An overview. The term was classically used in literature to refer to a brief summary or abstract of a work. J. J. Griesbach's Synopsis of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark & Luke (1776), however, gave it quite a different technical meaning for biblical studies. Griesbach printed the complete text of the first three canonical gospels in columns so scholars could compare parallel passages in each text at a glance. His work was a synopsis in the root sense of the term since it let readers "see (everything) together." Thus, a gospel synopsis is not a summary but, rather, a compendium of related texts.

Griesbach's use of the name was novel but the format of printing parallel material from different texts on the same page was not. Origen's Hexapla (3rd c. CE) paralleled 6 versions of the Jewish scriptures. The Protestant reformer A. Osiander's Gospel Harmony (1537) adopted the parallel format in printing the 4 canonical Greek gospels. For more than 2 centuries NT scholars tried to improve Osiander's format, until Griesbach abandoned the attempt to coordinate John with Matthew, Mark & Luke. Griesbach chose not to use the traditional term "harmony" to describe his 3 column work, since that term in music implied blending 4 tones. After Griesbach gospel parallels generally omitted John. So Matthew, Mark & Luke were called "the synoptics" & study of their relationship has been designated "the synoptic problem." In 1964, however, K. Aland revived the 4 gospel synopsis. Yet ,the term "synoptic" is still generally used to designate only material from Matthew, Mark & Luke, since the narrative sequence & contents of John are quite independent of the other gospels.

R. W. Funk's New Gospel Parallels [Sonoma CA: Polebridge Press, 1990] introduced a further refinement of the traditional gospel synopsis by printing phrases in parallel gospel passages on the same line. The matched column synopsis aids analysis by focusing readers' attention on similarities & differences in each text. This format has been adapted for this electronic synopsis.

A second distinctive feature of New Gospel Parallels is its inclusion of non-canonical parallels to gospel passages. These cannot be ignored in determining the relationship between gospel texts, since the ms. evidence for some of these (notably, the gospel of Thomas & the Egerton gospel) is as old or older than any copy of the synoptic gospels. Here significant non-canonical parallels are presented after analysis of the synoptic source theories. This location is dictated by pedagogical logic & the margins of a computer monitor. It does not infer that the material in these passages was drafted later than Matthew, Mark & Luke.

This sample synopsis presents a detailed analysis of the parallel passages:

Matt 12:46-13:51
Mark 3:31- 4:34
Luke 8:4-21, 13:18-21.

Other on-line resources

• The Synoptic Project - Ben C. Smith's flexible navigable Synopsis allows one to view gospel parallels in Greek or English & select from various color-coding schemes to highlight the pattern of verbal variation in texts (Text Excavation).

• The Five Gospels Parallels - John W. Marshall parallels various pairings of English translations of the canonical gospels & Thomas to allow readers to compare wording (University of Toronto). [NB: this pioneering website does not use matched cola or color-coded text to highlight similarities & differences in parallel passages].