While the
synoptic gospels make a showcase of the identifying kiss of betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane, John eliminates it and renders it unnecessary, since Jesus introduces himself to the mob who comes for him.
This forms the background of Corley's investigation of the three
synoptic gospels. Her book provides an excellent contribution to socio-redactional criticism.
Dr Patterson begins with the two-source theory (without reference to Farmer or the Griesbach hypothesis), and notes: |While it is this combination of a shared content and order that links the
synoptic gospels so intimately together, it is the lack of these linking factors between the synoptics and John that leads most Johannine scholars today to the conclusion that John represents a separate tradition' (p.
Biblical scholars contribute to the long-standing and ongoing investigation into the puzzle that, in the
Synoptic Gospels, Jesus calls himself son of man, when the term is rare in epistolary writings of early Christianity.
What John does with the text is somewhat different than the
Synoptic Gospels. In Mark's Gospel, for example, there are two feeding stories--one of 5,000 and one of 4,000--both followed by scenes in a boat where the bread miracle is highlighted again.
Starbird follows the old-time teaching of the Western Fathers that the anonymous woman with the alabaster box mentioned in the
synoptic gospels (Luke adds that she was a sinner) is the same person as Mary Magdalene and Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus.
After a survey of other references pre-dating 100 C.E., there follows an extended treatment of "the son of the man" sayings in the
Synoptic Gospels, distinguishing between those referring to the pre-Easter Jesus and those with eschatological or apocalyptic reference.
But that just shows how the other
synoptic gospels have come to be read through the eyes of John.
In this respect Painter adopts a method of analysis that has previously only been applied to the
synoptic Gospels (Pronouncement Stories, ed.
Q or not Q?; the so-called triple, double, and single traditions in the
Synoptic Gospels.
Introduction to the
Synoptic Gospels. By Pheme Perkins.
The more I taught John's gospel, the more I realized how different it is from what we call the
synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Alternatively--if one may try to peer into the future--if some day the church decided that it was too uncomfortable with the teachings of these councils (so remote from the Jesus of the
Synoptic gospels) could it perhaps declare that they were not, after all, ecumenical?
Rewriting the feeding of five thousand; John 6.1-15 as a test case for Johannine dependence on the
Synoptic Gospels.
They are not likely to leave everything behind to follow the Lord, as the disciples do in all three
synoptic gospels. A Messiah who says that "foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" (Matt.
