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Document Details :

Title: The Minor Agreements of Matthew and Luke against Mark
Subtitle: Critical Observations on R.B. Vinson's Statistical Analysis
Author(s): FRIEDRICHSEN, T.A.
Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses
Volume: 65    Issue: 4   Date: December 1989   
Pages: 395-408
DOI: 10.2143/ETL.65.4.556429

Abstract :
Richard Bolling Vinson's 1984 doctoral dissertation is an attempt to provide an objective method to determine whether the minor agreements of Matthew and Luke against Mark in Marcan material ('MAs') are truly a significant challenge to the Two-Document Hypothesis ('2DH'). Two-Source theorists see no 'unitary character' to the minor agreements, and thus treat them individually, explaining why Matthew and Luke independently changed the Marcan text in substantially or exactly the same way. Contrarily, scholars who believe that the minor agreements pose a significant problem for the Two-Source Theory generally argue that this 'tends to atomize the phenomena' and does not allow one to be struck by the 'cumulative argument' of the minor agreements. Vinson proposes a statistica lanalysis of the rate of minor agreements to settle this methodological impasse.

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