Gospel Parallels

The Synoptic Problem

The various details contained in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are readily recognizable. This was seen in antiquity as well. What these differences mean has been a debate over the years.

Today it is generally understood among scholars that the differences point to ways to see the perspective of the author through use of such diverging details.

The exercise this week which compares the five episodes, or pericopes, about Jesus and who his people think he is, is a good example. Here we have similar stories, sometimes nearly identical, but the details are quite different.

Attention to details in similar literature can have strong results when trying to uncover what an author is saying. For example, when Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex, there was also another variation of the ending of the story. In this alternative telling of the story, Oedipus and those around him become aware that he married his mother, servants arose and killed Jocasta, his mother-wife, and then Oedipus ruled as before. In Sophocles, as we have seen, Jocasta kills herself, Oedipus blinds himself and he is exiled. Thus, we see how Sophocles created a version that served his artistic ends or goals.

Comparison of parallel versions is powerful.

In this paper, analyze the five parallel accounts, see their similarities and differences, and then form your questions, research according to the directives in our introduction about research and writing, and then relate how this informed or expanded your understanding or perspective.

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