What is it about?
Is it more likely that Matthew's Gospel copied from Luke's Gospel or the other way around? This essay looks at how Plutarch, Josephus, Tatian, Ammonius of Alexandria and Eusebius combined (or aligned) multiple versions of the same narrative - which is what Luke and Matthew were also doing. It concludes that Matthew using Luke runs with the grain of the practice of these other ancient authors, while Luke using Matthew does the opposite.
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Why is it important?
The survival of multiple versions of the Jesus story is a great gift to the historian. To get the most out of these multiple perspectives, however, we need to know how they relate to another. In the last few years the possibility that Matthew used Luke has begun to be seriously considered - having previously been overlooked. The Jesus who emerges if Matthew used Luke is different from the picture created if, instead, Luke used Matthew.
Perspectives
Looking at other ancient authors provides an external measure which helps solve the Synoptic Problem
Dr Alan Garrow
University of Sheffield
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: “FRAME AND FILL” AND MATTHEW’S USE OF LUKE, May 2023, JSTOR,
DOI: 10.2307/jj.3919378.14.
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