Behind both Matthew and Luke was an oral sayings-collection common to both and unknown to Mark. The German word Quelle (or “Q”) which means “source” was given to this collection of sayings, which most scholars suppose was never a written document, but which circulated orally beginning from around 50 CE.I am really surprised to see the claim that "most scholars" suppose Q to be oral. I would say that quite the reverse is the case. Most scholars who accept the existence of Q suppose it to have been written, and with good reason -- the extent of verbatim agreement in double tradition is often very close. Indeed, Matthew and Luke are never as close in triple tradition as they sometimes are in double tradition.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Oral Q?
Over on the Jesus Dynasty blog, James Tabor reproduces a new academic review of his book and it is by Dennis Groh. Groh has an odd note:
That is indeed a very strange comment.
ReplyDeleteGroh's publications as listed on Theoldi are mainly focused on the archeology of the Holy Land in Late Roman period. He even has shared some publications with Tom Longstaff.
What does Tabor's book say about Q?