Mike Duncan argues that the Farrer Hypothesis is the best working solution to the Synoptic Problem in New Testament studies by way of rhetorical theory, as he sees the Synoptic Problem as less about source and textual criticism and more as a writing problem that concerns how and why they were composed The book's six chapters feature case studies of different aspects of gospel rhetoric, such as how the different post-resurrection accounts interact with each other and how the apostles are portrayed from gospel to gospel. These chapters form a collective argument-that the synoptic gospels are competing rhetorical narratives about Jesus, with the authors of Luke and Matthew reacting to previous gospels with the goal of superseding the previously composed versions of Jesus's life. However, Duncan acknowledges that the Farrer Hypothesis has special difficulties and cannot be pushed beyond an educated guess, that the Synoptic Problem remains an unsolvable problem due to a lack of evidence and lost original context, and that it is only a philosophical acceptance of the inaccessibility of a solution that paradoxically allows a frank and unsentimental view of the alternatives.
Mike Duncan is a professor of English at the University of Houston-Downtown.
Introduction Chapter 1: The History of the Synoptic Problem: Preferring the Worst Explanation, Except For All The Others Chapter 2: Competing Narratives: What Happened After The Resurrection? Chapter 3: The Farrer Hypothesis, the Universality of Writing, and Unsolvable Problems Chapter 4: Mark the Originator: John the Baptist and the Invention of the Gospel Genre Chapter 5: The Rebranding of the Twelve Apostles in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 6: How Luke Destroyed the Sermon on the Mount: The Physical Composition of the Gospel of Luke Conclusion Appendix: Dating the Gospels Bibliography
Mike Duncan provides a refreshing new take on the debate of how to explain the many passages shared in the first three canonical gospels. Instead of asking who copied what, he explores the possibility of competing narratives, a phenomenon that can be observed in the numerous extra-canonical narratives about Jesus and his first followers. As a student of the field of rhetoric, he understands the phenomenon of creative writing in antiquity and doesn't hesitate to apply his insights to the holy grail of New Testament exegesis, the so-called Synoptic Problem. -- David J. Trobisch, author of The First Edition of the New Testament
