What Are the Gospels?: A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, Series Number 70) - Softcover

Burridge, Richard A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521483638 ISBN 13: 9780521483636

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1995

Synopsis

In this work Dr Burridge contends that scholarly study of the genre of the Gospels has gone full circle over the last century of critical scholarship. The question of how the Gospels should be categorised is still a vexed one and - surprisingly - there is still no consensus. This book analyses and evaluates the debate over the course of the last century. It shows that while the nineteenth-century assumption that the Gospels could be likened to biographies has been denied by the mainstream scholarship of this century, in recent years a biographical genre has begun to be assumed once more. Dr Burridge provides a good foundation for the re-introduction of this biographical view of the Gospels by comparing the work of the Evangelists to the development of biography in the Graeco-Roman world, and by drawing on insights from literary theory. The author shows that the view that the Gospels are unique, which is still widespread among biblical scholars, is false: a first-century reader would have seen the Gospels as biographies, or 'Lives' of Jesus, and they must therefore be interpreted in this light.

About this title

Book Description

Dr Burridge contends that scholarly study of the genre of the Gospels has gone full circle over the last century of critical scholarship.

From the Back Cover

Richard Burridgebs acclaimed study of the Christian Gospels is significantly updated and expanded in this second edition. Here Burridge engages the field of Gospel studies over the last hundred years, arguing convincingly for viewing the Gospels as biographical documents of the sort common throughout the Graeco-Roman world. In pursuing the question of his bookbs title, Burridge compares the work of the Christian evangelists with that of Graeco-Roman biographers. Drawing on insights from literary theory, he demonstrates that the widespread view of the Gospels as unique is false and discusses what a properly bbiographicalb perspective means for Gospel interpretation. New to this second edition of "What Are the Gospels?" are a long final chapter detailing the recent paradigm shift in Gospel scholarship -- a shift due in large part to this very book -- a foreword by Graham Stanton, and an appendix on the absence of comparable early Jewish biographies.

Praise for the first edition:

bOne of the hotly debated topics of recent years has been what type of literature the Gospels are. Richard Burridge reviews the data and discussion and proposes a solution. . . . This treatment of the questions will serve as a standard for future work.b
-- "Religious Studies Review"

bBurridgebs book is the most comprehensive and lucid discussion of the genre of the Gospels yet undertaken. . . . This is a book that students of the Gospels cannot afford to avoid. . . . It is a truly astonishing tour de force -- interdisciplinary biblical scholarship at its very best.b
-- "Biblical Interpretation"

bBurridge reexamines the old question of the genre of a Gospel. He situates it within the fluidgenre of Graeco-Roman biography through a study exacting in terms of new methods, a wealth of data, and rigor. . . . This is an immensely learned volume. . . . It not only represents a superb survey of the topic but also breaks new ground.b
-- "Catholic Biblical Quarterly"

bThis volume ought to end any legitimate denials of the canonical Gospelsb biographical character. It has made its case.b
-- "Journal of Biblical Literature"

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521483638
• ISBN 13: 9780521483636
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 306