What are the synoptic gospels?

There are,
of course, four gospels in the New
Testament.  These are the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John.  The
synoptic gospels are the first three gospels.  John is not one of the
synoptic
gospels.

In Greek, synoptic means something like
seen together.  The
synoptic gospels are called this because they present
very similar stories.  This is not to say
that everything in
these...