1. SYN-OPTIC • three gospels Luke Matthew Mark • “look-alike” and quite similar in: As against John: • Content: • Jesus is presented as an itinerant preacher teaching in Galilee and whose images are largely drawn from the village and the fields • 2. Form: The Structure of the Synoptic gospels follows the following outline: • a. Jesus is baptized by John • b. Chooses disciples • c. Preaches the kingdom of God • d. Makes a trip to Jerusalem once • e. Gets into controversies • f. Dies • g. Rises up • Content: • Jesus speaks more often in Jerusalem and speaks in “Philosophical discourses” on life, death… • Form: • After the prologue, Jesus is constantly going to and from between Galilee and Jerusalem, then follows his death.

2. Syn-optic Fact • Structure of the three gospels are remarkably similar if one deletes the prologues (Matt 1-2 and Lk 1-2). The narrative plot is the same in the public ministry of Jesus: • a. the presentation of John the Baptist • b. the Baptism of Jesus • c. the temptation of Jesus • d. the calling of some disciples • e. the controversies in Galilee • f. the parables • g. the growing opposition of some religious leaders • h. the lack of understanding of the disciples • the miracles, • the Transfiguration • j. the trip to Jerusalem • k. controversies in Jerusalem • l. the arrest • m. the trial • n. the death • o. the empty tomb

3. 2. Selection of Events is remarkably similar. • a. Mark the shortest gospel • Has 666 verses of which 538 (80%) appear both in Matthew and Luke, and another 116 (15%) which appear in either Matther/Luke. • Only 5% of Mark text appears in his text alone. • Mark’s proper material, called “Sondergut” consist of 2 miracles (7:32-37); 8:22-26), three short narratives (3:20-21; 4:26-29; 14:51-52) and a few isolated logia. • b. Matthew has 1068 verses • c. Luke has 1149 verses • 538 verses of Matthew and Luke share with Mark • Luke also shares 250 verses with Matt which consist mainly of the sayings of Jesus and discourse materials • Thus, much of the content of Matthew and Luke is similar.

4. Syn-optic Problem • What is the literary relationship among them? • A. • * stories are so similar in structure, content, and detail • * literary relationship??? • * solution!!! • Theory of Augustine or Augustinian hypothesis: • 2. Griesbach theory: Augustinian hypothesis. Today some scholars still maintain this, namely, B. Orchard (UK), R. Farmer (US), WF. Albright (AB Commentary), C.S. Mann (Mark). • Markan priority: • a. Karl Lachmann in 1883 suggested that • = follow the structure and plot of Mk • b. Wilke suggested that • * primitive – full of picturesque details • * a lot of artless details – not reworked • * graphic simplicity – priority • c. H.J. Holtzmann in 1863 wrote The Synoptic Gospel in which he proposed Mk Mt Lk Lk Mt Mt Lk Mk Mt UR-MARKUS Lk

5. 4. Two Document (Source) Theory a. Holtzmann posited that b. J. Weiss designated this sayings source as Q from German “Quelle” 5. Four Source Theory: With Special Material / Sondergut a. Bernard Streeter in 1942 suggested that in addition to the Markan source and sayings source, Matthew and Luke had each at their disposal another source respectively M (for Matthew and L (for Luke). Thus, instead of two source theory, we could speak of four source theory. X Sayings Source Mk Lk Mt Mk Q Mk Q M L Mt Lk Mt Lk