James Deardorff

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The Little Known Literary Battles Between the Gospel Writers (1999)

The most obvious solution to the Synoptic Problem (order of priority among the New Testament Gospels) has been rejected by most scholars since the 19th century largely because of embarrassments it was causing for the church and/or their own theologies. However, if theological commitment is abandoned and the evangelists are considered to have been human beings with human emotions, rather than pipelines from God, it is seen that numerous editorial oddities associated with the traditionally attested order (Matthew-Mark-Luke) are easily explainable and make good psychological sense. They indicate that the gospel writers were engaged in a behind-the-scenes tit-for-tat battle brought on by the strong anti-gentile slant of the Gospel of Matthew in its Hebraic form.