The First Gospel, the Gospel of the Poor: A New Reconstruction of Q and Resolution of the Synoptic Problem based on Marcion's Early Luke

As principal investigator and project lead, Mark G. Bilby (PhD Virginia, MSLIS Drexel) announces he has discovered a scientific solution to the Synoptic Problem and the restoration of the lost gospel of Qn, the pre-70 CE Judean gospel about Joshua of Nazareth—a text being painstakingly, scientifically, and gradually reconstructed here in most of its breadth and depth for the first time, together with interconnected reconstructions of the earliest versions of the gospels of Mark, Luke, and Matthew. The New Q or Neue Quelle (Qn) is a major excision, expansion, emendation, and simplification of the Q text that New Testament scholars generally accept as the earliest known gospel created by Joshua followers. The discovery and reconstruction of Qn puts Marcion’s Gospel—which has not previously been taken as the primary and earliest textual basis for resolving Q together with the Synoptic Problem—at the center of the puzzle of our earliest Joshua texts and traditions. Following the principles of open science, all versions of this work are permanently self-archived in this international open science repository under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license for scholarly consideration and public awareness. Please consult the latest version; updates are uploaded periodically. Readers may freely distribute and cite this work as long as attribution is given to the author and no derivatives or commercial use are made of its contents. Scholars in related fields (e.g., Computational Linguistics, Signals Analysis, Data Forensics, Classics, History, Religious Studies) are invited to issue reviews of our hypotheses, triangulation method, sequencing criteria, and numerous proofs and reconstructions that are regularly updated, expanded, and corrected in agile cycles of continuous improvement. This open science book (or LODLIB) is evolving open-source academic literature, i.e., human logic encoded software. It enacts resistance to the unsustainable monopolizing of academic publishing as an unethical, racist business model gamed and structured to enrich a small cadre of white North American and European males who are exploiting publicly funded academic labor and restricting digital access to scientific knowledge. It bypasses the slow processes of publisher-managed peer-review in Biblical Studies, a discipline which through faith-based apathy and myth-based bias has largely abdicated any serious place as a legitimate form of scientific discourse. Scientific progress, especially during a pandemic, demands the radical risk of global open peer review and full participation in the Linked Open Data ecosystem. Thus, we invite vigorous, public debate. If our hypotheses, methods, and/or proofs are invalid, we welcome other scholars to make that case. We only ask that our scholarly colleagues exercise the courage of their convictions as we have done here and attach their names to their criticisms. We will gladly admit errors, make corrections, and issue retractions whenever necessary. Please ensure responses are permanently uploaded to a public open science archive or publisher website, together with unique DOIs and your ORCID iD(s). When citing a LODLIB, note the version number and base DOI. Bilby, M. G. (2020-07/2023-05). The First Gospel, the Gospel of the Poor: A New Reconstruction of Q and Resolution of the Synoptic Problem based on Marcion's Early Luke. LODLIB v3.05. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.392705