Challenging the widely accepted classification of the canonical gospels as biographies or historiographies, the author argues that they should be classified as collections of folk literature from early Christianity. Drawing on comparative register analysis and re-introducing literary and sociolinguistic insights from the twentieth-century form critics, this insightful study challenges readers to rethink the significance of gospels for understanding Jesus’s historical context and relevance for modern readers. The gospels are not merely designed to inform readers about the life of Jesus but also to push readers into accepting or rejecting his teaching. It is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the gospel genre and the intentions of the evangelists who compiled them.
The earliest substantive sources available for historical Jesus research are in the Gospels themselves; when interpreted in their early Jewish setting, their picture of Jesus is more coherent and plausible than are the competing theories offered by many modern scholars. So argues Craig Keener in The Historical Jesus of the Gospels. In exploring the depth and riches of the material found in the Synoptic Gospels, Keener shows how many works on the historical Jesus emphasize just one aspect of the Jesus tradition against others, but a much wider range of material in the Jesus tradition makes sense in an ancient Jewish setting. Keener masterfully uses a broad range of evidence from the early Jesus traditions and early Judaism to reconstruct a fuller portrait of the Jesus who lived in history.
This excellent commentary on Matthew offers a unique interpretive approach that focuses on the socio-historical context of the Gospel and the nature of Matthew's exhortation to his first-century Christian audience. By merging a careful study of Matthew's Gospel in relation to the social context of the ancient Mediterranean world with a detailed look at what we know of first-century Jewish-Christian relations, Craig Keener uncovers significant insights into the Gospel not found in any other Matthew commentary. In addition, Keener's commentary is a useful discipleship manual for the church. His unique approach recaptures the full "shock effect" of Jesus' teachings in their original context and allows Matthew to make his point with greater narrative artistry. Keener also brings home the total impact of Matthew's message, including its clear portrait of Jesus and its call for discipleship, both to the Gospel's ancient readers and to believers today.
The genre of biography in the ancient world is interestingly diverse and permeable and deserves intensive study, bearing as it does on ideas of characterization and the individual. This volume considers both the form and the content of biography across the ancient world, and is particularly interested in the frontiers with other related genres, such as history. The papers range from the Old Testament to the Arab world, from the New Testament to the Lives of Saints, from the classic Greek and Roman biographers to less well known practitioners of the art.
Keener's commentary explores the Jewish and Greco-Roman settings of John more deeply than previous works, paying special attention to social-historical and rhetorical features of the Gospel. It cites about 4,000 different secondary sources and uses over 20,000 references from ancient literature.
Karl Ludwig Schmidt’s classic Die Stellung der Evangelien der allgemeinen Literaturgeschichte was one of a handful of twentieth-century essays on the New Testament to set the agenda for an entire generation of New Testament scholars. First published in 1923, the text laid out Schmidt’s contention that the gospels represent a literary genre that does not derive from others in the ancient world. In portraying the gospels as the written record of an oral tradition rather than as biographical or historical text, the German scholar found points of comparison with Sayings of the Desert Fathers and the later collections of Faust legends. Schmidt’s powerful argument has commanded attention in Germany for decades but has never before been fully available in English. In recent years the question of gospel genre has reemerged as an issue of debate. With this translation, Byron R. McCane enables a new generation of English-speaking scholars to engage with Schmidt’s classic perspective on an enduring question. In an introduction to the volume, John Riches places Schmidt’s landmark study in its context. He locates the text among the writings of the form critics, with whom Schmidt allied himself, and relates it to Schmidt’s own still untranslated study of the topography and chronology of the gospels. He documents the essay’s reception in the English-speaking world and critically examines the way Schmidt is understood in present-day discussion of the genre of the gospels. Riches also explores how recent efforts to classify the gospels as ancient biographies have in many ways misread and misrepresented Schmidt’s views - errors that this translation will help rectify.
This study critically examines the current state of Synoptic Gospel studies, particularly many scholars' reliance on the Literary Dependence Hypothesis, and endeavors to advance a more balanced approach. The author attempts to deduce the Synoptic Gospels' construction process by meticulously examining the Eucharist and its co-text within these Gospels, by employing a model of Mode Register Analysis based on Systemic Functional Linguistics. This study uncovers the probability that each designated text in the Synoptic Gospels was constructed based on oral Gospel tradition(s) under the influence of each constructor’s identity.
The 'Dictionary of New Testament Background' joins the 'Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels', the 'Dictionary of Paul and his Letters' and the 'Dictionary of the Later New Testament and its Developments' as the fourth in a landmark series of reference works on the Bible. In a time when our knowledge of the ancient Mediterranean world has grown, this volume sets out for readers the wealth of Jewish and Greco-Roman background that should inform our reading and understanding of the New Testament and early Christianity. 'The Dictionary of New Testament Background', takes full advantage of the flourishing study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and offers individual articles focused on the most important scrolls. In addition, the Dictionary encompasses the fullness of second-temple Jewish writings, whether pseudepigraphic, rabbinic, parables, proverbs, histories or inscriptions. Articles abound on aspects of Jewish life and thought, including family, purity, liturgy and messianism. The full scope of Greco-Roman culture is displayed in articles ranging across language and rhetoric, literacy and book benefactors, travel and trade, intellectual movements and ideas, and ancient geographical perspectives. No other reference work presents so much in one place for students of the New Testament. Here an entire library of scholarship is made available in summary form. The Dictionary of New Testament Background can stand alone, or work in concert with one or more of its companion volumes in the series. Written by acknowledged experts in their fields, this wealth of knowledge of the New Testament era is carefully aimed at the needs of contemporary students of the New Testament. In addition, its full bibliographies and cross-references to other volumes in the series will make it the first book to reach for in any investigation of the New Testament in its ancient setting.
From beginning to end, the Gospel of Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is the Son of God. In this comprehensive introduction to Matthew, David Bauer presents a holistic inductive approach with a literary, theological, and canonical focus. Exploring issues of genre, interpretive methods, authorship, audience, and literary structure, he also guides readers through interpretation and emerging theological themes.
