To return to where you were, click Back button on your browser.
Any source theory needs to be supported by redaction criticism .
Only a hypothesis that is consistent with each gospel's editorial tendencies at other points can be considered plausible. The fact that Mark's version of this pericope is shorter than Matthew's may seem to support Augustine 's claim that Mark abridged Matthew. But closer comparison undermines that initial impression. If Mark's pericope is based on Matthew's, then it is not a summary but a deliberate distortion. For even the clumsiest editor would try to preserve the gist of an argument instead of introducing so many logical problems.