Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 83:2 (Fall 2021)
Article: The Theological Consequences Of Q In Light Of Recent Synoptic Gospel Research
Author: Zachary K. Dawson

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The Theological Consequences Of Q In Light Of Recent Synoptic Gospel Research

Zachary K. Dawson

Zachary K. Dawson is an adjunct instructor for the Graduate School of Divinity at Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA.

This article critically assesses several theological consequences that result from the prevailing solution to the Synoptic Problem—the Two-Document Hypothesis. It begins with a historical sketch of how the Two-Document Hypothesis has influenced many of the major questions in Synoptic Gospel studies and the various critical methodologies used to address them. This overview serves to contextualize the last twenty years or so of Synoptic Gospel research and the significant works that have emerged since then. These works, whether they react against or endorse the Q hypothesis, result in a number of theological consequences for the Gospels that problematize various matters of canon and Gospel traditions. While not an indictment of the Two-Document Hypothesis itself, this article exposes the problematic nature of various approaches reliant on Q that continue to drive much of the research in Synoptic Gospel studies today.

The year 2000 marked a significant moment in the history of Synoptic Gospel research. Although the Two-Document Hypothesis (2DH) has long dominated in Synoptic Gospel studies, the publication of Hermeneia’s Critical Edition of Q for the first time textualized Q in a major commentary series, effectively declaring that Q belongs in the scholarly discussion as an actual text of the earliest period of Christian tradition possessing set boundaries and a structure.1 Nicholas Perrin has even remarked, “We have been led to believe that we can know Q as we can know any observable phenomenon.”2 Such a statement speaks to the confidence placed in this

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hypothetical document, of which no physical evidence exists, and attests to how the theory of Q can exercise such overwhelming influence in the discipline of Synoptic Gospel studies, beginning with the Synoptic Problem itself and reaching into the various areas of Gospel research, including canonical criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism, historical Jesus research, oral tradition, forms of social description, and other areas as well. Some critical methodologies are even predicated on the 2DH, and their contributions have led to various exegetical and theological consequences for the Gospels, regardless of whether these are acknowledged by proponents of the 2DH. The 2DH has influenced or even driven much of the work that has been done since 2000. The purpose of this article will be to trace ...