| Synopsis: |
This text is a research tool for the analysis of the first three Gospels, providing an extensive mass of data that greatly facilitates literary and linguistic examination. The advantages of a concordance are combined with those of a synopsis: each occurrence of a word in the synoptic Gospels, along with a sec-tion of text that provides its context, is displayed in three columns. The result is that one sees not only the occurrences of a certain word in one Gospel, but also the parallels in the other two Gospels. Prior to the availability of this new scholarly tool, it was necessary first to check the concordance for the occurrences of a certain word, then to look up each reference individually in a synopsis, and, finally to take notes, before moving on to the next entry in the concordance, and so on. The Synoptic Concordance presents the whole synoptic situation at one time: all of the differences and similarities are obvious at a glance, so that the first three Gospels can easily be compared according to their divergent termi-nology and syntax.On the two-document hypo-thesis, one can see, for example, how Matthew or Luke takes over and changes his Markan source, or how they differ in the redaction of their Q text. Gray shadowing calls attention to the differing sequence of the verses and pericopes in the three Gospels. By paying attention to this shadowing, one can follow all occurrences of the key word in the original sequence of each Gospel. An appendix gives the relevant verses in the Acts of the Apostles, in order to make available the full linguistic usage of Luke. The research project presupposes that there are literary relationships among the first three Gos-pels. According to widespread consensus, the two-document hypothesis provides the most plausible explanation of these relationships. The presentation of the text, however, seeks to display the synoptic situation in a way that is independent of any source theory, so as to allow each user to seek his or her own solution. At the beginning of each entry, a chart gives a statistical overview of the usage of the key word in the entire New Testament.A second chart, with a detailed evaluation of the distribution of the key word in the synoptic Gospels, displays how often the usage of the one Gospel agrees with (or differs from) the usage of the other two Gospels. In terms of the two-document hypothesis, one can, for example, find the words that Matthew (or Luke) prefers or avoids, or catch sight of the so-called "minor agreements." When relevant, these statistics are also given for recur-rent formulas and fixes phrases. These formulas and phrases are indicated by a small letter inde-xing them (as is usual in concordances). By this means the relevant verses can easily be verified in the synoptic presentation of the occurrences. The "Synoptic Concordance" will be published in four volumes, with a total size of about 5000 pages. The whole project will be completed by the year 2001. |