New Testament Gospels: Understanding The Synoptic Problem

Should one fully read the opening four Gospels of the New Testament, he or she can find many similar patterns of literature and themes affording much attention to detail and study. This is what someone such as Merriam Webster would define as the ?Synoptic Gospels?. So, what are and how can we explain the differences and similarities among synoptic authors Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the gospel, John? Which Book was written first? To what extent did the Evangelists depend on oral tradition, written sources, or each other? The phenomenon and mystery of these similar but unique Synoptic Gospels has for centuries challenged some of the best minds of academia and the church, stirring up much scholarly

The Gospels are narratives about the life and time of Jesus. They describe not only Jesus' life but also what was taking place at that time. This helps to give us a better perception of why some things happened the way they did and what it was possibly like for Jesus. We are able to better understand some of the social and political aspects of life during Jesus' time period, which can help us to overall understand the meaning behind the Gospels better. (Bible Dictionary)

Similarly, the topic of the Synoptic Gospel and its problems relate to the questions surrounding this core issue. With the Synoptic Gospel, similarities are found across all three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Stories were accounted for and verbal identical versions were found too, so the speculative questions that revolved around this matter, were how can this phenomenon be explained? Who copied from whom? Or was there an older document that acted as a source? The same type of questions can also be said for the Documentary Hypothesis as the same themes are running through this

The Synoptic Gospels are composed of the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. These three gospels covered many of the same stories; yet, they disagree with each other on various details within certain stories. Also, numerous events that are in Mark, is not in Matthew or Luke and vice versa. Many historians have concluded that Mark was the first of the three gospels written and that Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source to their own gospels. The Synoptic Gospels were first written in Greek, which would suggest to some ambiguity within Mark, Matthew, and Luke due to certain perceptions and translations within the Greek language. One ambiguity that is shown within the Synoptic Gospels dealt with Jesus’s view on marriage and divorce. Using

The final project is the submission an annotated bibliography based upon the above conceptual perspective outlined in the project description for your selected project or paper. An annotated bibliography is a list of the references you will be using to support your perspective. Each reference annotation will have below it an annotation which identifies the topic of the study, what the strengths and weaknesses of the study are, and how does it contribute to your interest in the topic.

Beginning with the conversion of the Irish Celts around the fifth century, Christianity began to spread across the British Isles. Around 630, an envoy of monks was sent from a monastery on the Scottish Isle of Iona to a small Northumbrian island (only about 4 square kilometers at high tide) situated in the North Sea of the Atlantic. An Irish monk, Saint Aidan, established a monastery on that small spit of land that would come to be called Lindisfarne, or simply Holy Island. Together with the monastery at Iona, Lindisfarne became an integral part of artistic creation in early medieval northern Europe (Kleiner 288), and from it’s workshop would emerge a new style of artwork that wove elements of pre-existing artistic styles of the British Isles, such as those of the Celts and the Anglo-Saxons, with unfamiliar Christian imagery imported from Near East to create the Hiberno-Saxon, or Insular style. This style would be employed by the monks at Lindisfarne to create one of the most splendid texts of early medieval Brittania, the eponymous Lindisfarne Gospels. A wondrous illuminated manuscript worthy of its acclaim, these Gospels are a quintessential example of Hiberno-Saxon style, and they expertly demonstrate the dedication and craftsmanship invested by the monks of Lindisfarne as they melded pagan

The word 'gospel' means good news. There are four gospel accounts in the New Testament:

The new testament contains four (4) accounts of the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection as presented by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The 3 accounts are similar, while Johns bible presents Jesus in a unique way. These differences exist because Matthew and Luke got their information from Mark and John got his information from another source, maybe John did not have access to the other gospels or he chose not to use them. No one really knows the source of John’s gospel and we don’t know for sure who wrote the gospels. Scholars refer to the authors as Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, this may not even be their real names. The Gospel were not first hand accounts except for Mark. John did not seem to have known the existence of the other

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called Synoptic Gospels because they gave similar accounts and timelines of the life and death of Jesus. All three follow the same order of events in narrating Jesus' public ministry(Harris, 2015). They all begin with his baptism, followed by his tours. After readers read any of the three stories, they can see how Jesus performed miracles. Proponents of the Griesbach theory believe that Mark is a blending of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke(Harris,2015). They believe this because a few passages mentioned in all three Gospels show Matthew and Luke agreeing against Mark. Supporters believe that Mark was the source for Matthew and Luke. Arguments for this theory state that this theory is a better argument because while

Beare, Francis Wright. "Mission of the Disciples and the Mission Charge: Matthew 10 and Parallels." Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 89, no. 1, Mar. 1970, pp. 1-13.

When judging the historical reliability of the gospels many factors come into paly. In judging the historical reliability of the Gospels the kind of the gospels is important in understanding the intentions of the writers concerning the historical value of the text. When ranking the following sayings of Jesus:

The Gospel of John differs in many key areas to the Synoptics,and I will address some differing lines of thought.

The gospel of John does not have the birth story of Jesus as it is documented in the Synoptic gospels instead refers Christ as eternal word which became flesh. Gospel of John lacks records of Jesus’ Baptism by John the Baptist but instead records his baptism activities hence contradicting role of John the Baptist in Jesus’ Baptism. Another difference of gospel of John from the synoptic gospels is that there is no indication of temptation of Jesus by Satan but records that Jesus could not be tempted because of his unity with the Father. John indicates that Jesus taught without parables something contradicts synoptic gospels. There is no accounts of apocalypse in the gospel of John but instead indicates that Jesus completed his messianic role (Harris, 2014).

In the Bible, the four Gospels push different ideologies, views, lessons and different stories that center around the central figure of Jesus. The Gospel of Luke main themes center on Universalism, social justice, compassion for outcasts, the role of woman and the Holy Spirit.(Hauer and Young) These parables are able to connect to the context of when Luke was able bring these stories together in 85 CE. The Gospel was most likely written in Greek speaking area located in the Roman empire.(Coogan et al.) This time of stability allowed for the proliferation of Christianity and Gospels such as Luke. The passages that will be discussed will mainly focus on compassion for outcast seen in Luke 16:19–31 and warning against greed in Luke 12:13-34. Luke 13:6-9 focuses on a fig tree talks of the opportunities people and if they use them properly. Finally, the last parable is 7:11-17, which focuses on holy spirit and the possibilities for miracles and the importance of life. These parables in Luke are able to give a social justice commentary that can make a person feel compassionate for the poor and the reckoning they would receive in the afterlife if they didn’t follow Jesus’s teachings. As, well the story is able to push across a message that will everlasting importance to people. This has led to the Gospels of Luke becoming one of the main 4 Gospels and one of the most highly regarded of the Gospels. (Hauer and Young)

The word "gospel" is a translation of the Greek word "euangelion" which means "good news. The first three books in the New Testament (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) are often referred to as the Synoptic Gospels (from Greek synoptikos, "seen together") They bear greater similarity to each other than any of the other gospels in the New Testament. Along with these similarities come some differences among the gospels, suggesting that each gospel was written for a specific audience and for a specific purpose. This paper will examine the resurrection of Jesus, while identifying the significant differences between Mark, Matthew and Luke. This paper will also analyze the differences to suggest the prominent theological perspective each gospel author