Q in Matthew: Ancient Media, Memory Early Scribal Transmission of the Jesus Tradition

Description

Advocates of the established hypotheses on the origins of the Synoptic gospels and their interrelationships (the Synoptic Problem), and especially those defending or contesting the existence of the “source” (Q), are increasingly being called upon to justify their position with reference to ancient media practices. Still others go so far as to claim that ancient media realities force a radical rethinking of the whole project of Synoptic source criticism, and they question whether traditional documentary approaches remain valid at all.  This debate has been hampered to date by the patchy reception of research on ancient media in Synoptic scholarship. Seeking to rectify this problem, Alan Kirk here mounts a defense, grounded in the practices of memory and manuscript transmission in the Roman world, of the Two Document Hypothesis. He shows how ancient media/memory approaches in fact offer new leverage on classic research problems in scholarship on the Synoptic Gospels, and that they have the potential to break the current impasse in the Synoptic Problem. The results of his analysis open up new insights to the early reception and scribal transmission of the Jesus tradition and cast new light on some long-conflicted questions in Christian origins. Cover HalfTitle Title Copyright Dedication Contents Abbreviations Chapter 1 Orality, Writing, and Media Interface in Antiquity 1. Introduction 2. Orality, Oral Tradition, and Performance 3. Orality and Writing Chapter 2 Source Utilization Practices and Ancient Media: In Search of a Model 1. Elite Greco-Roman Writing and Rhetoric 2. Evangelists as Tradents 3. Material Media and Ancient Writing Practices 4. Scribes and Scholars 5. Scholars and Source-Utilization: Three Case Studies Chapter 3 Manuscript and Memory 1. Memory in Near Eastern Scribal Education and Greco-Roman Education 2. Written Works at the Boundary with Orality 3. Scribe as Tradent 4. Mouvance: Variation in Manuscript Tradition 5. Writing, Cognition and Topoi-Organized Manuscript Tradition 6. Memory in Composition 7. Memory, Manuscript, and Synoptic Source-Utilization Chapter 4 The 2DH’s Inconvenient Problem: Matthew’s Q Utilization 1. Sub-Literary Q? 2. Problems in the 2DH Argument from Order 3. Scribal Mediation of Q Materials 4. Topoi Organization in Q Materials 5. Q as a Cultural Work: Memory/Manuscript Fusion Chapter 5 Source-Utilization in the Sermon on the Mount 1. Theories of Sermon Origins 2. Matthew’s Source Strategy in the Sermon on the Mount: Summary 3. Source-Utilization in Sermon on the Mount: Analysis 4. Matthew’s Source Utilization in the Sermon Chapter 6 Q and Matthew’s Markan Transpositions 1. The Problem of the Transpositions 2. Matthew’s Utilization Actions and Ancient Media Conditions 3. Q Utilization Vector in Matthew 8–12 4. Matthew 4.23–5.2: Galilean Teaching and Healing Tour 5. Explanations of the Markan Transpositions 6. Matthew’s Utilization Strategy: Q and Mark in Matthew 3–12 Chapter 7 Q in Matthew: What Difference Does It Make? 1. Matthew’s Scribal Memory Competence 2. Normativity of Mark and Q 3. Mark and Q: Christianities in Conflict? 4. Q a Proxy for Galilean Christianity? 5. Synoptic Problem Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors