Oral Tradition and Literary Dependency
Variability and Stability in the Synoptic Tradition and Q
by Terence C. Mournet
With this work, Terence C. Mournet contributes to the ongoing discussion regarding oral tradition and the formation of the Synoptic Gospels. Synoptic studies have been marked by an excessive bias towards exclusively literary models of Synoptic interrelationships. Despite the widespread recognition that oral tradition played a significant role in the formation of the gospel tradition, the gospels are often examined as literary works apart from their relationship to oral performance. While not dismissing the use of written sources in the process of gospel composition, a study of the relationship in antiquity between oral communication and written texts leads us to re-examine any solution to the Synoptic Problem that does not take into adequate account the influence of oral tradition upon the development of the gospel tradition. Orality studies, and in particular folklore research, can help provide additional insight into the transmission of the early Jesus tradition and the formation of the Synoptic Gospels. The author examines various so-called ‘Q’ pericopes in light of the folkloristic characteristics of variability and stability, and he raises questions about how we envision the form and scope of a ‘Q’ text. While not discounting the assured results of literary methods of Gospel analysis, it is suggested that more serious attention be given to an oral performance model of early Christian tradition transmission.
- By (author) Terence C Mournet
Other Titles in this Series
The Mission of Jesus
Second Nordic Symposium on the Historical Jesus, Lund, 7-10 October 2012
Volume 391
Paul’s Inclusive Ethic
Resolving Community Conflicts and Promoting Mission in Romans 14-15
Volume 252
From Messiah to Preexistent Son
Jesus' Self-Consciousness and Early Christian Exegesis of Messianic Psalms
Volume 192
Sinners, Works of Law, and Transgression in Gal 2:14b-21
A Study in Paul's Line of Thought
Volume 602
Paul’s Concept of a Hebrew Deity in Relation to Jesus
Insights from the Kyrios and Theos Citations
Volume 593
Von den Wachtern zu Adam
Fruhjudische Mythen uber die Ursprunge des Bosen und ihre fruhchristliche Rezeption
Volume 426
Sensitivity towards Outsiders
Exploring the Dynamic Relationship between Mission and Ethics in the New Testament and Early Christianity
Pauline Communities as ‘Scholastic Communities’
A Study of the Vocabulary of 'Teaching' in 1 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus
Volume 335
Women, Men, and Angels
The Qumran Wisdom Document 'Musar leMevin' and its Allusions to Genesis Creation Traditions
Volume 201
Die Jüngerinnen und Jünger im Thomasevangelium
Ein narratologisch inspirierter Zugang zum Text als Einheit
Peter’s Legacy in Early Christianity
The Appropriation and Use of Peter's Authority in the First Three Centuries
Volume 561
The Gospel According to the Epistle of Barnabas
Jesus Traditions in an Early Christian Polemic
Volume 503
Martyred for the Church
Memorializations of the Effective Deaths of Bishop Martyrs in the Second Century CE
Volume 471
Similar Books
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Punning in Odd or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah
The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah
Shame in the Worlds of the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian Texts
A Linguistic Study and Its Implications
Volume 33
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
Die Jüngerinnen und Jünger im Thomasevangelium
Ein narratologisch inspirierter Zugang zum Text als Einheit
Parola di Dio, di uomo e di Re
L'assoluta verità della Bibbia nella dottrina cattolica di Bacchisio Raimondo Motzo
Übergemeindliche Verbindungen in den Briefen der paulinischen Mission
Vorkommen, Bedeutung, Funktion und Plausibilität
Wie JHWH spricht
Die temporelle Steuerung von Verbalaussagen in den Reden nach den Gottesspruchformeln
Breaking New Ground in John
Imagery, Parables, Characters, Christology, and Ethics in the Fourth Gospel
Volume 531
But the Wise Shall Understand
Reuse of Prophecies, Chronotope, and Merging of Eschatological Horizons in Daniel 10-12
Creation Concepts and Creation Care
Perspectives from Early Judaism, Early Christianity, and Beyond. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik / Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics XVII
De-colonising the Biblical Narrative. Volume 4
The Colonial Worldview of the Book of Joshua
Volume 4
Paul and Sacrifice in Corinth
Rethinking Paul's Views on Gentile Cults in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10
Volume 623
