Synoptic Problem Paper

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Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................
............ 1A
History of the Investigation in Synoptic Gospel Relationships........................................... 1
The Early
Era..................................................................................................................................... 1
The Modern
Era................................................................................................................................. 2
General Differences and Similarities among Synoptic
Gospels............................................... 3
Vocabulary
Analysis............................................................................................................................ 3
Structure
Analysis............................................................................................................................... 5
Proposed
Solutions......................................................................................................................... 6
Greisbach's
Solution............................................................................................................................ 6
The Two-Source
Solution.................................................................................................................... 7
Defensible Solution: The Fourfold-Gospel
Hypothesis............................................................... 8
Conclusion...............................................................................................................................
.. 9
BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................
.. 10
Introduction
The Synoptic Gospels have similarities that are easily observable. Some of the text in these
Gospels display a level of sameness that may point to a common source of inspiration. In
some areas though, the texts also display glaring dissimilarities. The confusion is further
compounded by the existence of these similarities and differences in the same textual
locations. This feature is addressed by the Synoptic Problem. This paper will investigate
the history of the relationship between the Synoptic Gospels, and cite the approach of
previous literary works on how the Problem has been handled by the church body over the
course of past years. This paper will also describe in detail the similarities and differences
among the Synoptic Gospels. It will display their literal attributes and meanings, followed
by the solutions and theories that have been proposed to address this Problem.
Consequently, the paper will choose among the solutions and give a defensible explanation
of the chosen theory.
A History of the Investigation in Synoptic Gospel Relationships
The investigation of the Synoptic Gospels relationships can be broadly divided into two
sections according to the period that they took place. The investigations were carried out in
the early era and the modern era. This paper will examine the features of these
investigations in both eras in detail below.
The Early Era
Dungan and Duncan and David explain that more than twenty-four texts were produced to
account for the ministry of Jesus (1999, 11). They state that according to Luke 1.1-4, the
early era of the church was marked by many participants contributing their written work to
the Gospels. These texts had many discrepancies which were eventually re-written to
counter the accusations of inaccuracy. This resulted in the sameness of semantics
compared to the agreement of content. Stein (1987, 16) describes how the Tatian's
Diatessaron harmonized the Gospels between the years 110 AD to 172 AD. Stein shows
that Tatian used the Jewish-Christian practices to base the review of the Synoptic Gospels.
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According to Dungan and Duncan (1999, 40-42), Tatian's work would have created a
singular text from a combination of the Synoptic Gospels to fit the Greek definition of
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