resource: oxford conference on the synoptics

The papers for the Oxford Conference on the Synoptics are available online if you are interested. It's just like being there, only different. One of the great things about our age is the availability of such wonderful material. (One of the bad things is the energy consumption of the 'net and the resulting political power of energy companies, but that's another story for another day...) Do go and check it out if you are interested in the discussions about how the Gospels relate to one another. Some highlights of what I've read so far: (links open the .pdf's)

--Kathleen Corley -- White Male Dominance of Synoptic Gospel Research and the Creative Process. This is an interesting article, if only to stir things up :) Corley demonstrates that there is little for the modern feminist in Gospel research given the stereotypes of women it perpetuates. She then attributes the preponderance of male interest in Gospel research to the desire of white men to see themselves in these texts. The historical discussion is brief but interesting, but I can't help but wonder if she is taking the wrong road to get to the right place: of course all gospel studies are conditioned by the researchers who are largely white men, but the paper seems conflicted between demonstrating the historical difficulties of the Gospels with regards to feminist concerns and a straightforward engagement of the subjectivity of interpretation and research.

--Eugene Boring -- The 'minor agreements' and their bearing on the synoptic problem.
1. Greatest name for a scholar evaaarr!
2. He writes, "The alternative view to this spectator epistemology is a participationist epistemology that regards the Minor Agreements as constituted by their definition." How cool is that?
3. I actually really enjoyed the trajectory of this paper and am intent on thinking about it some more.

--John S. Kloppenborg -- Synopses and the Synoptic Problem (chart). This gets kudos for being well written with an interesting point. Kloppenborg examines whether or not the relationships between the gospel we reconstruct can ever been neutral/ objectively accurate. Interesting and technical at points, there's somethign for everyone in this one. Bonus points: he provides a chart!

--Mark Goodacre--The Evangelists' use of the Old Testament and the Synoptic Problem. Goodacre makes the point in his intro that this topic is rarely addressed, perhaps because it makes the the 2-source hypothesis more difficult. Most discussions are "2-source vs. Griesbach" without much concern for the us of the OT. I had never evne thought nor examined this. Very enlightening.