Originally delivered as one of the Jowett Lectures for 1906, the contents of this booklet emerged during the first quest for the historical Jesus. Somewhat surprisingly, Burkitt discovered that historical criticism increased the historical credibility of the Synoptic Gospels in his estimation. This third lecture in the series addresses the composition and literary characteristics of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Burkitt begins with a discussion of the date and authorship of Luke and Acts. Considering the literary traits specific to Luke-Acts, he especially focuses on the “we passages” to demonstrate authorship of the narrative. This is followed by an exploration of the composition of the Gospel of Matthew. Here Burkitt attempts to tease out what might be learned of the sources possibly used by Matthew based on his criteria of determining the origins of various sayings. Comparison with Luke and Q also enters his discussion of the sources behind Matthew.

Francis Crawford Burkitt (1864-1935) began his academic career as a student of mathematics. While at Cambridge University he moved to Divinity, becoming the Norrisian Professor. His interest in the text of the New Testament led him to study Syriac manuscripts and to publish widely in the field. He was a fellow of the British Academy.