The Critical Edition of Q

The Critical Edition of Q is the product of the International Q Project (IQP), a program inaugurated at the Society of Biblical Literature in 1985 that has sought to establish an accessible critical edition of the source shared by Matthew and Luke. Their work is documented in a series of articles in JBL (The International Q Project Work Session... [199095]), the product of the Q Seminar (1985-89) at the SBL. The editors want their work to be of use to scholars of all opi nions (lxvi) and a standard tool (lxvii). However, their only presupposition is the gene ral outcome of the history of Q research that ... there was a written Greek text of Q (lxvii). This hefty volume contains a table of contents (vviii), Q Texts in Matthean Order (ixxii), a foreword on Hermeneia by Frank Moore Cross and Helmut Koester (xiii), a preface by Robinson, Hoffmann, and Kloppenborg (xvxvi), and acknowledgements (xviixviii). Robinson provides a lengthy in troduction (xixlxxi) that serves to document the major turning points in the histor y of Q research, with particular attention to the problem of establishing a critical text of Q (xix). Putting aside a purely hypothetical Aramaic source of Matthew and Luke, which would mean that Q would never be more than a hypothesis, Robinson claims such approaches have been completely replaced by objective criteria, based on empirical observation of Matthean and Lukan redactional traits (x ix). The history itself is a wealth of information. It is thoroughly documented and carefully researched to pinpoint the origin of the questions raised by Schleiermacher regarding Papiass lo/gia through a discussion of the role of the Critical Edition of Q in the modern discussion. [Full Review]