| Matthean Posteriority hypothesis | |
| Other Name: | Wilke hypothesis |
| Order: | Marcan priority Luke Matt |
| Additional Sources: | No additional sources |
| Matthew: | Mark, Luke |
| Luke: | Mark |
| Originator: | Gottlob Christian Storr |
| Origination Date: | 1786 |
| Proponents: | Christian Gottlob Wilke, Karl Kautsky |
The Matthean Posteriority hypothesis, also known as the Wilke hypothesis after Christian Gottlob Wilke, is a proposed solution to the synoptic problem, holding that the Gospel of Mark was used as a source by the Gospel of Luke, then both of these were used as sources by the Gospel of Matthew. Thus, it posits Marcan priority and Matthaean posteriority.
Gottlob Christian Storr, in his 1786 argument for Marcan priority,[1] asked, if Mark was a source for Matthew and Luke, how the latter two were then related. Storr proposed, among other possibilities, that the canonical Matthew (written in Greek) was translated from the original, which was written in either Hebrew or Aramaic (the logia spoken of by Papias) by following Mark primarily but also drawing from Luke, although he later went on to oppose this.[2]
These ideas were little noticed until 1838, when Christian Gottlob Wilke[3] revived the hypothesis of Marcan priority and extensively developed the argument for Matthaean posteriority. Wilke's contemporary Christian Hermann Weisse[4] at the same time independently argued for Marcan priority but for Matthew and Luke independently using Mark and another source Q—the two-source hypothesis. A few other German scholars supported Wilke's hypothesis in the nineteenth century, but in time most came to accept the two-source hypothesis, which remains the dominant theory to this day. Wilke's hypothesis was accepted by Karl Kautsky in his Foundations of Christianity.[5]
Wilke's hypothesis received little further attention until recent decades, when it was revived in 1992 by Huggins,[6] then Hengel,[7] then independently by Blair.[8] Additional recent supporters include Garrow[9] and Powell.[10]
Most arguments for the Wilke hypothesis follow those of the Farrer hypothesis in accepting Marcan priority but rejecting Q. The difference, then, is in the direction of dependence between Matthew and Luke.
Arguments advanced in favor of Matthaean posteriority include:
. Über den Zweck der evangelischen Geschichte und der Briefe Johannis . Gottlob Christian Storr . 1786 .
. Christian Gottlob Wilke. Der Urevangelist oder exegetisch kritische Untersuchung über das Verwandtschaftsverhältniß der drei ersten Evangelien. Verlag von Gerhard Fleischer. Leipzig. 1838. German.
. Christian Hermann Weisse. Die evangelische geschichte, kritisch und philosophisch bearbeitet. Breitkopf und Hartel. Leipzig. 1838. German.
. The Four Gospels and the One Gospel of Jesus Christ . Martin Hengel . 2000 . 169–207 . 1563383004 . Bloomsbury Academic .