The Existence of Q - Research Paper Example

Its existence is said to be capable of being inferred by analyzing the texts of Matthew and Luke and seeing commonalities which point to a common source. Barclay 1The name comes from the German ‘Quelle’ or source, and it is often referred to as the ‘Q Gospel’, although other names have been given by particular writers. It was first given this title relatively recently by 19th-century German theologian Johannes Weiss (1863-1914) 2. The term is used to refer to material found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, but not in their other common source, Marks gospel, which must have been written before those of Matthew and Luke.

Matthew Henry puts Matthew’s Gospel as perhaps as early as eight years after the Ascension, which would make ‘Q’ very early indeed.3 The gospel of John was written very much later, around the end of the first century. Because of their common content, the first three gospels are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels, the name comes from two Greek words which mean “to see together”. Gore et al add that this means they could be put together in columns and compared.4 Barclay 5whereas John is a quite separate text.

Luke and Matthew used this material in common despite the fact that Matthew was aiming his gospel at members of the Jewish nation and Luke seem to have been aiming at a wider Gentile readership. Weiss was referring to ‘Q’ as oral tradition, an idea agreed with by Marshall, 6 stating that:-Marshall also states that Mark also used this oral tradition, adding to it first-hand graphic accounts he obtained from his close contact with Saint Peter8. He first wrote in 1920, revising his work in 1948. Later B. H.

Streeter, a British theologian, put forward the idea that it had actually existed as a written document in Greek, a text which Nineham refers to merely as ‘another source.’ According to Lawrence in private, he actually speculated that it might have been written by Jesus himself.