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Jewish Lectionaries
"Mishnah tractate Megillah 3.4 speaks of the readings for the four 'special' sabbaths in Adar, then says:"
"On the fifth they revert to the set order. At all these times they break off (from the set order in the reading of the Law): on the first days of the months, at the (Feast of the) Dedicaiton, at Purim, on days of fasting, and at Maamads and on the Day of Atonement."
- Megillah 3.4
"...The material is not early enough to establish the use of a fixed cycle in the first century. Indeed, nothing from the first century or earlier witnesses directly to the use of any sort of lectionary."
- Dr. Mark S. Goodacre, Goulder and the Gospels: An Examination of a New Paradigm (1996), pp. 331, 332-333
"Only consider Josiah's dismay (2 Kings 22.11ff) when he heard of the discovery of the roll of the Law in the Temple: ignoratio Legis neminem excusat. Now, there is no surer way of leaving some parts of the Law unread than to pick and choose each sabbath: if all is vital, all must be read, and the only methodical way to read is to read in series."
- Michael Goulder, The Evangelists' Calendar, p. 5
"Philo (Fragment 630-31...) equates public reading of the Law with public knowledge of the whole of the Law, 'in order that on one shold be ignorant of anything is contains'."
- Dr. Mark S. Goodacre, Goulder and the Gospels: An Examination of a New Paradigm (1996), p. 333
"If you are not careful to do all the words of the Law which are written in this book...then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinarily afflictions."
- Exodus 28:41
"Although this general point tells in favor of continuous reading in order, so that nothing is missed out, it does not, however, necessarily tell in favor of a set, lectionary order."
- Dr. Mark S. Goodacre, Goulder and the Gospels: An Examination of a New Paradigm (1996), p. 333
Critiquing Goulder's Lectionary Theory
"Particularly impressive are the correspondences he adduces between the sidrôt from Genesis and passages in Matthew. Nevertheless, most of Goulder's evidence for the reading of the Pentateuch in an annual cycle beginning in Nisan is indirect and at best suggestive rather than probative."
- Dr. Mark S. Goodacre, Goulder and the Gospels: An Examination of a New Paradigm (1996), p. 339
"In the present state of knowledge the sabbath readings in the synagogue are speculative, and the correspondences with the Gospels are in any case patchy: so the sabbath hypothesis needs to be shelved, though it does not need to be abandoned. But the evidence of correspondence between all the Gospels and the main feasts and fasts of a (Jewish-) Christian year is much stronger."
- Michael Goulder, Luke: A New Paradigm, p 147 [1989])
"The onus in Goulder's thesis falls, then, on the question of correspondences. Some of them are strong, especially Mark's New Year and Atonement readings and Matthew's Pentecost reading [see the table above]. In these instances, no other section would suit the festal occasions as well. Further, all of Goulder's readings are at least adequate: never, having fixed the Passion narrative to Passover-Easter, does Goulder's thesis turn up a pure 'dud'.
"The greatest difficulty with Goulder's correspondences is his provision for Tabernacles, for which Goulder stresses the 'harvest' theme over the 'booths' theme..."
"There are difficulties with Mark's reading, the first half of which is Mark 3, where only vv. 7-8 are appropriate.
"Appropriate alternatives might be imagined for all the Gospels. In particular, all have Peter's comment about the booths in the Transfiguration Story (Mk 9.2-8 // Mt. 17.1-8 // Lk. 9.28-36) and, since dwelling in booths does seem to have been a key part of the Festival, this explicit reference is interesting."
"Overall, Goulder's odds are reduced sufficiently to cast doubt on but not to ruin the theory."
- Dr. Mark S. Goodacre, Goulder and the Gospels: An Examination of a New Paradigm (1996), pp. 361, 354
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