Finding the Synoptic Gospels' Construction Process: A Comparative Linguistic Analysis of the Eucharist and its Co-Texts

Abstract

This study attempts to analyze the Eucharist in the Synoptic Gospels including their co-texts (Matt 26:14–35; Mark 14:10–31; Luke 22:3–23, 31–34), via a Mode Register Analysis based on Systemic Functional Linguistics. The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to model a linguistic methodology and to apply it to each text of the Eucharist and its co-texts in the Synoptic Gospels, (2) to find meaningful linguistic characteristics of each designated text via a comparative analysis based on the preceding study, and finally (3) to suggest a balanced and plausible hypothesis which may offer convincing explanations of the Synoptic Gospels' construction process. The thesis of this study is as follows: in the Synoptic Gospels' construction process, each constructor reflected the oral Gospel tradition(s) significantly, as the one who had formed/contributed the tradition (probably Matthew), or the one who delivered it (probably Mark), or the one who preserved it (probably Luke), though there is also the possibility that each of them made use of written sources including the other Gospel(s).