Deck 18: The Synoptic Problem and the Gospel of Mark

Question 1

1. How do ancient biographies differ from modern ones? Using specific examples from one of the Gospels, describe how an author utilizes aspects of an ancient biography to illustrate his view of Jesus.

Answer 1

Modern biographies take for granted post-Enlightenment notions of psychological development. Typically, this assumption results in stories that reveal how an individual became the person he or she is as an adult. Modern biographies emphasize historical data (names, dates, and specific events) and tend to be chronologically arranged. Since ancient biographers did not emphasize character change over time, they were not compelled to organize their biographies chronologically. In ancient biographies, stories illustrate the fixed nature of the subject's personality.

Question 2

2. Describe what scholars refer to as the Synoptic Problem. What is the "problem"? How do you think it is best solved?

Answer 2

The Synoptic Problem is the problem of accounting for the similarities and differences between Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The verbatim similarities, narrative order, and types of changes indicate that there was a common source. The four-source hypothesis argues that Matthew and Luke used Mark as a primary source. In addition, Matthew and Luke used a source that scholars refer to as Q (a designation for material Matthew and Luke have in common that Mark does not have). Matthew added some stories from other sources unavailable to Luke, designated M, and similarly, Luke included stories unique to his Gospel, designated L. Together these sources account for the similarities and differences between the Synoptic Gospels.

Question 3

3. List and explain the arguments for Markan priority.

Answer 3

Students should fully explain the patterns of agreement between the Synoptics, the sequence of the narratives, and the characteristics of the changes that Matthew and Luke made to Mark. In their discussions they should explain how these three elements work to show that Mark was written first and used as a source by Matthew and Luke.

Question 4

4. Discuss the four-source hypothesis. How are these four sources related? What is their character (oral, written)?

Question 5

5. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus' identity is rarely recognized. In fact, only a handful of people know who he is. Who does recognize Jesus? Why do you think these particular people/groups recognize him? Why do you think Mark insists that others did not know his true identity?

Question 6

1. Ancient biographies were usually arranged in chronological order.

Question 7

2. Matthew and Luke follow Mark's sequence of stories throughout their narratives.

Question 8

3. At least one Gospel author claims to be an eyewitness to the events he narrates.

Question 9

4. Most scholars believe Matthew and Luke both used Mark as a source.

Question 10

5. The Gospel of Mark was originally written in Aramaic.

Question 11

6. According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus spoke fluent Greek.

Question 12

7. There is only one accepted scholarly solution to the Synoptic Problem.

Question 13

1) The New Testament Gospels belong to the genre of

A) apocalyptic literature.
B) Greco-Roman autobiography.
C) short story.
D) Greco-Roman biography.

Question 14

3) Modern biographers are less trusting of ____________ of information than the ancient biographers were.

A) oral sources
B) written sources
C) prophetic forms
D) mystical forms

Question 15

5) In the story of the women who find Jesus' tomb empty and are instructed by a young man (or angel) to go tell Peter and the other disciples (Mark 16), the last twelve verses of this story in Mark were

A) added to the Gospel of Mark by a scribe.
B) an original part of the Gospel of Mathew and later inserted into the Gospel of Mark by the author of Mark.
C) an original part of the Gospel of Mark.
D) a pagan parable.

Question 16

6) Biographies written by Christians put a significant amount of emphasis on Jesus' __________, which is very unusual for ancient biographies?

A) birth
B) death
C) childhood
D) ministry

Question 17

7) Methodical character development of the central character of a biography would be expected by readers of

A) any ancient Greco-Roman biography.
B) just the Gospels.
C) modern biographies.
D) ancient legends.

Question 18

8) How far into the narrative would ancient readers/listeners of the Gospels have expected to get before they would be able to discern Jesus' character and identity?

A) the end
B) near the midpoint
C) only after reading all of them through
D) the opening scenes

Question 19

10) Which New Testament Gospel was probably written last?

A) Matthew
B) Mark
C) Luke
D) John

Question 20

16) According to the four-source hypothesis, in addition to Mark, both Matthew and Luke used

A) M.
B) L.
C) John.
D) Q.

Question 21

18) The argument of "patterns of agreement" shows that when all three Synoptic Gospels contain the same story, all of the following occur regularly except

A) Matthew and Mark agree in the wording of a story against Luke.
B) Luke and Mark agree in the wording of a story against Matthew.
C) Matthew and Luke agree in the wording of a story against Mark.
D) Matthew, Mark, and Luke all agree in the wording of a story.

Question 22

20) Q contains mostly Jesus'

A) birth narrative.
B) sayings.
C) death.
D) resurrection appearances.

Question 23

21) Where was Q finally discovered?

A) a cave in Qumran
B) It is still lost.
C) near the Dead Sea
D) It was discovered to be an oral tradition passed down by the Essenes.

Question 24

22) Although we cannot know for certain, many scholars believe Q probably did not contain

A) a Passion narrative.
B) a command to love your enemies.
C) the Lord's Prayer.
D) the Beatitudes.

Question 25

23) Most scholars think that Q was a written document because

A) the L source refers to Q as a written document.
B) the M source refers to Q as a written document.
C) there are long stretches of verbatim agreement between Matthew and Luke.
D) Matthew and Luke share the same sequencing of miracles.

Question 26

24) What was it about Mark's grammar that influenced Matthew and Luke to change the way they talked about the same material?

A) It was awkward.
B) It was too "flowery" and overemotional.
C) It was ungrammatical.
D) It was too technical.

Question 27

25) When Mark and Matthew tell the same story, Mark's story is

A) less detailed.
B) shorter.
C) longer.
D) closer to the facts.

Question 28

26) Which is the shortest, overall, of the three Synoptics?

A) Matthew
B) Mark
C) Luke
D) They are all of equal length.

Question 29

27) We identify the issues that probably concerned Matthew and Luke the most by the distinctive emphasis each one placed on different parts of Mark's account, in other words, how they went about ____________ Mark's account.

A) translating
B) ignoring sections of
C) embellishing
D) editing

Question 30

33) When Jesus is baptized, the spirit of God descends on him in the shape of

A) a dove.
B) flames.
C) angels.
D) a sunbeam.

Question 31

41) In Mark, what is Jesus' response to his impending death?

A) cheerfulness
B) indifference
C) anguish and apparent doubt
D) He refuses to go through with it.