Q or not Q? Is there any shift?

Michael Goulder

Chris Keith asked earlier today whether I was still in the minority about Q.  His post generated a decent comments thread as well as a monster comments thread on Facebook (which is so often now the more lively place for conversation on these things).  I don't doubt for a moment that the Farrer theory is still the minority position, but I have been glad to see a good number of people coming over to the side of the angels as time has gone on.

I certainly feel much less lonely than I did fifteen or twenty years or so ago when it was automatically assumed in the USA that anyone who denied the existence of Q must also, of necessity, deny the existence of Marcan Priority too.  Indeed, Q sceptics probably thought the earth was flat too, and that Elvis was still alive.  I well remember Stephen Patterson describing the view as even more obscure than Griesbach.

It was something of a shock to me to discover just how deeply embedded belief in Q seemed to be, especially after I was cocooned by my Oxford education, where, in the 1980s, everyone seemed to be sceptical about Q (E. P. Sanders, N. T. Wright, John Fenton, Eric Franklin and later, John Muddiman).

Michael Goulder (above) always used to feel that he was "contra mundum" on Q and he was delighted when Ed Sanders declared his (moderated) support for his theory in the book he co-authored with Margaret Davies in 1990.  I have been lucky to have found myself a little less isolated, but even if that were not so, I would not be ashamed to find myself in the same camp as two of the finest minds (I would say the two finest minds) in NT studies in recent decades.

But now, Anthony Le Donne wants to know just how popular the Q theory is these days -- and you can vote over on the blog he shares with Chris Keith -- Do You Q?  So who do you side with?

Memories are short in the blogosphere, but a handful of regular readers may remember that back in 2007 there was a similar poll run by Brandon Wason.  The poll itself has now gone, but my post on it survives.

Update: revised link.  Already interesting results. If you have not done so already, go and vote now!

Favourite Greek Grammar Poll Results

Last Wednesday, I asked the question, What is your preferred introductory Greek Grammar?. The results are as follows:

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William Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek: 62 votes (38%)

David Alan Black, Learn to Read Biblical Greek: 29 votes (18%)

Other (please say which in comments): 18 votes (11%)

J. W. Wenham, The Elements of New Testament Greek: 14 votes (8%)

J. Gresham Machen, New Testament Greek for Beginners: 13 votes (8%)

John H. Dobson, Learn New Testament Greek: 6 votes (4%)

Jeremy Duff, The Elements of New Testament Greek: 11 votes (7%)

Ian MacNair, Teach Yourself New Testament Greek: 6 votes (4%)

James Allen Hewitt, A Beginning and Intermediate Grammar: 4 votes (2%)

Ray Summers, Thomas Sawyer, Essentials of New Testament Greek: 2 votes (1%)

Total Votes: 165
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There were many useful comments, and they revealed that one important one I'd missed was Clayton Croy, A Primer of Biblical Greek, which would have picked up several votes and certainly made it into the top ten. There were other important contributions questioning the very idea of learning from a book specifically geared to "New Testament Greek".

A couple of things I picked up from this: (1) I had no idea just how popular Mounce's Introduction was until now, perhaps because it is very little used in the UK, if at all. (2) Duff is not yet supplanting Wenham, in spite of the fact that it is designed as its replacement, but that may just be a question of time.

Thanks to everyone who participated and commented.

One troubling thing I have realized too is that Bravenet polls appear to be introducing pop-ups to the site; two correspondents have been in touch with me about this. I am removing the poll now, and that should fix the problem. In future, I will look elsewhere for polls. (Blogger does not yet provide polls for those whose blogs are hosted on their own server, as the NT Gateway blog is).

What is your preferred Introductory Greek Grammar?

It's high time we had a poll here, and this is my first attempt at producing one. I am using Bravenet and just learning how to configure it properly, but it is already doing enough to be functional.

It will be interesting to know which introductory Greek grammars people are using these days. Apologies if your favourite is not listed; I only had ten spaces and went for the nine that I had most often heard of people using. If your favourite is not listed, please go for "Other" and then list it in the comments. And of course you all should feel free to comment in the comments section after you have voted. Oh, and you can only vote once.

Update: 19 July: Poll results are now available.