Synoptiske

Synoptiske is a Danish adjective that describes something related to a synoptic overview, or, in a more specialized sense, to the Synoptic Gospels of the New Testament. In practice the term is used to refer to things that present a broad, comparative view or that belong to the group of texts commonly analyzed together for their parallel content and structure.

Origin and form: The word derives from Greek synopsis, meaning a view together, and enters Danish through the compound synoptisk. The form synoptiske is used before plural nouns or in specific grammatical constructions, for example in the phrase synoptiske evangelier to denote the first three gospels that are treated as a unit in biblical scholarship.

Theology: In biblical studies, the most prominent use of the term is in reference to the Synoptiske Evangelier—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These gospels share substantial material and similar order, in contrast to the Gospel of John. The close literary relationship among the synoptic gospels gives rise to the synoptiske problem, a scholarly debate about their sources and redaction. The leading theoretical approaches include Markan priority, the Q hypothesis, and alternative theories such as the Farrer hypothesis.

Other contexts: Outside theology, synoptic is used to describe broad, integrative overviews in various fields. In meteorology, for example, synoptic analysis involves large-scale weather patterns and charts that summarize conditions over wide geographic areas. More generally, the term conveys the idea of a concise, comprehensive view that brings related elements into a single, comparative frame.

See also: Synoptic Gospels; Synoptic Problem; Synopsis.