< Your conclusion follows from your
>premises, however, only if the Two Source Hypothesis does not also fail
>to fit completely the data observable in the synoptic gospels. It does
>fail to fit the data completely. It does not fit the minor agreements of
>Mt and Lk against Mk in the triple tradition, nor the so-called "Mark-Q
>Overlaps", nor the presence of many doublets in Mark. If the 2GH and FGM
>are "totally implausible" because they fail to fit completely the data
>in the synoptic gospels, then the Two Source Hypothesis is also totally
>implausible on the same grounds. Surely, with so many scholars doing so
>much research on the assumption that "Q" existed, someone should be able
>to give a straightforward and concise justification for this assumption?
In my opinion the minor agreements have been accounted for. As for the
overlaps between Mark and Q, these remain an area of great speculation and
do not disprove the existence of some such document(s) shared by Matt and
Luke. These would have to be dealt with one by one and would carry us far
afield of the purpose of this forum. These questions have not been
sufficiently strong to dissuade the majority of scholars, however, and they
have not yet dissuaded me from the validity of the basic theory. I do
indicate to my students though that this is still only a theory and fall
short of total proof.
Carlton Winbery
Fogleman Prof. Religion
Louisiana College
winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net
Fax 1 (318) 487 7425