Mark Goodacre's academic blog. Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Duke University, in the Religious Studies Department. Visit my homepage, follow me on twitter, or contact me by email.
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
More NT Pod Shorts: Triple Tradition; Double Tradition; Marcan Priority
I've uploaded three more NT Pod Shorts on the Synoptic Problem:
If I understand your argument correctly, Luke copied from both Mark and Matthew, but followed the narrative structure of the former only, because keeping the structure of both would have resulted in unwieldy discourses. Why is Mark’s “Way of the Lord” structure so appealing?
Thanks. Good questions. I have an article on this which explains in more detail: “Re-walking the ‘Way of the Lord’: Luke’s Use of Mark and his Reaction to Matthew” in Jesper Tang Nielsen and Mogens Müller (eds.), Luke’s Literary Creativity (LNTS 550; London & New York: Bloomsbury, 2016), 26-43, reproduced on my homepage.
Thank you for making your published articles freely accessible. I find the article on the Way of the Lord informative and fascinating.
A follow-up question: If the Way of the Lord is the main theme in Luke, one would expect prominent milestones in the narrative. For example, in Exodus, the journey of the Israelites have significant milestones, the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, Massah and Meribah, to name a few; in Acts, Paul's missionary journeys are documented such that it is possible to retrace his steps.
Can you identify all the milestones in the Way of the Lord as it is presented in Luke? If the non-Markan materials in Luke make for such milestones, it would also strengthen your case. Jesus' setting his face to go to Jerusalem is a major milestone, as you noted in your article; the Birth Narrative can be understood as another, signifying the prophesied beginning (and final destination ) of the Way of the Lord.
4 comments:
If I understand your argument correctly, Luke copied from both Mark and Matthew, but followed the narrative structure of the former only, because keeping the structure of both would have resulted in unwieldy discourses. Why is Mark’s “Way of the Lord” structure so appealing?
Thanks. Good questions. I have an article on this which explains in more detail: “Re-walking the ‘Way of the Lord’: Luke’s Use of Mark and his Reaction to Matthew” in Jesper Tang Nielsen and Mogens Müller (eds.), Luke’s Literary Creativity (LNTS 550; London & New York: Bloomsbury, 2016), 26-43, reproduced on my homepage.
Thank you for making your published articles freely accessible. I find the article on the Way of the Lord informative and fascinating.
A follow-up question: If the Way of the Lord is the main theme in Luke, one would expect prominent milestones in the narrative. For example, in Exodus, the journey of the Israelites have significant milestones, the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, Massah and Meribah, to name a few; in Acts, Paul's missionary journeys are documented such that it is possible to retrace his steps.
Can you identify all the milestones in the Way of the Lord as it is presented in Luke? If the non-Markan materials in Luke make for such milestones, it would also strengthen your case. Jesus' setting his face to go to Jerusalem is a major milestone, as you noted in your article; the Birth Narrative can be understood as another, signifying the prophesied beginning (and final destination ) of the Way of the Lord.
Many thanks. Good points. I wish I had time to write a fuller response, but perhaps a future blog or podcast could address this.
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