Synoptic

What is meant by the term "Synoptic Problem?" The word "Synoptic" means "seeing
together" and it refers to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (which are known together
as the "Synoptic Gospels"). The word "Problem" in this academic context basically means
"puzzle." This puzzle may be summed up in one simple question:

What literary relationship exists among the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke?

There are a lot of possible answers. Maybe the apostles, in the early years of the Christian
church, composed a "Proto-Gospel" and each Synoptic author used that source
independently. Or maybe Matthew wrote his account first (as early traditions say) and Mark
and Luke used the Gospel of Matthew as a source. Or maybe something else happened.
Competent scholars have reached very different conclusions. Here, I will present my own
ideas in the form of a diagram, with some accompanying notes.

Shortly after Jesus' ministry was finished, the
apostles organized their remembrances about
Jesus. Jesus' miracles, His final week in
Jerusalem, and His death and resurrection were
major focuses of these orally transmitted
remembrances.

Matthew wrote down some of Jesus' most
important teachings in Aramaic and thus formed
a piece of source-material called the "Logia." It
was then translated into Greek.

Meanwhile, as Peter spread the gospel, he
incorporated some apostolic traditions into his
sermons and lessons. His assistant Mark
collected Peter's remembrances about Jesus
into a mutating text known as "Proto-Mark,"
which grew longer as Peter kept on preaching.

Luke obtained a short form of Mark's collection
of Petrine material (Proto-Mark A), and
depended on it, as well as some unique
sources, when he composed the Gospel of Luke
in about A.D. 63.

A definitive text of the Gospel of Mark was
released in Rome in about A.D. 66.

Matthew used a longer form of Proto-Mark
(Proto-Mark B), the Aramaic Logia, and some
unique sources when composing the Gospel of
Matthew in A.D. 69-70.

This solution adjusts, but basically maintains, the usual premise of Markan Priority (that is, the idea that the Gospel of
Mark was written first). It explains why Luke does not use a large part of the Gospel of Mark -- because it simply was not
in his copy of Proto-Mark. It also explains the "Minor Agreements" (places where the wording in Matthew agrees with the
wording in Luke but not with the wording in Mark): these are places where the wording in Mark's composition was altered
in the final step from Proto-Mark B to the Gospel of Mark.

For some other ideas about how the Synoptic Problem may be solved, you may want to visit the links listed below and the
links that they supply.