- Most
of the
information
about the
life and
teachings of
Jesus is
found in
four NT
documents.
- The
Gospels
(literally
"good
news")
of
Matthew,
Mark,
Luke,
and
John.
- But
the oldest of these
documents was probably written around 65 AD at the
earliest, a full
thirty years after the death of Jesus and after all of the
undisputed letters of Paul.
- This
does NOT mean that the gospels do not contain information or stories
about Jesus that date back to the time of his ministry.
- It DOES mean
that this material had been reflected on and reinterpreted
"theologically" for at least three decades.
- In the gospels
themselves, three stages of
tradition are present:
- Stage
One: The Ministry of Jesus (early
30's AD)
- the
historical preaching and activity of Jesus
- Stage
Two:
The Preaching of the Apostles (
34-65
AD)
- the
proclamation about the Christ after the resurrection
- Stage
Three: The Work of the Evangelists (65-110
AD)
- the
personal contributions and concerns of the writers
- The
first stage represents
materials
and traditions rooted in the ministry of Jesus and most likely
passed on at first by eyewitnesses to his life.
- Examples:
All four gospels relate several basic facts about
Jesus
- that he was
baptized by John the Baptist,
- that he was from the region of
Nazareth,
- that he lived and was executed while Pontius Pilate was
prefect of Judea, etc.
- The
second stage
represents insights which
occurred during the preaching of the
apostles after Jesus
was raised from the dead.
- For
example, many of the titles of Jesus
("Son
of
Man,"
"Lamb
of
God")
make sense only if
considered in light of the resurrection, when, according to the
gospels themselves, everyone else finally became aware of Jesus'
true identity.
- The
third stage represents
the
influence of each evangelist's particular concerns,
interests and
circumstances.
- This influence may have caused a particular
writer either to add or subtract material, or to reshape material that
he already knew.
- The gospels most closely
resemble the ancient or
Greco-Roman biography,
- a type of writing
intended
to describe the character and integrity of a particular famous
person so that his/her life might serve as an example for
others.
- Often in Greco-Roman
biographies, the main
character would be described as having "divine"
qualities.
-
Although generally not considered to be divine themselves, they
often were described as being a human representative of divine power,
or being particularly "in-touch" with the divine.
- They
were theos
aner ("divine man")
in Greek.
- This
genre also often focuses on the death of the main character as the
time when his integrity is most fully revealed.
Such a focus is also present in the gospels, esp. in Mark.
- Being aware of the genre
of the gospels helps us to know what to expect from our authors:
- they
were less concerned with recording an objective chronology of the events
of Jesus' life (an "objective history" or "historical
truth") and more concerned with preaching (theological
truth), and
so they structured their material with this as their primary goal.
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