This book makes a major contribution to the ongoing debate about which of the Synoptic gospels was written first. Dr. Head has evolved a new approach to the problem, using the Christological criterion in order to produce more objective results. He compares the consensus view--that Mark's gospel was the first to be written--with the view that Mark used, conflated and abbreviated Matthew and Luke (a view that is undergoing a contemporary revival). The author confirms the hypothesis of Markan priority, but argues that Matthew was a developer rather than a corrector of Mark.