The Matthean Posteriority hypothesis, also known as the Wilke hypothesis after Christian Gottlob Wilke, is a proposed solution to the

synoptic problem The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose co ...

, holding that the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...

was used as a source by the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascensi ...

, then both of these were used as sources by the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...

. Thus, it posits

Marcan priority Marcan priority is the hypothesis that the Gospel of Mark was the first of the three synoptic gospels to be written, and was used as a source by the other two (Matthew and Luke). It is a central element in discussion of the synoptic problem; the ...

and Matthaean posteriority.

History

Gottlob Christian Storr, in his groundbreaking 1786 argument for

, asked, if Mark was a source for Matthew and Luke, how the latter two were then related. Storr proposed, among other possibilities, that canonical Greek Matthew was adapted from an earlier

Aramaic Matthew The Hebrew Gospel hypothesis (''proto-Gospel hypothesis'' or ''Aramaic Matthew hypothesis'') is that a lost gospel, written in Hebrew or Aramaic, predated the four canonical gospels. Some have suggested a complete unknown proto-gospel (a so-called ...

(the ''

logia The term ''logia'' ( el, λόγια), plural of ''logion'' ( el, λόγιον), is used variously in ancient writings and modern scholarship in reference to communications of divine origin. In pagan contexts, the principal meaning was "oracles", ...

'' spoken of by Papias) by following Mark primarily but also drawing from Luke, although he later went on to oppose this. These ideas were little noticed until 1838, when Christian Gottlob Wilke revived the hypothesis of Marcan priority and extensively developed the argument for Matthaean posteriority. Wilke's contemporary

Christian Hermann Weisse Christian Hermann Weisse (; ; Weiße in modern German; 10 August 1801 – 19 September 1866) was a German Protestant religious philosopher and professor of philosophy at the University of Leipzig. He was the son of theologian (1766–1832). B ...

at the same time independently argued for Marcan priority but for Matthew and Luke independently using Mark and another source Q—the

two-source hypothesis The two-source hypothesis (or 2SH) is an explanation for the synoptic problem, the pattern of similarities and differences between the three Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It posits that the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke were ba ...

. A few other German scholars supported Wilke's hypothesis in the nineteenth century, but in time most came to accept the two-source hypothesis, which remains the dominant theory to this day. Wilke's hypothesis was accepted by

Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian philosopher, journalist, and Marxist theorist. Kautsky was one of the most authoritative promulgators of orthodox Marxism after the death of Friedrich Engels ...

in his ''Foundations of Christianity''. Wilke's hypothesis received little further attention until recent decades, when it was revived in 1992 by Huggins, then Hengel, then independently by Blair. Additional recent supporters include Garrow and Powell.

Evidence

Most arguments for the Wilke hypothesis follow those of the

Farrer hypothesis The Farrer hypothesis (also called the L/M hypothesis, the Farrer–Goulder hypothesis and the Farrer–Goulder–Goodacre hypothesis) is a possible solution to the synoptic problem. The theory is that the Gospel of Mark was written first, follow ...

in accepting

but rejecting Q. The difference, then, is in the direction of dependence between Matthew and Luke. Arguments advanced in favor of Matthaean posteriority include: * Matthew's version of the double tradition appears more developed in wording and structure than Luke's, which appears more primitive. (The same observation is made by supporters of the

, who regard Luke adhering better to the original Q.) * Matthew contains passages that are conflations of elements drawn from Mark and Luke (e.g. Matt 9:14-17, 9:35-10,12:22-30, 12:31-32, 19:23-30, 24:23-28). This phenomenon is unique to Matthew, for there is no similar array of passages in Luke that are composed of elements drawn from Mark and Matthew. * Matthew seems to have deliberately rearranged his sources to collecting teachings into five large blocks (e.g., the

Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount ( anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It ...

), which makes better sense than Luke rearranging Matthew into scattered fragments. * In the double tradition, Matthew's language often retains characteristically Lucan features. * The frequent occurrence of doublets in Matthew may indicate drawing from similar accounts in two different sources.

References

External links

The Synoptic Problem and the Non-existence of Q, by Evan Powell

{{Synoptic problem Synoptic problem Hypotheses

History

Evidence

See also

References

External links