The Birth of the Gospels as Biographies
With Analyses of Two Challenging Pericopae
by Jean-Noel Aletti
In the cultural context of the 1st century of our era, to write a life of Jesus–what we call a Gospel–constituted an apparently impossible challenge to overcome. For it was not simply a matter of being inspired by the biblical precedent, the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samson, Samuel and David from sacred writers. It was also necessary to confront the Greco-Roman genre of the biography, whose protagonists were exclusively great men, who enjoyed an excellent societal recognition. Yet, Jesus, rejected by his coreligionists because of his death on the cross as a blasphemer and seducer of the people, could not a priori expect a biography of this genre. The synoptic Gospels have, as a consequence, reconfigured the biographical genre of the era by originally using the phenomenon of the recognition. Behind the birth of the Gospel genre, there is thus the invention of a narrative model, whose focal point is the recognition of Christ in his Easter paradox.
In the cultural context of the 1st century of our era, to write a life of Jesus–what we call a Gospel–constituted an apparently impossible challenge to overcome. For it was not simply a matter of being inspired by the biblical precedent, the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samson, Samuel and David from sacred writers. It was also necessary to confront the Greco-Roman genre of the biography, whose protagonists were exclusively great men, who enjoyed an excellent societal recognition. Yet, Jesus, rejected by his coreligionists because of his death on the cross as a blasphemer and seducer of the people, could not a priori expect a biography of this genre. The synoptic Gospels have, as a consequence, reconfigured the biographical genre of the era by originally using the phenomenon of the recognition. Behind the birth of the Gospel genre, there is thus the invention of a narrative model, whose focal point is the recognition of Christ in his Easter paradox. This model is the raison detre of the narratives attributed to Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
- By (author) Jean-Noel Aletti
Other Titles in this Series
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Essays on Textual Criticism of the Old Testament in Memory of Stephen Pisano
Volume 14
Why Do You Judge Your Brother?
The Rhetorical Function of Apostrophizing in Rom 14:1-15:13
Volume 15
‘Cantero in eterno le misericordie del Signore’ (Sal 89,2)
Studi in onore del prof. Gianni Barbiero in occasione del suo settantesimo compleanno
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La profezia tra l’uno e l’altro Testamento
Studi in onore del prof. Pietro Bovati in occasione del suo settantacinquesimo compleanno
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Rabbinic Literature – A Rich Source for the Interpretation and Implementation of the Old and New Testaments
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Il volto di Dio attraverso il volto dei piccoli: Scritti in onore del prof. don Massimo Grilli in occasione del suo 70 compleanno
Volume 11
The New Testament in the Greco-Roman World
Studies Presented at the Seminar for Biblical Scholars (Pontifical Biblical Institute – Rome, 22-26 January 2024)
Volume 20
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