Mark Goodacre


Mark S. Goodacre is a New Testament scholar and Professor at Duke University's Department of Religion. He has written extensively on the Synoptic Problem; he defends the Farrer hypothesis, and thus accepts Markan priority but rejects Q.

Biography

Mark Goodacre’s first job was a paperboy at age 11.
Goodacre received his MA, M.Phil, and DPhil at the University of Oxford, and has been at Duke University since 2005.
Goodacre has written extensively on the Synoptic Problem; he defends the Farrer hypothesis, and thus accepts Markan priority but rejects Q. He has authored 4 books as of August 2, 2025, including The Case Against Q: Studies in Markan Priority and the Synoptic Problem and Thomas and the Gospels: The Case for Thomas's Familiarity with the ''Synoptics. He wrote a book called The Fourth Synoptic Gospel: John’s Knowledge of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which argues that John was aware of all three Synoptics and was released on September 16, 2025.
He has also been a consultant for numerous television and radio shows related to the New Testament, such as the 2001 BBC series Son of God and the 2013 mini-series The Bible''.

Reception

Goodacre has been described as the leading advocate of the Farrer Hypothesis, which is currently enjoying growing popularity among Biblical scholars. Simon Joseph writes that The Case Against Q brought an end to the “exuberant hegemony” of the Two-source hypothesis. Alan Kirk and John Kloppenborg have critiqued Goodacre’s Farrer solution and his conception of ancient media such as editorial fatigue in defense of the two-source hypothesis.

Works

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