Interpreting

the Synoptic

Gospels

Scot McKnight

Copyright © 1988 by Baker Books

a division of Baker Book House Company

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

ISBN: 0–8010–6235–7

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For Walt Liefeld

Christian Brother,
Teacher,
and
Esteemed Colleague

Contents

Editor’s Preface

Author’s Preface

Introduction

Part 1 Preliminary Steps of Synoptic Exegesis

1 Introductory Questions

2 Background Considerations

3 The Synoptic Problem

Part 2 Basic Steps of Synoptic Exegesis

4 Textual Criticism

5 Grammatical Analysis

6 Tradition Analysis: Historical Criticism

7 Tradition Analysis: Form Criticism

8 Tradition Analysis: Redaction Criticism

9 Word Analysis

10 Motif Analysis

Conclusion

Appendix: Literary Criticism

Selected Bibliography

Editor’s Preface

Four literary types (genres) comprise the New Testament: the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters, and, finally, the Apocalypse. Each genre is distinct, and, as has been made abundantly clear by contemporary scholars, each requires different sensitivities, principles, and methods of interpretation. Consequently, applying the same method to different genres will often lead to serious misunderstandings. Consequently, students need manuals that will introduce them both to the specific nature of a particular genre and to basic principles for exegeting that genre.

The Guides to New Testament Exegesis series has been specifically designed to meet this need. These guides have been written, not for specialists, but for college religion majors, seminarians, and pastors who have had at least one year of Greek. Methods and principles may change, but the language of the New Testament remains the same. God chose to speak to people in Greek; serious students of the New Testament must learn to love that language in order better to understand the Word of God.

These guides also have a practical aim. Each guide presents various views of scholars on particular issues. Yet the ultimate goal of each is to provide methods and principles for interpreting the New Testament. Abstract discussions have their proper place but not in this series; these guides are intended for concrete application to the New Testament text. Various scholars, specializing in given areas of New Testament study, offer students their own methods and principles for interpreting specific genres of the New Testament. Such diversity provides a broader perspective for the student. Each volume concludes with a bibliography of twenty essential works for further study.

Previously the point was made that different genres ...