Structured Stories with Eyewitness Control
By: Erick Nelson
Last Updated:
Thursday December 13, 2007
"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it." - G.K. Chesterton, Everlasting Man, 1925
Abstract
The "traditional solution" to the Synoptic Problem (i.e. direct literary dependence, with
Marcan priority) appears to be one of the few truly
settled issues in New Testament studies, one of the rare issues that
conservatives and liberals can agree on. However, I just don't see
it. I critique, here, the main arguments offered in defense of the
traditional view. In the final chapter, I offer an alternative explanation for the
formation of the four canonical gospels (Structured Stories with Eyewitness
Control). (1 pg)
1. The
Synoptic Problem Considered
Matthew, Mark, and Luke (the synoptic gospels) are both very similar and very
alike. The Synoptic Problem asks how to account for this. The
traditional answer is direct literary dependence: Mark was written
first; Matthew copied from Mark; Luke copied from Matthew and/or Mark.
But when you really look at the parallel accounts side-by-side, it's hard to
see how this can be. (11 pgs)
2. The
Case for the Traditional Solution
The traditional solution is based upon a combination of arguments. I look at Robert
Stein's summary of those arguments (The
Synoptic Problem: An Introduction) and comment on them. They
are: (a) verbal agreement; (b) agreement in order; (c) agreement in
parenthetical material; (d) Luke's prologue; and (e) insufficiency of Ur-Mark.
(9 pgs)
3. Exploring
Verbal Agreement
The percentage of words used by the three synoptics in passages common to them
is only about 50%. Even this figure is misleadingly high, because it
includes (a) words entailed by the content; (b) conjunctions and other little
words; (c) quotable quotes; (d) key phrases; (e) liturgical phrases; and (f)
quotes from other sources, such as the Old Testament. The remaining
proportion of common words is not great enough to support - much less force
- a direct literary dependence explanation. (11 pgs)
4. More
Case Studies in Verbal Agreement
If you are convinced by the preceding section, skip this; otherwise, I
consider the best examples of verbal agreement presented by R. Stein. (5
pgs)
5. Structured
Stories with Eyewitness Control
This is my attempt at a new solution. A plausible explanation of both
the similarities and the differences is that (a) structured stories
were created by the telling and re-telling of the stories about Jesus and his
sayings - formed especially by Peter's version; and (b) the gospel writers
themselves were either eyewitnesses or knew, from eyewitnesses, which of the
accounts/sayings were accurate. (15 pgs)