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Synoptic Gospels
The word "synoptic" means "to see or view together." Scholars use the term to refer to three of the four gospels-Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The synoptic gospels are very similar but not exactly the same. They are quite different from the fourth gospel, John. The three synoptic gospels have similar structure, language, basic perspective, and basic contents. They have different beginnings and endings, distinctive events, some individual teachings, and their own emphases. In source criticism, scholars seek to determine if one gospel is the earliest and the source of the others. The great majority of NT scholars accept the Two Source Theory which proposes that Mark is the earliest gospel. This conclusion is based on the language and forms of Mark. See Source Criticism.
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Glossary definitions provided courtesy of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY,(All Rights reserved) from "An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians," Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, editors. |
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