Craig Blomberg, “The Diversity of Literary Genres in the New Testament ,” Interpreting the New TestamentĬonsequently, while scholars acknowledge the formal critical parallels between the Gospel accounts and other ancient historical and biographical documents, there are unique features in matters of content and emphasis. Of course, any genre may be modified, and there are uniquely Christian features in the Gospels. But propaganda need not distort the facts, though it sometimes does. Few, if any, ancient works were written merely for the sake of preserving the facts almost all were trying to put forward and defend certain ideologies or morals.
However, Blomberg continues, “when they are set side by side with various ancient sources, the Gospels compare quite favorably”:Īncient historical standards of precision in narration and in selection and arrangement of material were much less rigid than modern ones. An examination of the early chapters of each Gospel reveals a thumbsketch history of Jesus’ “early years.” As Craig Blomberg demonstrates, modern perceptions of biography are misleading and resulted in earlier scholars questioning the historical value of the Gospels on false assumptions. For example, a gospel is a biography but it is not what a modern person thinks of as a biography since so many anticipated features are missing. This has troubled the academic community for some time. The question about gospel genre speaks to what is its purpose and goal(s). The nature of the genre of the gospel as a narrative is still in somewhat of a debate, and in particular how John’s structural stability or instability is appreciated and explained. Burge observes, the study of what is a gospel genre and its interpretation has been an intense one, especially as it relates to the Gospel of John.
John, as the so-called Fourth Gospel, has presented itself with challenges of every kind. Of the significant unique features of John is the tightly bound chapters, known by many as Jesus’ Farewell Discourse (John 14-16). It is prudent to consider a few preliminary matters to appreciate the way John 16:12-15 delivers on the themes of John and the coming of the Holy Spirit with a view to some application for the modern church. When compared to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John is written in a style all its own - comparable only to the letters of John. John is traditionally regarded as one of the last written books of the New Testament canon at the tail-end of the first-century CE. No truer does this speak to both the complex richness and visual clarity of the Gospel of John. It is deep enough for an elephant to swim in, and yet shallow enough for a lamb to wade through.
The seventeenth-century “non-conformist” English pastor, Ralph Venning, is famous for immortalizing the following line regarding Scripture:
0 kommentar(er)
