View source for Q source

{{Short description|Hypothetical source of gospel contents}}
{{About|the hypothetical source text used in the Christian Gospels|the Hebrew Bible text denoted by the abbreviation Q|Codex Marchalianus|the far-right conspiracy theory|QAnon}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}}
[[File:Synoptic problem two source colored.png|thumb|right|200px|The "[[Two-source hypothesis|Two-source Hypothesis]]" proposes that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were written independently, each using Mark and a second [[hypothetical]] document called "Q" as a source. Q was conceived as the most likely explanation behind the common material (mostly sayings) found in the [[Gospel of Matthew]] and the [[Gospel of Luke]] but not in the [[Gospel of Mark]]. Material from two other sources—the [[M source]] and the [[L source]]—are represented in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke here by green and teal respectively.]]
The '''Q source''' (also called '''The Sayings Gospel''', '''Q Gospel''', '''Q document(s)''', or '''Q'''; from {{langx|de|Quelle}}, meaning "source") is an alleged written collection of primarily [[Jesus]]' sayings ({{lang|grc|λόγια}}, {{transl|grc|[[logia]]}}). Q is part of the common material found in the [[Gospel of Matthew|Gospels of Matthew]] and [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] but not in the [[Gospel of Mark]]. According to this hypothesis, this material was drawn from the early Church's [[oral gospel traditions]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/whoeverhearsyouh00rich |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/whoeverhearsyouh00rich/page/150 150]–74 |title=Whoever Hears You Hears Me: Prophets, Performance, and Tradition in Q |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9781563382727 |last1=Horsley |first1=Richard A. |last2=Draper |first2=Jonathan A. |date=November 1999 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G4qpnvoautgC&pg=PA192 |pages=192–210 |title=Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making |isbn=9780802839312 |last1=Dunn |first1=James D. G. |date=July 29, 2003 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJUy8mw4ZPwC&pg=PA54 |pages=54–99 |title=Oral Tradition and Literary Dependency: Variability and Stability in the Synoptic Tradition and Q |isbn=9783161484544 |last1=Mournet |first1=Terence C. |year=2005 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck }}</ref>
Along with [[Marcan priority]], Q had been hypothesized by 1900, and remains one of the foundations of most modern gospel scholarship.<ref name="5GIntro">[[Robert W. Funk|Funk, Robert W.]], Roy W. Hoover, and the [[Jesus Seminar]]. ''The Five Gospels.'' HarperSanFrancisco. 1993. "Introduction," pp. 1–30.</ref> [[Burnett Hillman Streeter|B. H. Streeter]] formulated a widely accepted view of Q: that it was written in [[Koine Greek]]; that most of its contents appear in Matthew, in Luke, or in both; and that Luke more often preserves the text's original order than Matthew. In the [[two-source hypothesis]], the [[three-source hypothesis]] and the [[Q+/Papias hypothesis]], Matthew and Luke both used Mark and Q as sources. Some scholars have postulated that Q is actually a plurality of sources, some written and some oral.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJUy8mw4ZPwC&pg=PA192 |pages=192–286 |title=Oral Tradition and Literary Dependency: Variability and Stability in the Synoptic Tradition and Q |isbn=9783161484544 |last1=Mournet |first1=Terence C. |year=2005 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck }}</ref> Others have attempted to determine the stages in which Q was composed.<ref name="ODCC Q">"'Q.'" Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005</ref>
Despite the two-source hypothesis enjoying wide support, Q's existence has been questioned.<ref name="ODCC Q" /> Omitting what should have been a highly treasured dominical document from all early Church catalogs, its lack of mention by [[Jerome]] is a conundrum of modern [[Biblical studies|Biblical scholarship]].<ref name="James R p. 228">{{cite book |author-link=James R. Edwards |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vs9YXAB_axYC&pg=PA228 |page=228 |title = The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition|isbn = 9780802862341|last1 = Edwards|first1 = James R.|date = October 16, 2009| publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans }}</ref> However, copying Q might have been seen as unnecessary, as its contents were preserved in the canonical gospels. Hence, it may have been preferable to copy instead from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, "where the sayings of Jesus from Q were rephrased to avoid misunderstandings, and to fit their own situations and their understanding of what Jesus had really meant".<ref name="homes.chass.utoronto.ca">(From the preface to the Sayings Gospel Q, International Q Project, 2001 http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~kloppen/iqpqet.htm)</ref>
== History ==
{{Main|Synoptic Gospels}}
For centuries, biblical scholars followed the [[Augustinian hypothesis]]: that the [[Gospel of Matthew]] was the first to be written, [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]] used Matthew in the writing of his, and [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] followed both Matthew and Mark in his (the [[Gospel of John]] is quite different from the other three, which because of their similarity are called the [[Synoptic Gospels]]). Nineteenth-century [[New Testament]] scholars who rejected Matthew's priority in favor of [[Marcan priority]] speculated that Matthew's and Luke's authors drew the material they have in common with the Gospel of Mark from the Gospel of Mark. However, Matthew and Luke also share large sections of text not found in Mark. They suggested that neither Gospel drew upon the other, but upon a second common source, termed Q.{{efn|This hypothetical lost text—also called the '''Q Gospel''', the '''Sayings Gospel Q''', the '''Secret of Q''', the '''Synoptic Sayings Source''', the '''Q Manuscript''', and (in the 19th century) '''The [[Logia]]'''—is said to have comprised a collection of [[Jesus]]' sayings. Acceptance of the theories of the existence of "Q" and [[Markan priority|the priority of Mark]] are the two key elements in the "[[two-source hypothesis]]". (See also the [[Gospel of the Hebrews]] and [[Burnett Hillman Streeter|Streeter]].)}}<ref>D. R. W. Wood, New Bible Dictionary (InterVarsity Press, 1996), 739.</ref>
[[Herbert Marsh]] is seen by some as the first person to hypothesize the existence of a "narrative" source and a "sayings" source, although he included in the latter parables unique to Matthew and unique to Luke.<ref>[[William R. Farmer]], ''The Synoptic Problem'', 1964, Macmillan, p. 14</ref> In his 1801 work, ''A dissertation on the Origin and Composition of our Three First Canonical Gospels'', he used the Hebrew letter [[aleph]] ({{lang|he|א}}) to denote the narrative source and the letter [[Bet (letter)|beth]] ({{lang|he|ב}}) to denote the sayings source.<ref>Hultgren, Stephen (2002). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=cmljv-87baAC&pg=PA5 Narrative Elements in the Double Tradition]''. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 4–5.</ref>
The next person to advance the "sayings" hypothesis was the German [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]] in 1832. Schleiermacher interpreted an enigmatic statement by the early Christian writer [[Papias of Hierapolis]], {{circa|95–109 AD}} ("Matthew compiled the oracles (logia) of the Lord in a [[Biblical Hebrew|Hebrew]] manner of speech, and everyone translated them as well he could")<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/26/26-2/26-2-pp181-191_JETS.pdf | title=The Date of Papias: A Reassessment | last=Yarbrough | first=Robert W. | journal=Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society |date=Jun 1983 | volume=26 | issue=2 | pages=181–191}}</ref> as evidence of a separate source. Rather than the traditional interpretation—that Papias was referring to the writing of Matthew in Hebrew—Schleiermacher proposed that Papias was actually referring to a sayings collection of the apostle Matthew that was later used, together with narrative elements, by another "Matthew" and by the other [[Four Evangelists|Evangelists]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmljv-87baAC&pg=PA9 |pages=9–10|title=Narrative Elements in the Double Tradition: A Study of Their Place within the Framework of the Gospel Narrative|isbn=9783110175257|last1=Hultgren|first1=Stephen|year=2002|publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}</ref>
In 1838, another German, [[Christian Hermann Weisse]], took Schleiermacher's suggestion of a sayings source and combined it with the idea of Marcan priority to formulate what is now called the Two-Source Hypothesis, in which both Matthew and Luke used Mark and the sayings source. [[Heinrich Julius Holtzmann]] endorsed this approach in an influential treatment of the [[synoptic problem]] in 1863, and the two-source hypothesis has dominated ever since.
At this time, the second source was usually called the ''[[Logia]]'', or ''Logienquelle'' ('{{transl|grc|logia}}-source'), because of Papias's statement, and Holtzmann gave it the symbol Lambda (Λ). However, toward the end of the 19th century, doubts began to grow about the propriety of anchoring its existence to Papias's account, with the symbol Q (which was devised by [[Johannes Weiss]] to denote ''Quelle'', meaning 'source') adopted instead to remain neutral about the connection of Papias to the collection of sayings.
This [[two-source hypothesis]] speculates that Matthew borrowed from both Mark and Q. For most scholars, Q accounts for what Matthew and Luke share—sometimes in exactly the same words—but that are absent in Mark. Examples are the Devil's three [[Temptation of Christ|temptations of Jesus]], the Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer, and many individual sayings.<ref>[[Bart D. Ehrman]], ''[[Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium]]'', Oxford University Press, pp. 80–81</ref>
In ''The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins'' (1924), [[Burnett Hillman Streeter]] argued that a third hypothetical source, referred to as ''[[M source|M]]'', lies behind the material in Matthew that has no parallel in Mark or Luke, and that some material present only in Luke might have come from an also unknown [[L source|''L'' source]].<ref>Streeter, Burnett H. ''[http://www.katapi.org.uk/4Gospels/Contents.htm The Four Gospels. A Study of Origins Treating the Manuscript Tradition, Sources, Authorship, & Dates]''. London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1924.</ref> This [[Four-document hypothesis|hypothesis]] posits that underlying the Gospels of Matthew and Luke are at least four sources, namely the Gospel of Mark and three lost texts: Q, [[M-Source|M]], and L.
Throughout the remainder of the 20th century, there were various challenges and refinements of Streeter's hypothesis. For example, in his 1953 book ''The Gospel Before Mark'', [[Pierson Parker]] posited an early version of Matthew (Aramaic M or proto-Matthew) as the primary source.<ref>Pierson Parker. ''The Gospel Before Mark''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953.</ref> Parker argued that it was not possible to separate Streeter's "M" material from the material in Matthew parallel to Mark.<ref>[[William R. Farmer]], ''The Synoptic Problem: a Critical Analysis'', Macmillan, 1981 p. 196</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qh7b4o6JQpIC&pg=PA152 |page=152 |title=Introduction to the New Testament |isbn=9780802847867 |last1=Harrison |first1=Everett Falconer |year=1964 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans }}</ref>
In the early 20th century, more than a dozen reconstructions of Q were made, but differed so much from each other that not a single verse of Matthew was present in all of them. As a result, interest in Q subsided, and the topic was neglected for many decades.
Following the discovery of the [[Gospel of Thomas]] in the [[Nag Hammadi library]], the [[Jesus Seminar]] proposed that such apocryphal Gospel could be the Q source, but most scholars reject this thesis and place Thomas in the first half of the 2nd century CE.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bart D. Ehrman|url=https://archive.org/details/jesusapocalyptic00ehrm|title=Jesus, apocalyptic prophet of the new millennium|date=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-19-512473-6}}</ref>
== Composition ==
Redactional speculation, notably in the work of [[John S. Kloppenborg]] analyzing certain literary and thematic phenomena, argued that Q was composed in three stages. In the view of Kloppenborg, the earliest stage of its redaction was a collection of wisdom sayings involving issues such as poverty and discipleship. Then, he posits, this collection was expanded by including a layer of judgmental sayings directed against "this generation". The final stage included the Temptation of Jesus narrative.
Although Kloppenborg cautioned against assuming that Q's composition history is the same as the history of the Jesus tradition (''i.e.'', that the oldest layer of Q is necessarily the oldest and pure-layer Jesus tradition), some recent seekers of the [[Historical Jesus]], including members of the [[Jesus Seminar]], have done just that. Basing their reconstructions primarily on the Gospel of Thomas and the oldest layer of Q, they propose that Jesus functioned as a wisdom [[Wise old man|sage]], rather than a [[rabbi]], though not all members affirm the two-source hypothesis. Kloppenborg is now{{when|reason=When did he become a fellow of the Jesus Seminar?|date=August 2021}} a fellow of the Jesus Seminar himself.
However, scholars supporting the three-stage Q development hypothesis, such as [[Burton L. Mack]], argue that Q's unity comes not only from its being shared by Matthew and Luke, but also because, in the layers of Q as reconstructed, the later layers build upon and presuppose the earlier ones, whereas the reverse is not the case. In this argument, evidence that Q has been revised is not evidence for disunity in Q, since the hypothesised revisions depend upon asymmetric logical connections between what are posited to be the later and earlier layers.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Lost Gospel: The Book Q and Christian Origins|publisher=Macmillan Co.|year=1993 <!--(paperback: 1994)-->}} {{ISBN?}} {{page?|date=August 2022}}</ref>
Some biblical scholars believe that an unknown redactor composed a Greek-language proto-Gospel. It may have been circulating in written form about the time the Synoptic Gospels were composed (''i.e.'', between late 50s and mid-90s AD). The name Q was coined by the German theologian and biblical scholar [[Johannes Weiss]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/485332/Q |title=Britannica |publisher=Britannica |access-date=April 15, 2012}}</ref>
=== Synoptic Gospels and the nature of Q ===
{{Main|Synoptic Gospels}}
The relationship among the three synoptic gospels goes beyond mere similarity in viewpoint. The gospels often recount the same stories, usually in the same order, sometimes using the same words. Scholars note that the similarities among Mark, Matthew, and Luke are too great to be coincidental.<ref>[[Tony Honoré]], "A Statistical Study of the Synoptic Problem." Novum Testamentum August 10 – July (1968): 95–147. On page 96 Honoré compares the similarities between the three Gospels with the number of words in common.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D.|author-link=Bart D. Ehrman |title=The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-515462-7 |page=84}}</ref>
If the two-source hypothesis is correct, then Q would probably have been a written document. If Q was a shared oral tradition, it is unlikely that it could account for the nearly identical word-for-word similarities between Matthew and Luke when quoting Q material. Similarly, it is possible to deduce that Q was written in Greek. If the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were referring to a document that had been written in some other language (such as [[Aramaic]]), it is highly unlikely that two independent translations would have exactly the same wording.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JvO4rj3NOoAC&pg=PA47 |pages=47–48 |title=Rethinking the Gospel Sources: The unity or plurality of Q |isbn=9781589834125 |last1=Burkett |first1=Delbert Royce |year=2009 }}</ref>
The Q document must have been composed before Matthew and Luke; some scholars even suggest that Q predated Mark. A date for the final Q document is often placed in the 40s or 50s of the 1st century, with some arguing its so-called sapiential layer (1Q, containing six wisdom speeches) was written as early as the 30s.<ref name="Dunn">[[James D G Dunn|Dunn, James D. G.]], Christianity in the Making Volume 1: Jesus Remembered. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2003. p. 159</ref>
If Q existed, physical copies of it have since been lost. Some scholars, however, believe it can be partially reconstructed by examining elements common to Matthew and Luke (but absent from Mark). Versions of this reconstructed Q do not describe the events of Jesus' life: Q does not mention Jesus' birth, his selection of the 12 disciples, his crucifixion, or the resurrection. Instead, it appears to be a collection of Jesus' sayings and quotations.
=== Case for Q ===
The case for Q's existence follows from the argument that neither Matthew nor Luke is directly dependent on the other in the double tradition (defined by New Testament scholars as material that Matthew and Luke share that does not appear in Mark). However, the verbal agreement between Matthew and Luke is so close in some parts of the double tradition that the most reasonable explanation for this agreement is common dependence on a written source or sources. Even if Matthew and Luke are independent (see [[Marcan priority]]), the Q hypothesis states that they used a common document. Arguments for Q being a written document include:
* Sometimes the exactness in wording is striking, for example, Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13,<ref>{{bibleref2|Matthew|6:24}}, {{bibleref2|Luke|16:13}}</ref> (27 and 28 Greek words respectively); Matthew 7:7–8 and Luke 11:9–10,<ref>{{bibleref2|Matthew|7:7–8}}, {{bibleref2|Luke|11:9–10}}</ref> (24 Greek words each).
* There is sometimes commonality in order between the two, for example the [[Sermon on the Plain]] and [[Sermon on the Mount]].
* The presence of doublets, where Matthew and Luke sometimes each present two versions of a similar saying but in different context, only one of those versions appearing in Mark. Doublets may be considered a sign of two written sources, i.e., Mark and Q.
* Luke mentions that he knows of other written sources of Jesus' life, and that he has investigated in order to gather the most information.<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|1:1–4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtE1orv4Xg0C&pg=PA136 |pages=136–140 |title=The Jesus Crisis: The Inroads of Historical Criticism into Evangelical Scholarship |isbn=9780825438110 |last1=Thomas |first1=Robert L. |last2=David Farnell |first2=F. |year=1998 }}</ref>
The fact that no Q manuscripts exist today does not necessarily argue against its existence. Many early Christian texts no longer exist, and are only known of through citation or mention of them in surviving texts. Once Q's text was incorporated into the body of Matthew and Luke, it may have been no longer necessary to preserve it, just as interest in copying Mark seems to have waned substantially once it was incorporated into Matthew.<ref>See C.M. Tuckett, "The Existence of Q", pp. 19–48, in ''The Gospel Behind the Gospels: Current Studies on Q''. Edited by R. Piper. Leiden: Brill, 1995 (especially  p. 20).</ref> The editorial board of the International Q Project writes: "During the second century, when the canonizing process was taking place, scribes did not make new copies of Q, since the canonizing process involved choosing what should and what should not be used in the church service. Hence they preferred to make copies of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, where the sayings of Jesus from Q were rephrased to avoid misunderstandings, and to fit their own situations and their understanding of what Jesus had really meant."<ref name="homes.chass.utoronto.ca" />
=== Case against Q ===
The existence of the "minor agreements" within the two-source hypothesis has raised serious concerns. These minor agreements are those points where Matthew and Luke agree against or beyond Mark precisely within their Marcan verses (for example, the mocking question at the beating of Jesus, "Who is it that struck you?",<ref>{{bibleref|Luke|22:64}},{{bibleref|Matthew|26:68}}</ref> found in both Matthew and Luke but not in Mark, although this "minor agreement" falls outside the usually accepted range of Q). The "minor agreements" call into question the proposition that Matthew and Luke knew Mark but not each other, e.g. Luke might have indeed been following Matthew, or at least a Matthew-like source. Peabody and McNicol argue that until a reasonable explanation is found the two-source hypothesis is not viable.<ref name="books.google.ca">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/onegospelfromtwo00davi |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/onegospelfromtwo00davi/page/n5 1]–6 |title=One Gospel from Two: Mark's Use of Matthew and Luke |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9781563383526 |last1=Peabody |first1=David B. |last2=McNicol |first2=Allan James |last3=Cope |first3=Lamar |date=November 2002 }}</ref>
New Testament scholar [[James R. Edwards|James Edwards]] argues that the existence of a treasured sayings document in circulation going unmentioned by early Church Fathers remains one of the great conundrums of modern [[Biblical studies|Biblical scholarship]].<ref name="James R p. 228" /> Pier Franco Beatrice argues that until these issues are resolved, Q will remain in doubt.<ref>Pier Franco Beatrice, [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/not/2006/00000048/00000002/art00003 ''The Gospel according to the Hebrews in the Apostolic Fathers''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024010210/http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/not/2006/00000048/00000002/art00003 |date=October 24, 2012 }}, Novum Testamentum, 2006, vol. 48, no2, pp. 147–95 (ingentaconnect.com)</ref>
Some scholars argue that the [[Gospel according to the Hebrews]] was the basis for the synoptic tradition.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pierson Parker |date=Dec 1940 |title= A Proto-Lucan basis for the Gospel according to the Hebrews|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume= 59 |issue=4 |pages=471–478|jstor= 3262407 |doi=10.2307/3262407 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Gospel According to the Hebrews|last= Lillie|first=Arthur |year=2005 |publisher= Kessinger Publishing |isbn=978-1-4253-7051-0 |pages=111–134}}</ref> They point out that in the first section of {{lang|la|[[De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)|De Viris Illustribus]]}} (Jerome), the Gospel of Mark is where it should be as it was the first gospel written and was used as a source for the later gospels.<ref name="books.google.fr">{{cite book |title=''Ste. Jerome, ''On illustrious men'' 1:4''|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqzY1zBtKg0C&pg=PA5 |isbn=9780813201009 |last1=Jerome |first1=Saint |year=1999 | publisher=CUA Press }}</ref> Following it should be Q; but not only is Q not where it should be at the top of Jerome's list, this treasured work recording the ''Logia'' of Christ is mentioned nowhere by Jerome.<ref name="books.google.fr" /> Rather, the first seminal document is not Q, but the Gospel according to the Hebrews.<ref>{{cite book |title=''Ste. Jerome, ''On illustrious men'' 3:1''|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqzY1zBtKg0C&pg=PA8 |isbn=9780813201009 |last1=Jerome |first1=Saint |year=1999 | publisher=CUA Press }}</ref>
[[Austin Farrer]],<ref name="dispensing">Austin M. Farrer, "On Dispensing with Q" in D. E. Nineham (ed.), ''Studies in the Gospels: Essays in Memory of R. H. Lightfoot'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 1955), pp. 55–88, reproduced at {{cite web |url=http://ntgateway.com/Q/Farrer.htm |title=On Dispensing With Q |access-date=October 15, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201122628/http://www.ntgateway.com/Q/farrer.htm |archive-date=February 1, 2009  }}</ref> [[Michael Goulder]],<ref name="juggernaut">For example, Michael Goulder, "Is Q a Juggernaut", ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' 115 (1996), pp. 667–681, reproduced at {{cite web |url=http://ntgateway.com/Q/goulder.htm |title=Is Q a Juggernaut? |access-date=July 17, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708170848/http://ntgateway.com/Q/goulder.htm |archive-date=July 8, 2007  }}.</ref> and [[Mark Goodacre]]<ref>See, for example, Mark Goodacre, ''The Case Against Q: Studies in Marcan Priority and the Synoptic Problem'' (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2002)</ref> have also argued against Q, maintaining Marcan priority, claiming the use of Matthew by Luke. This view has come to be known as the [[Farrer hypothesis]]. Their arguments include:
* Farrer, in his 1955 paper that first outlined this hypothesis, notes that when two documents contain common material, identical in the words and phrases they use to describe some scenes, the simplest explanation is that one of the two used the other as a source, rather than both using a third document as a source.<ref name="dispensing" />
* Goulder points to common Matthean phrases such as "brood of vipers", "make fruit", and "cast into the fire" that each appear in Luke only once, in a Q passage. Goulder's conclusion, based on writing styles, is that Matthew is the source for these "Q" sayings.<ref name="juggernaut" />
* Goodacre notes that there is no extant copy of Q and that no early church writer makes an unambiguous reference to a document resembling the Q that modern scholars have reconstructed from the common material in Luke and Matthew.<ref name="tenreasons">{{cite web|url=http://www.markgoodacre.org/Q/ten.htm |title=Ten Reasons to Question Q |publisher=Markgoodacre.org |date=January 10, 2003 |access-date=April 15, 2012}}</ref>
While supporters say that the discovery of the [[Gospel of Thomas]] supports the concept of a "sayings gospel", Mark Goodacre points out that Q has a narrative structure as reconstructed and is not simply a list of sayings.<ref name="tenreasons" />
Other scholars have brought other arguments against Q:
Two documents, both correcting Mark's language, adding birth narratives and a resurrection epilogue, and adding a large amount of "sayings material", are likely to resemble each other, rather than to have such similar scope by coincidence.{{citation needed|date=January 2011}} Specifically, there are 347 instances (by Neirynck's count) where one or more words are added to the Marcan text in both Matthew and Luke; these are called the "minor agreements" against Mark. Some 198 instances involve one word, 82 involve two words, 35 three, 16 four, and 16 instances involve five or more words in the extant texts of Matthew and Luke as compared to Marcan passages.<ref>These statistics are taken from an analysis by Walter M. Shandruk of Frans Neirynck's ''The Minor Agreements of Matthew of Luke and Mark with a Cumulative List'', Leuven University Press, 1974. The results of Shandruk's analysis have been posted at http://neonostalgia.blogspot.com/2005/09/minor-agreements-against-mark.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309062137/http://neonostalgia.blogspot.com/2005/09/minor-agreements-against-mark.html |date=March 9, 2014 }}</ref> [[John Wenham]] (1913–1996) adhered to the [[Augustinian hypothesis]] that Matthew was the first Gospel, Mark the second, and Luke the third, and objected on similar grounds to those who hold to the [[Johann Jakob Griesbach|Griesbach]] hypothesis. [[Eta Linnemann]], formerly a follower of [[Rudolf Bultmann]], rejected Q, and Marcan priority, for a variation of the [[Two Gospel hypothesis]] that holds that the Mosaic requirement for "two witnesses" made two Jewish Gospels a necessity in the [[Diaspora]] audiences.<ref>Robert L. Thomas ''Three views on the origins of the Synoptic Gospels'' 2002. pp. 255, 322 "Farnell's third axiom notes, quoting Linnemann, that the reason for four independent Gospels stems from the legal principle of Deuteronomy 19:15b: '[O]n the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.'"</ref>
== Notable contents ==
Some of the more notable portions of the New Testament are believed to have been first recorded in Q:<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/19990219224131/http://www.augustana.ab.ca/~bjors/q-english.htm Reconstruction of Q] by the International Q Project.</ref>
* [[Baptism of Jesus#The polemic|John the Baptist's "Brood of Vipers"]] polemic
* Some portions of the [[Temptation of Christ]]
* [[Healing the mother of Peter's wife]]
* [[Beatitudes|The Beatitudes]]
* [[Antithesis of the Law|Love your enemies]]
* [[Golden Rule]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHmB2TW7VIcC&pg=PA33 |title=The Sayings of Jesus in The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles |author=Clayton N. Jefford  |access-date=April 29, 2012|isbn=978-9004091276 |year=1989 |publisher=BRILL }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u2G0zAu2Dz8C&pg=PA25 |title=The Many Deaths of Judas Iscariot: A Meditation on Suicide |author= A. M. H. Saari  |date=July 26, 2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |access-date=April 29, 2012|isbn=9780203087480 }}</ref>
* [[The Mote and the Beam|Judge not, lest ye be judged]]
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* [[The Test of a Good Person]]
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* [[Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders|The Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders]]
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* Jesus Heals the Centurion's Servant
* John the Baptist's Messengers, Jesus on John
* "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."
* "Leave the dead to bury the dead"
* "Seek, and ye shall find"
-->
* [[Parable of the Lost Sheep|The Parable of the Lost Sheep]]
* [[Parable of the Wedding Feast|The Parable of the Wedding Feast]]
* [[Parable of the Talents|The Parable of the Talents]]
* [[Parable of the Leaven|The Parable of the Leaven]]
* Parable of [[the blind leading the blind]]
* The [[Lord's Prayer]]
* [[Expounding of the Law]]
* [[The Birds of the Air]]
== See also ==
{{Portal|Bible}}
* {{Annotated link|Agrapha}}
* {{Annotated link|Common Sayings Source}}
* {{Annotated link|Gospel harmony}}
* [[Documentary hypothesis]] – A similar theory surrounding the creation of the [[Torah]]
* [[Apocryphal gospels]]
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
'''Bibliographies'''
* John S. Kloppenborg: ''Q, the Earliest Gospel: An Introduction to the Original Stories and Sayings of Jesus.'' Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-664-23222-1}}
* Klaus-Stefan Krieger: ''Was sagte Jesus wirklich?.'' Vier Türme, Münsterschwarzach 2003, {{ISBN|3-87868-641-2}}
* Thomas R. W. Longstaff, Page A. Thomas: ''The Synoptic Problem. A Bibliography 1716–1988.'' New Gospel Studies 4. Mercer, Macon 1988, {{ISBN|0-86554-321-6}}
* Frans Neirynck, J. Verheyden, R. Corstjens: ''The Gospel of Matthew and the Sayings Source Q. A Cumulative Bibliography 1950–1995.'' Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 140. 2 volumes, University Press, Leuven 1998, {{ISBN|90-6186-933-1}}
* David M. Scholer: ''Q Bibliography Supplement.'' Society of Biblical Literature Seminar papers. Scholars Press, Atlanta 1965–2003, {{ISSN|0160-7588}}. 127.1991, pp.&nbsp;1ff.; 128.1992, pp.&nbsp;1ff.; 129.1993, pp.&nbsp;1ff.; 130.1994, pp.&nbsp;1ff.; 131.1995, pp.&nbsp;1ff.; 132.1996, pp.&nbsp;1ff.; 133.1997, pp.&nbsp;750–56; 134.1998, pp.&nbsp;1005–12; Introduction
'''Studies'''
* Marcus J. Borg, Thomas Moore (Eds.): ''The Lost Gospel Q: The Original Saying of Jesus.'' Ulysses Press 1996, {{ISBN|1-56975-100-5}}
* Maurice Casey: ''An Aramaic Approach to Q: Sources for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.'' Cambridge University Press 2002, {{ISBN|0-521-81723-4}}
* [[Adolf von Harnack]]: ''Sprüche und Reden Jesu.'' Hinrichs, Leipzig 1907
* Harry T. Fleddermann: ''Q: A Reconstruction and Commentary.'' Peeters Press, Leuven 2005, {{ISBN|9042916567}}
* Paul Hoffmann, Christoph Heil (Eds.): ''Die Spruchquelle Q. Studienausgabe Griechisch und Deutsch.'' Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2002 (2nd edition 2007 / 3rd edition 2009 / 4th edition 2013), {{ISBN|978-3-534-26266-3}}
* Frans Neirynck (Ed.): ''Q-synopsis. The Double Tradition Passages in Greek.'' Studiorum Novi Testamenti Auxilia 13. University Press, Leuven 1988 (2nd expanded edition 1995, 2001), {{ISBN|90-5867-165-8}}
* Athanasius Polag: ''Fragmenta Q.'' Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1979/1982, {{ISBN|3-7887-0541-8}}
* James M. Robinson u.a. (Eds.): ''Documenta Q.'' Peeters, Leuven 1996ff. (up to now twelve volumes: Q 4, 1–13 [1996], Q 6, 20–21 [2001], Q 6, 37–42 [2011], Q 7, 1–10 [2002], Q 11, 2b–4 [1996], Q 11, 39–44 [2012], Q 11, 46–52 [2012], Q 12, 8–12 [1997], Q 12, 33–34 [2007], Q 12, 49–59 [1997], Q 13, 34–35 [2014], Q 22, 28.30 [1998]), {{ISBN|978-90-429-3053-7}}
* James M. Robinson, Paul Hoffmann, John S. Kloppenborg (Eds.): ''The Critical Edition of Q. Synopsis Including the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Mark and Thomas with English, German, and French Translations of Q and Thomas.'' Managing Editor: [[Milton C. Moreland]]. Peeters Press, Leuven 2000, {{ISBN|978-90-429-0926-7}} / Fortress Press, Minneapolis 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-8006-3149-9}}
* James M. Robinson, Paul Hoffmann, John S. Kloppenborg (Eds.): ''The Sayings Gospel Q in Greek and English with Parallels from the Gospels of Mark and Thomas.'' Managing Editor: Milton C. Moreland. Peeters Press, Leuven 2001, {{ISBN|978-90-429-1056-0}} / Fortress Press, Minneapolis 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-8006-3494-0}}
* James M. Robinson (Ed.): ''The Sayings of Jesus: The Sayings Gospel Q in English.'' Fortress Press, Minneapolis 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-8006-3451-3}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/q.html Text and on-line resources for the Lost Sayings Gospel Q]
* [http://neues-testament.uni-graz.at/de/fwf-projekte-zu-q/internationales-q-projekt/ Internationales Q-Projekt]
* [http://ntgateway.com/synoptic/ The New Testament Gateway: Synoptic Problem Web Sites] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709102447/http://www.ntgateway.com/synoptic/ |date=July 9, 2007 }}
* [http://www.ntgateway.com/synoptic-problem-and-q/q-web-materials/ Q Web Materials] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161217081826/http://www.ntgateway.com/synoptic-problem-and-q/q-web-materials/ |date=December 17, 2016 }}
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Jesu Logia ("Sayings of Jesus")}}
{{Gospel of Matthew}}
{{Gospel of Luke}}
{{Synoptic problem}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Q Document}}
[[Category:Biblical criticism]]
[[Category:Hypothetical documents]]
[[Category:Synoptic problem]]