by Imagine That » Wed Apr 06, 2016 2:03 pm
Academics have been hoping and wishing for a missing piece to the Gospels for quite some time. The "Q" source is believed to be a sayings gospel that, just like Mark, was used as a source for Matthew and Luke.
I just wanted to offer one of those "positive" possibilities. Others have mentioned the rejection of certain gospels by Irenaeus, as being too late or too gnostic or just too different. If the "Q" source was found (from the German for source, quelle), it would be truly groundbreaking, the earliest gospel, and maybe even written during life or just after the death of Jesus.
While the synoptic gospels are largely biographical—weaving the parables of Jesus with his baptism, peripatetic movements, and crucifixion—the Q source would literally just be the sayings and teachings of jesus... without explanation (it would be similar in construction to the Gospel of Thomas, and it's probable that this is what Thomas was mirroring).
What would we learn from such a document? Is it possible that it was a source for Mark as well? Who wrote first transcribed it and why? Does it even mention the resurrection?? OR Does it simply end with the crucifixion as Mark once did? These questions are just personal ones from me... I'm sure if you asked an actual scholar they could blow your mind with what Q could actually say.
Alas, it will most likely never be found, as the earliest members of the nazarene movement were usually the poorest and lacked the means of preservation beyond an oral tradition. Maybe, it was only ever an oral tradition.