The Social Origins of Q: Two Theses in a Field of Conflicting Hypotheses

Abstract

This article examines current written- and oral-tradition views of Q. Two theses are argued: (1) The case seems the stronger that Q was an elaborated written text in Greek rather than an oral-derived text. Moreover (2), there is good evidence that Q originated in oral Aramaic Jesus sayings, perhaps some of which were written down, either as maxims or pointed, brief chreiai. However these theses are evaluated, Jesus scholarship must account for several important socio-cultural transitions in this picture, notably: from Jesus material in oral (Aramaic?) form to written Greek form; from non-elite origin to documentation by scribes in service of the elites; from Jesus material with pointed political significance within Herodian social relations to polemical theological material within Judean political religion.