The Q Bible
Q is the term given by respected biblical scholars for a supposed source document (alongside the Gospel of Mark) from which the gospels of Matthew and Luke are derived.
It is quite impossible to hold that the three synoptic gospels were completely independent from each other. At the very least, they had to have shared a common oral tradition. However many scholars believe a written document (Q) must have existed.
The ways that scholars try to deduce the existence and form of a supposed Q proto-document is by close line by line analysis of passages of the Matthew and Luke gospels as well as statistical analysis of the phraseology, linguistic ticks and suggested antiquity of the termnology used in the different books of the Bible.
A Synopsis for Q was made available on the web by Peter Kirby. It lists relevant passages from Matthew's and Luke's Gopels side by side which seem to show that they were both working from a similar source.
For example
Luke 3:16b-17
"I indeed with water do baptise you, but he cometh who is mightier than
I, of whom I am not worthy to loose the latchet of his sandals -- he shall
baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire; whose winnowing shovel is
in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and will gather the
wheat to his storehouse, and the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable."
is almost identical to
Matthew 3:11-13
"I indeed do baptize you with water to reformation, but he who after
me is coming is mightier than I, of whom I am not worthy to bear the sandals,
he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire, whose fan is in his
hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and will gather his wheat
to the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable."
Study of the Bible and the search for Q is sanctioned by the Catholic church as an acceptable scholastic practice and is not at odds with the supremacy of faith.
Of course, those who study the english versions of the bible hunting for the Q Bible have the added complication of tanslations and mistranslations form the greek, latin and aramaic sources. Therefore, scholars who study the more ancient language versions of the Bible are probably more likely to come to a better understanding of Q.
After a century of research the jury is still out on the existence and content Q, but it does reamin a hot topic in canonical study.