History of the Synoptic Problem

A History of the Synoptic Problem: The Canon, the Text, the Composition, and the Interpretation of the Gospels by David Laird Dungan, 394 pages

The "Synoptic Problem", generally speaking, involves questions surrounding the composition of the three synoptic Gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Since the late nineteenth century, the dominant solution to the Synoptic Problem has been the Two-Sources Hypothesis, that Matthew and Luke each combined material from Mark and a theoretical ur-Gospel dubbed "Q".  Author Dungan is one of a number of scholars who dissent from the conventional wisdom, and the second of this book's two purposes is to demonstrate the strength of their dissent.  The first is to recast the debate by unveiling how, contrary to the belief that modern approaches to the Synoptic Problem are neutral and objective, modern biblical scholarship traces its genealogy back to the ideological projects of Spinoza and Locke, using radical skepticism to neuter Scripture.

Dungan begins with the early Church fathers and the rise of a consensus that fell apart in the wake of the Reformation, with each component - interpretation, text, composition, and canon - coming increasingly into question.   He really hits his stride when discussing the development of the Gospel synopsis and the formation of the Two-Sources Hypothesis, but the last section is little more than a catalogue of competing viewpoints, establishing that dissent from the conventional account exists but doing little to explore the nature and strength of the dissenting views.  This is a small flaw in an otherwise excellent work.