Topic summary
Synoptic problem
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Synoptic Gospels.
Synoptic problem
The texts of the three synoptic gospels often agree very closely in wording and order, both in quotations and in narration. Most scholars ascribe this to documentary dependence: the agreements among synoptic gospels are due to one gospel drawing from the text of another, or from some written source that another gospel also drew from. Recent scholarship tends to explain the gospels' relationship in terms of ancient compositional practices and comparisons with other ancient historical biographers over the traditional emphasis on theological agendas.