apologetic aims; (b) the generic conventions of ancient biography; and (c) first century narrative rhetorical conventions based on the elements and virtues of narrative in Theon’s Progymnasmata. The method is first demonstrated for two authors approximately contemporary with the Gospel writers, namely Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews) and Plutarch (Lives). Their narrative re-presentation of known source material at both a macro-level (order and selection) and microlevel (adaptation of specific narratives) is shown to be influenced by their apologetic aims, generic conventions, and the elements and virtues of narrative. Subsequent macro-analysis (order and selection) of Gospel miracle traditions indicates that implied changes are more plausibly explained by Markan priority (2DH and FH) than Markan posteriority (2GH). While the 2DH and FH display similar degrees of plausibility, the lack of evidence for Luke’s direct use of Matthew slightly favors the 2DH. The situation is similar for a

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Miracle Tradition, Rhetoric, and the Synoptic Problem

A Deep-Language Mathematical Analysis of Gospels, Acts and Revelation

In the following it will be suggested that the original reference of the Parable of the Vineyard and the Wicked Husbandmen was to John the Baptist, and argued that in Matthew's Gospel it belongs to what was once a sequence of stories and sayings about him. This ‘Baptist-sequence’ derives from a common source anterior to all the Synoptic gospels in their received forms, which may have been a Proto-Matthew.

From the Parable of the Vineyard to a Pre-Synoptic Source

In an earlier paper, one of the co-authors pointed out that the extant Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and Thomas employed a common source which contained a certain series of parables and sayings of Jesus concerning John the Baptist. The basic structure of this ‘Baptist-sequence’ is best preserved by far in Matthew's Gospel, although various details of the original wording are better preserved in Luke and Thomas. It was suggested that one way of explaining these phenomena was to suppose the existence of a Proto-Matthew, of which the extant Matthew's Gospel contains revisions made in part under the influence of Mark's Gospel.

Evidence corroborating a modified Proto-Matthean Synoptic Theory

Twenty years ago we could assume that the Two-Source theory, as the decisive solution to the synoptic problem, had won the day. An unassailable dogma in Germany, on the front lines in Louvain, well positioned in England and the United States, it had little to fear from the last spasms of its opponents, and could view them as the final stand of the rearguard. But times have changed. Aged Griesbach turns in his grave, refusing to stay defeated. After two centuries he has returned to the field in the persons of Dom Butler of England and, especially, of W. R. Farmer of the United States, who has succeeded in mustering a force of young and dynamic researchers. Even in Germany the enemy has gained a foothold. Already in 1971 A. Fuchs saw that a large number of the Matthew/Luke agreements against Mark could not be explained in terms of the Two-Source theory. More recently, H. H. Stoldt has affirmed his preference for the Griesbach theory.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/6F5EFFF17B0B4BA7A899AB3F54B34478/S002868850000864Xa.pdf/the-two-source-theory-at-an-impasse1.pdf

M.-E. Boismard

Papers

The Two-Source Theory at an Impasse