{"id":14965,"date":"2013-06-15T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2013-06-15T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=14965"},"modified":"2013-06-15T08:00:46","modified_gmt":"2013-06-15T12:00:46","slug":"statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html","title":{"rendered":"Statistics and the Synoptic Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Statistics tell us\u2026 well, even though they are numbers, statistics do not automatically provide answers to questions.<\/p>\n

\"\"And 73.2% of all statistics are made up on the spot \u2013 as that one was.<\/p>\n

But sometimes statistics can tell us something important. They can quantify what otherwise may seem vague and merely impressionistic.<\/p>\n

I regularly cite statistics<\/a> in talking about the differences between the Gospel of John and the Synoptics. Comparing how often \u201ckingdom,\u201d \u201cfather,\u201d and \u201cI\u201d occur (as James D. G. Dunn does in The Evidence for Jesus<\/em><\/a>) shows that it is not just a subjective impression that the style and content of John is significantly different from the other Gospels.<\/p>\n

And statistics are striking when it comes to comparing the Pastoral Epistles with other letters attributed to Paul (see the charts in P. N. Harrison's book The Problem of the Pastoral Epistles<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

So what about the Synoptic problem? Can statistics help us there?<\/p>\n

On Ian's blog Irreducible Complexity, he had a post recently that addressed this very subject<\/a>. Some work done by Dave Gentile<\/a> (someone with an interest in statistics and the Synoptic problem as a hobby) inpid Ian to do some work of his own on the topic. Both provide moderate statistical support for Markan priority.<\/p>\n

And what about Q? That's what you really want to know, isn't it?<\/p>\n

Both Gentile and Ian looked into that too, and the results are\u2026<\/p>\n

inconclusive<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ian wrote in response to this state of affairs:\n<\/p>\n

So one of those (very common) statistical experiments where the results tell you nothing of interest. Which is a shame.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I came to the conclusion that the decisive arguments were likely to arise out of close analysis of textual patterns\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nAnd he goes on to mention Mark Goodacre's work as one example of that. I would love to see further statistical work done on this by academics. Has anyone tried to determine whether Luke's or Matthew's Q material stands out as more like the other's material, than that author's own style and vocabulary? That would provide significant support for one of the alternatives to the Q hypothesis. Or is that what Ian and Dave Gentile did?<\/p>\n

Perhaps further statistical study will help. But don't count<\/em> on it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Statistics tell us\u2026 well, even though they are numbers, statistics do not automatically provide answers to questions. And 73.2% of all statistics are made up on the spot \u2013 as that one was. But sometimes statistics can tell us something important. They can quantify what otherwise may seem vague and merely impressionistic. I regularly cite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,32,33,34,67],"tags":[4110,9552,9806,11848,12185],"class_list":["post-14965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel-of-john","category-gospel-of-luke","category-gospel-of-mark","category-gospel-of-matthew","category-new-testament-bible","tag-gospels","tag-problem","tag-q","tag-statistics","tag-synoptic"],"yoast_head":"\nStatistics and the Synoptic Problem<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Statistics tell us... well, even though they are numbers, statistics do not automatically provide answers to questions. And 73.2% of all statistics are\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Statistics and the Synoptic Problem\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Statistics tell us... well, even though they are numbers, statistics do not automatically provide answers to questions. And 73.2% of all statistics are\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-15T12:00:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/derekmaul.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/numbers.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html\",\"name\":\"Statistics and the Synoptic Problem\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-15T12:00:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-06-15T12:00:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"Statistics tell us... well, even though they are numbers, statistics do not automatically provide answers to questions. And 73.2% of all statistics are\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Statistics and the Synoptic Problem\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Statistics and the Synoptic Problem","description":"Statistics tell us... well, even though they are numbers, statistics do not automatically provide answers to questions. And 73.2% of all statistics are","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Statistics and the Synoptic Problem","og_description":"Statistics tell us... well, even though they are numbers, statistics do not automatically provide answers to questions. And 73.2% of all statistics are","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2013-06-15T12:00:46+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/derekmaul.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/11\/numbers.jpg"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html","name":"Statistics and the Synoptic Problem","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-15T12:00:46+00:00","dateModified":"2013-06-15T12:00:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"Statistics tell us... well, even though they are numbers, statistics do not automatically provide answers to questions. And 73.2% of all statistics are","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/06\/statistics-and-the-synoptic-problem.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Statistics and the Synoptic Problem"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}