The evangelists place particular emphasis on the final week of Jesus’ life, when he traveled to Jerusalem with his disciples to celebrate Passover and, as clearly anticipated in the plot of each Gospel, to die. In all, there are approximately 60 parables, three dozen pronouncement stories (brief narratives culminating with a striking saying by Jesus) and 30 miracle stories. In support of this programmatic presentation, each of the evangelists includes a variety of relatively short units of discourse and narrative, many of which originally circulated orally. Why then did early 20th-century scholars generally abandon this view?Įach of the four canonical Gospels-Matthew, Mark, Luke and John-focuses on the public career of Jesus, emphasizing his activities as a teacher, preacher and miracle-worker. Most readers generally assume that the Gospels are a kind of biography. Since the message of a literary work is dependent on the “package” in which it is presented, it is important to appreciate its literary setting. In much the same way, ancient literary forms, such as biography, aroused certain expectations in the audience. The phrase “once upon a time,” used to introduce some types of English folktales, provides a clear signal to the audience that what follows will be a story that is short, imaginary, interesting and particularly appealing to children. Literary forms are a way of packaging written communications so that contextual meaning is provided for individual sentences and paragraphs. The message of the Gospels cannot be properly understood apart from its literary setting. In short, while the content of the Gospels is couched in 016distinctively Jewish and Christian categories, both form and function are typically Hellenistic. Indeed, the New Testament Gospels are a subtype of Greco-Roman biography. While it is true that the Gospels are not biography if measured by modern historical standards, I believe it can be shown that they are biography as that literary genre was understood in the Greco-Roman world. The quest for the historical Jesus was put on hold. In this assessment, history-biography-took a back seat to theology. In the 20th century, a new consensus began to emerge: The Gospels were not biographical or historical documents instead, they were expanded versions of the early Christian kerygma, that is, the proclamation of the saving significance of Jesus. But, beginning at about that time, the view that the Gospels could be considered biographies was increasingly abandoned as inadequate and inaccurate. True, that was the general view from about the second century A.D. Philosophers, said: "Because they suppose they might become lame andīlind but they never suppose they might take up philosophy.I intend to argue that the New Testament Gospels are biographies! Until quite recently that would have been a surprising position for a modern scholar to take. Olympias, on hearing that her son Alexander was proclaiming himself the offspring of Zeus, said "Won't this fellow stop slandering me to Hera?"Ī Laconian, who had become a prisoner of war and was being sold, on being asked by someone what he could do, said, "Be free."Īristeides, on being asked what justice is, said: "Not desiring the possessions of others."ĭiogenes, on being asked why people give to beggars but not to The following chreia, the most common in ancient sources, is illustrative:ĭiogenes, on seeing a youth misbehaving, struck his paedagogus, adding "Why do you teach such things?" The textbook explains that amplification was needed when ancient rhetors were constrained by time limits or audiences who wouldn't be easily convinced. Murphy, A Short History of Writing Instruction: From Ancient Greece to Modern America, 2nd ed. Opposite view, a statement from analogy, a statement from example, a statement from authority, and an exhortation to follow the advice of the speaker." "The Greek rhetorician Hermogenes of Tarsus described "a sequence ofĮight methods to write about a chreia: praise of the speaker quoted, anĮxpanded restatement of the chreia, its rationale, a statement of the These are described in this excerpt by Richard Nordquist, Students were often assigned to use chreia as a rhetorical tool by applying a number of elements. This tool is effective in teaching and practicing rhetoric. One example from the text is, "Plato said the twigs of virtue grow by sweat and toil." (Kennedy 97) Chreia were used mostly to teach, but they also had the effect of amplifying a theme. They are attributed and cited to someone respected and well-known. They are recounting brief sayings or actions that make a point or teach a lesson. Chreia, pronounced CRAY-uh, were used by the Greek teachers as a progymnasmata for their students.
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