page_title: Synoptic Gospels
section_title: Example
hierarchical_section_title: Synoptic Gospels / Structure / The triple tradition / Example
caption_attribution_description: English: Jesus cleansing a leper
context_page_description: The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose content is largely distinct. The term synoptic comes via Latin from the Greek σύνοψις, synopsis, i.e. " seeing all together, synopsis"; the sense of the word in English, the one specifically applied to these three gospels, of "giving an account of the events from the same point of view or under the same general aspect" is a modern one.
  This strong parallelism among the three gospels in content, arrangement, and specific language is widely attributed to literary interdependence. The question of the precise nature of their literary relationship—the synoptic problem—has been a topic of lively debate for centuries and has been described as "the most fascinating literary enigma of all time". The longstanding majority view favors Marcan priority, in which both Matthew and Luke have made direct use of the Gospel of Mark as a source, and further holds that Matthew and Luke also drew from an additional hypothetical document, called Q.
context_section_description: An illustrative example of the three texts in parallel is the healing of the leper:
  More than half the wording in this passage is identical. Each gospel includes words absent in the other two and omits something included by the other two.
caption: Christ cleansing a leper by Jean-Marie Melchior Doze, 1864.
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