Early Christianity

of Markto explain the meaning of terms in Aramaic

(5.41), and even certain Jewish customs (7.3–4).

(3) The gospels represent not a single version of Jesus’

career, but rather diverging traditions about and repre-

sentations of it. They stress slightly different aspects of

his career and teachings. Such discrepancies are most

obvious in the case of the Gospel of John. They include

a different presentation of the geographical scope of

Jesus’ ministry (which is said to encompass Judaea and

Samaria as well as Galilee) and different chronological

structures (Matthew,Mark, and Lukepresent the Last

Supper as a Passover meal; Johnsets it a few days

earlier than the Jewish festival). Such historical diver-

gences are matched also by theological ones: Johnis

much more heavily influenced by Greek philosophical

thought than the other canonical gospels.^6

(4) The fact that Matthew,Mark, and Lukeare so different

fromJohnmeans that they are often regarded as belong-

ing to a category that New Testament scholars call the

‘synoptic’ tradition: this literally means that they can

be ‘seen together’. This is manifested above all by

striking verbal similarities between them. As a result,

scholars have sought to uncover the origins of such

similar materials. They have hypothesized various oral

traditions about Jesus that influenced the gospels. Some

have also speculated that there were lost written sources

upon which some of the gospel authors depended. The

best known of these is the one referred to as Q, from

the German word Quellemeaning ‘source’. It is argued

to lie behind material that is in MatthewandLuke, but

which is not found in Mark.

(5) Such considerations have led scholars to ascribe dif-

ferent dates to the gospels. Most agree that Johnis the

latest, and Lukethe third to be written. It is commonly

assumed that Markwas written earlier than Matthew,

despite their order in the New Testament canon. Even

SOURCES AND THEIR INTERPRETATION

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