The Synoptic Problem and the Formation of the Gospels...
The puzzling literary relationship between the first three gospels---the well-know puzzle often known as the Synoptic Problem---is part of the larger difficulty concerning the formation of all four gospels.
An account of how the how the gospels were formed, including a solution to the essence of the Synoptic Problem, may be found in Thomas L. Brodie, The Birthing of the New Testament. The Intertextual Developemt of the New Testament Writings (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2004).
The general summary of The Birthing is as follows:
Background
Two features of recent research are particularly important to this study. The first is the publication of a critical edition of Q—the hypothetical sayings-source thought to have been used by Matthew and Luke. The new clarity concerning the hypothesis provides an improved opportunity for judging whether it should be retained or replaced. Rather than engaging Q directly, this study generally concentrates on offering an alternative hypothesis, one that in the long term is hopefully more verifiable and more encompassing.
The second feature is the new awareness of intertextuality. There is increasing evidence that writings, especially ancient writings, depend on earlier texts. This applies also to the NT, to the ways NT books are connected to one another and to other writings, especially the OT/Septuagint. Criteria now exist for judging literary dependence and for tracing literary relationships and developments.
The purpose of The Birthing is to apply these criteria to the NT writings.
The Thesis
The volume’s central thesis is that within Luke-Acts lies a stream of passages, a total of about 25 chapters, that stands apart. Three reasons indicate this apartness. (1) These passages have a distinctive intertextual dependence on the Septuagint, a dependence indicated by a wide range of verifiable connections. (2) The passages form a specific unity, coherent and complete, with a clear structure that is modelled precisely on one of the great prophetic histories of the OT, the Elijah-Elisha narrative (1 Kings 16:29-2 Kings 13). (3) When this specific unity is seen on its own, it explains other NT data, especially about the gospels.
The stream of passages may be summarized under the following headings:
Jesus’ infancy narrative: Luke 1-2
Jesus’ early ministry: 3:1-4:22a (except 3:7-9; 4:1-13); 7:1-8:3
Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem: 9:51-10:20; 16:1-9,19-31; 17:11-18:8; 19:1-10
Jesus’ death and resurrection: chaps. 22-24 (except 22:31-65)
The church’s beginnings: Acts 1:1-2:42
The church’s early ministry: 2:43-5:42
The church’s move away from Jerusalem: 6:1-9:30
The church’s transformation, integrating the Gentiles: 9:31-15:35
The simplest, best explanation for this OT-related phenomenon is that it is the long-sought first version of Luke-Acts, what some scholars call Proto-Luke. The central thesis, therefore, is that Proto-Luke, with its heavy dependence on the OT, underlies the development of the gospels, especially the Synoptic Gospels.
The volume’s auxiliary thesis is that Proto-Luke, apart from using the OT directly, also presupposed an arrangement of logia, “sayings,” and used at least one major epistle—1 Corinthians. The logia, now found within Matthew 5 and 11, are largely based on Deuteronomy. These auxiliary sources clarify the nature of Proto-Luke, and they also clarify its influence—its foundational role in the development of the other gospels.
Once Proto-Luke is in place, it becomes relatively easy to understand how the other gospels emerged, each building on all that preceded: first, Mark; then Matthew; next John; and finally Luke-Acts. This relationship between the gospels makes the Q hypothesis unnecessary. The systematic relationship of Proto-Luke to the Septuagint gives it a verifiability which Q does not have.