A History of the Synoptic Problem: The Canon, the Text, the Composition, and the Interpretation of the Gospels (Biotechnology Annual Review) [Hardcover]

David Dungan (Author), David Laird Dungan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Biotechnology Annual Review | Publication Date: June 15, 1999

"A History of the Synoptic Problem", by David Laird Dungan, is an accessible, academic study of a question that has needled readers of the New Testament since before the Bible was canonized: How does one reconcile the different accounts of Jesus' life given by the four gospels? Today the most highly publicized answer to this question is the one offered by John Dominic Crossan and the Jesus Seminar, who seek to reconcile the differences among the gospels by designating some events and statements in the gospels historically true and others false. There are lots of other ways to explore the synoptic problem, however, and Dungan provides a clear and lively history of the strategies employed by Origen, Augustine, Erasmus, Spinoza, Locke, and others. Dungan's method is to break the synoptic problem down into its corollary questions: Which gospels should be considered in the debate? Which text of each gospel should be considered? And how should one read the Bible in general and the gospels in particular? Dungan's interest in these questions is not merely literary; he also delves into the political and economic agendas that have influenced biblical interpretation. In this regard, the most interesting and original connection he makes is to explain the relationship between the rise of the modern historical-critical method of reading scripture (asking who wrote the books of the Bible, when, how, and for whom) and the creation and maintenance of political democracy - and furthermore, the ways in which fundamentalist "literal" readings of Scripture serve the same goal.Dungan's own investment in debates on the synoptic problem is shot through with an appealing humility about the stakes of the debate. "At its deepest level, the Synoptic Problem is not a scientific 'problem'," he writes. "[T]he quest for the correct solution to the Synoptic Problem, like the Church's quest for the correct canon of the Gospels, and the correct text of the Gospels, and the correct way to interpret the Gospels, is a vital aspect of the Church's perennial quest for the Word of Life."

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A History of the Synoptic Problem, by David Laird Dungan, is an accessible, academic study of a question that has needled readers of the New Testament since before the Bible was canonized: How does one reconcile the different accounts of Jesus's life given by the four gospels? Today the most highly publicized answer to this question is the one offered by John Dominic Crossan and the Jesus Seminar, who seek to reconcile the differences among the gospels by designating some events and statements in the gospels historically true and others false. There are lots of other ways to explore the synoptic problem, however, and Dungan provides a clear and lively history of the strategies employed by Origen, Augustine, Erasmus, Spinoza, Locke, and others. Dungan's method is to break the synoptic problem down into its corollary questions: Which gospels should be considered in the debate? Which text of each gospel should be considered? And how should one read the Bible in general and the gospels in particular? Dungan's interest in these questions is not merely literary; he also delves into the political and economic agendas that have influenced biblical interpretation. In this regard, the most interesting and original connection he makes is to explain the relationship between the rise of the modern historical-critical method of reading scripture (asking who wrote the books of the Bible, when, how, and for whom) and the creation and maintenance of political democracy--and furthermore, the ways in which fundamentalist "literal" readings of Scripture serve the same goal. Dungan's own investment in debates on the synoptic problem is shot through with an appealing humility about the stakes of the debate. "At its deepest level, the Synoptic Problem is not a scientific 'problem'," he writes. "[T]he quest for the correct solution to the Synoptic Problem, like the Church's quest for the correct canon of the Gospels, and the correct text of the Gospels, and the correct way to interpret the Gospels, is a vital aspect of the Church's perennial quest for the Word of Life." --Michael Joseph Gross

From Library Journal

By the second century, believers saw the difference among the four Gospels as a scandal, and pagan philosophers were focusing their counterattack on it. Dungan (religious studies, Univ. of Tennessee) considers the problem of the three Synoptic Gospels in terms of four components: the composition and sources of the Gospels, the question of the canon, text criticism, and hermeneutics. Others have given sketchy accounts of the debate over the synoptic gospel before 1800, but Dungan sets forth a structured history from its inception in the second century and elucidates for the first time the political and economic agendas that informed biblical interpretations. He systematically discusses each of the basic components of the problem, indicating the cultural, political, economic, and technological presuppositions in every historical period. This work will be somewhat controversialADungan challenges the priority of the Gospel of Mark and the very existence of "Q," a hypothetical source document. An important book for any collection of New Testament studies.AEugene O. Bowser, Univ. of Northern Colorado, Greeley
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Anchor Bible; 1st edition (June 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385471920
• ISBN-13: 978-0385471923
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,136,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent work due to a unique approach., October 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A History of the Synoptic Problem: The Canon, the Text, the Composition, and the Interpretation of the Gospels (Biotechnology Annual Review) (Hardcover)

I'm not a Bible Scholar, but I am a very well read minister. I must confess that, having read many books on this subject, I saw things in Dungan's book I'd never seen or heard of anywhere else. I sat and read it in a bookstore for hours before I bought it. I don't agree with it 100% -- but he sure does give a feast for thought.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best history of the synoptic problem available, August 17, 2000

By 

Jim Hornecker (Boise, ID USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A History of the Synoptic Problem: The Canon, the Text, the Composition, and the Interpretation of the Gospels (Biotechnology Annual Review) (Hardcover)

Dungan does a great job of expanding the conversation of what the components are of the synoptic problem. He is daring, bold, and erudite as he lays out the case for the destructive intent and impact of the modernist approach to the Bible, particularly the Gospels. At times, however, he would have better served the topic by tackling some of the more obvious objections that could be made to some of his statements. (One minor one has to do with his theory - that he admits he isn't confident of - that John held some antogonistic views of Peter. As he argues this he doesn't contend with the significant Petrology that exists in John's Gospel, but rather confining himself to the passages where Peter is often interpreted in a negative light.) In other places I would have preferred if he "connected the dots" a bit more in showing how things like Spinoza's treatise on biblical interpretation actually fathered the modernist approach to the Bible. I respect his ultimate position regarding the order of the Synoptics - Matthew, Luke, then Mark - but I am partial to the more "traditional Augustinian" solution. I would have liked if he had spent more time grappling with the better modern apologies for that solution rather than blasting some of the more myopic gospel harmonies and generally regulating most of the modern defenses of the traditional solution to the heap of Fundamentalism. Still, all in all, I learned a good deal from his generally thorough work and would recommend it, with some reservation, to the student who has concerns about the modernist critique of the Bible and who is intereseted in enhancing his understanding of the history of the synoptic problem, particularly the contemporary situation.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Copious Historical and Biblical Research, July 6, 2003

By 

Gabriel E. Borlean (Odense, Denmark - birthtown of fairytale-writer H.C. Andersen) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A History of the Synoptic Problem: The Canon, the Text, the Composition, and the Interpretation of the Gospels (Biotechnology Annual Review) (Hardcover)

I bought this book thinking that it was going to help me harmonize the differences in the Sypotic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). I got more than I bargained for!

One fifth of the book (at the back end) are detailed explanatory and resourceful chapter Notes. These Notes contain an abundance of supporting evidence and explanations from antiquity, early church history, Patristic writings, Greek lexicology, and others).

The material of the book is quite dry and the primary audience seems to be biblical scholars. Since I am not a scholar, I had to rely on the back-end Notes a lot to understand the points the author was making in the respective chapters.

Nevertheless, following the three historical approaching to the Synoptic problem presented in the book, I have been fortunate (and blessed as a result) to learn a great deal about the history of the early Church, the development of Bible translations throughout the ages, and current trends in Christianity.

I would recommend this work to anyone seriously interested in Christianity (especially the canon, text, composition, and interpretations of the Gospels).