Below are some important academic notes concerning the PGH sequence of the gospels:
The PGH mentions the city of Gerasa which was an ancient city in Palestine which was destroyed by the 10th Roman legion Firensis in AD 70. Only the very oldest existing manuscripts of the canonical gospels mention the city of Gerasa while later manuscripts refer to the area as the land of the Gerasenes. Thus the author of the original source of the PGH may have lived prior to AD 70.
The sequence of the PGH also parallels many aspects of the theoretical "Q" text. The Greek texts of Matthew and Luke in some areas are letter for letter matches which have led some scholars to theorize that at one time a single text “Q” was formed from an early form of Matthew and of Luke and then later portions of our modern forms of Matthew and Luke were copied from this single gospel text. Additionally, in the modern text of Luke the "Parable of the Lamp" occurs in both Chapter 8 and Chapter 11. It has been theorized that an early text that contained Luke had only one "Parable of the Lamp" and that the parable was either cut in half or duplicated in our modern texts. The PGH sequence combines portions of Luke Ch. 8 and 11 and only has a single account of the "Parable of the Lamp" just as some scholars have theorized would've existed in the single gospel forerunner of the modern text of Luke.
Scholars have also theorized that the "Q" text would've been constructed into categories and composed of lists such as a list of parables. This idea was formulated in part based on the gospel of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi. The PGH does form the gospel account into categories or groupings and there are two major groupings of parables in its sequence just as theorized for the “Q” text.
The event sequence of the PGH also enhances the account of the four gospels. The sequence produces cause and effect relationships between events and the interactions of various individuals with each other and with Jesus. For instance, The PGH sequence contains both Mary Magdalene's conversion and subsequent discipleship (this is in the modern gospel texts but is somewhat obscured due to their non-chronological sequence). Thus Mary Magdalene plays a major role in the account of Jesus which is implied by many ancient sources such as the gospel of Thomas but not highlighted by the canonical gospels in their present sequence. The same is true for the significance of John the Baptist in Jesus' ministry. In the PGH sequence, John the Baptist is portrayed as an important ally of Jesus' ministry and his arrest and later death are both pivotal moments in Jesus ministry as portrayed by the PGH sequence. The importance of John the Baptist in the ministry of Jesus is implied by many ancient sources and that importance is vividly depicted in Jesus’ ministry using the PGH sequence of the canonical gospels.
Moreover, the PGH is the only manuscript in existence which depicts an error free chronological sequence for the events in the life of Jesus as portrayed in the four canonical gospels. The four canonical gospels make no claim to being written in chronological sequence. There are historical/traditional accounts that indicate that the four canonical gospels were not written in chronological order. For instance, Papias (AD 135) indicated that Mark was not in any particular order. An engineered reconstruction of the chronological order of the gospels indicates that while several sequences are possible -- the sequence of the modern gospels is not in chronological order. For instance, the passage in Mark 3:13-19 not only precedes the passage in Mark 3:20-31 by over a dozen events but in fact several passages in Mark actually occur between Mark 3:13-19 and Mark 3:20-31.
Also, while there have been many modern attempts to reconstruct the sequence of the events of Jesus life as narrated in the four canonical gospels none of these reconstructions has as many parallels to the theoretical “Q” text as the PGH. Furthermore the theory for the “Q” text was first proposed in the 1800’s and the PGH manuscript predates the “Q” text theory by 400 years. Thus the best candidate to date for the “Q” text sequence is the PGH manuscript.
More importantly, the best manuscript for a chronological depiction of the actual sequence of events in the life of Jesus is The Pepys Gospel Harmony MS 2498.
Acknowledgements
The biblical text for this book is from The Common Edition of the New Testament by T. E. Clontz and I would like to thank my brother for allowing me to use his book.