I see, belatedly, that The Rev. Canon John Fenton (Christ Church, Oxford) passed away in late December. An illustrious New Testament scholar, I had a short course with him during my D.Min. work, and I remember some wonderful chats with him.
Having been educated at a Lutheran seminary, I was shocked to learn there were NT scholars who disputed the reigning Q theory. Oxford and Cambridge continue to hold to Matthean priority, he noted, and view Q as an unnecessary, and typically German, peculiarity. Did my NT professors at Gettysburg (names like Nieting und Krodel) ever hint that someone might have a solid argument against the Germans? Ha.
Thanks for your interesting post. I have been blogging about John Fenton recently as he was also my tutor in Oxford (http://ntweblog.blogspot.com/search/label/John%20Fenton).
Re Q: John Fenton was an adherent of the Farrer theory, which retains Marcan Priority but dispenses with Q, following Austin Farrer. Fenton was a great admirer of Farrer’s and often talked about him. I have a bit more on the Farrer theory on the web, if you are interested, at http://markgoodacre.org/Q
Thanks; I was relying on 11 year old memories!