1. Announcements
Papers available for pick-up on Thursday afternoon in my office- between 2-4:30pm.
Grades posted on iCollege.
Final project due dates:
March 20: Choose your media example. (10 pts)
me: The example you have chosen, including links to videos, audio, etc.
A brief outline of what EACH MEMBER will be discussing.
(This can change later, if necessary.)

2. RELS 3300: Early Christianity
The Synoptic Problem
RELS 3300: Early Christianity
Wednesday March 8, 2017

3. Reading the Gospels
What do we know about the text? What can we infer about the (intended) reader?

4. Redactors and Redaction Criticism
Redactor: someone who edits a text
Redaction criticism: the study of how authors have created a literary work by modifying or editing their sources of information
Things get change to align a text with specific goals

5. The Synoptic Problem- What is it?
The Synoptic Problem is the “problem of how to explain the wide- ranging agreements and disagreements” among the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke.

6. The Synoptic Problem-Details
Some stories are verbatim the same across the three synoptic gospels
Sometimes the stories are the same basic plot, with markedly different wording
Some stories are only found in one or two of the gospels

7. The Four-Source Hypothesis

8. “Arguments for Markan Priority”
What is “Markan Priority”?
Patterns of Agreement
The Sequence of Narrative
Characteristics of the Changes

9. Q Source
Where do stories that are found in Matthew and Luke, but not Mark, come from?
Unlikely that they were made up/added by the authors; more likely they were drawing info from another source
Q: Material in both Matt. And Luke, but not Mark
Likely a written document
Luke is more likely to have preserved the original sequence of the Q source

10. M + L Sources
Material that is in either Matthew or Luke, but not in any of the other gospels
One source or many?
Parables and miracles

11. Discussion/Group Activity
Why does this matter?

12. Looking Forward… Spring Break- take a minute, relax. The Gospels Mark
Matthew
Luke
John