Alan Kirk appeared recently on History Valley–another real Q scholar on Youtube!–and at minute 26 Jacob asks about the Farrer theory. At first I thought it wasn’t fair when Kirk said Farrer theorists can’t agree on why Luke follows Mark for narrative material and Matthew for sayings material, rearranging it (a generalization, of course). “Is that such a bad thing? Do they all need to agree on one reason? If they can generate six or seven plausible explanations, that’s all they need….” Likewise not all Markan priorists agree on a date; most go with 70s, some before, some later. As long as Matthew and Luke come later, that’s all we need! Kirk goes on to say he’s found Farrer theorists all over the map in their attempts to explain Luke’s behavior, and this algorithm he’s running–go to Mark for triple tradition material, go to Matthew for double tradition material–it’s the gear that runs the entire hypothesis. They don’t have one compelling reason why Luke reaches for the master lever again and again.
While I think it’s unfair to insist on one reason, I may understand the sentiment. If an outsider found us Markan priorists all over the map in terms of dating–some putting Mark in the 30s, others in the 120s–and the dating issue was central to our argument, that might suggest underlying problems….
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