The Que (Jesus, gospel, followers, verse, Christ)

[whatever]

Did anyone watch the national geographic special least weekend.. What is the que that they theorise about?

[SpiritElf]

I have no idea which special you're talking about, but I can take a guess at what you refer to.
"Q" is a theoretical document that most scholars believe the Gospels drew from. "Q" (from the German "quelle") would have been a "sayings Gospel" similiar to that of the Gospel of Thomas and written around the same time.

After Christ, his followers transmitted his sayings and deeds orally, so that a large amount of knowledge of Jesus was built up. "Q" would have been an attempt to preserve the teachings of Jesus in written form, so that they would not be lost or distorted through time.

Scholars believe that "Q" existed because of the similarity between Matthew, Mark and Luke, the so-called "Synoptic Gospels" ("with one eye"). Many of the sayings, events, parables, etc are the same or similar, with some eye-witness accounts thrown in, and seen through different perspectives. (John is a unique Gospel, and most likely independent). The "Q" theory acts in place of, or supplement to, the theory that Luke and Matthew drew the majority of their material from Mark; or conversely, that Mark and Luke drew the majority of their material from Matthew.

However, "Q" remains a theory because the actual document has yet to be found. A very few argue that the Gospel of Thomas is actually "Q", but that Gospel is so different from the 4 Canonic Gospels, that it would be hard to synthesize their content.

[michel]

Originally Posted by SpiritElf

"Q" (from the German "quelle") would have been a "sayings Gospel" .

Well, I thougt Quelle was only a French word, but one learns every day Quelle {f} -fount Quelle {f} -source Quelle {f} -wellspring