Major Endorsement for Book: Matthean Posteriority

Dr. Robert K. MacEwen, an EAST Resident Faculty on Biblical Studies and author of recently published Matthean Posteriority: An Exploration of Matthew’s Use of Mark and Luke as a Solution to the Synoptic Problem, has received a weighty endorsement from Dr. Richard Bauckham on the scholarly work:

The “Matthean Posteriority” theory of Synoptic relationships is a hypothesis whose time has come. Robert MacEwen makes a moderate and judicious case, weighing its merits and its weaknesses against its rivals. Astonishingly, this has never been done before. All Gospels scholars must now take this hypothesis as seriously as its rivals.

Dr. Bauckham, a major New Testament scholar, is Professor Emeritus at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and Senior Scholar at Ridley Hall, University of Cambridge. His many publications include Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, Theology of the Book of Revelation, and 2 Peter, Jude in the Word Biblical Commentary series.

The book, Matthean Posteriority, is part of the Library of New Testament Studies series and explores the Matthean Posteriority Hypothesis (MPH), a largely neglected solution to the Synoptic Problem which holds that the author of the Gospel of Luke used the Gospel of Mark as a source, and that the author of the Gospel of Matthew used both the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke as sources.

MacEwen begins with a survey of the scholars who have defended various forms of the MPH. Chapter 2 discusses two key lines of evidence which support the MPH. The first line of evidence is textual – demonstrating that Matthew could have known the contents of Luke’s Gospel beyond merely the double tradition material. The second line of evidence, involving a study of strings of verbatim agreements in the Gospels, supports the view that Matthew depended directly on Luke. Chapter 3 explores evidence and arguments which can be seen as problematic for the MPH. MacEwen concludes that the MPH has been neither definitely proved nor disproved, and deserves further scholarly scrutiny.

The book may be purchased from Amazon.com or BookDepository.com.