Youngquist, Matthew and Q

The following Claremont doctoral dissertation is available at UMI (with thanks to Jacob Knee for drawing my attention to this):

Linden Eric Youngquist (PhD, Claremont Graduate University, 2003; 352 pages; adviser: James M. Robinson):

Matthew and Q

Gospels scholars have suggested in various ways that the author responsible for Q was also responsible for Matthew. This insight is interesting because, while it is fundamental to the two-source hypothesis that Mark and Q are combined in Matthew because the author had some affinity to both documents, it is assumed that the Gospel is an expansion of Mark. Such an approach is helpful in explaining the final shape of Matthew, which, from chapter 12 on, at least, follows Mark's storyline. On the other hand, this perspective struggles with the anomaly that Matthew rearranges Mark freely in Matt 3-11. The possibility that Matthew's is an expansion of Q suggests that, from a literary perspective, Mark may have been adapted to Q's concerns, which may explain better Matthew's use of Mark. The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of the relationship between Matthew and Q. The first chapter reviews how the Matthew/Q connection has been understood. The thesis adopted is that Matthew is better understood as a literary expansion of Q, rather than as a second edition of Mark. Chapter two considers Matt 3–11 as an adaptation of the opening sections of Q, whose purpose is to reiterate Q's original missionary practices, which Matthew still considered valid. Chapter three analyzes Matt 12-28 and shows that Matthew adopted Mark's story to depict narratively the conflict between Jesus and Israel's leaders implied in many of Q's sayings. By incorporating Q into Mark's narrative about Jesus' death and resurrection, Matthew moved beyond Q's view that Jesus' mission was limited to Israel, and offered the prospect of a world-wide mission led by Jesus' disciples instead of the Pharisees. The impetus for this change was the Jewish war and the emergence of the Pharisees as the leaders of Judaism in its aftermath. That is, Matthew rewrote Q using Mark in order to preserve Q's message and, at the same time, to direct the community to a mission that included the world.