Difference Between the Gospels and Biographies

The Gospels in the New Testament are books that were written at a time when there was huge literary production and remain one of the most important components in Christian literature. The significance of these books in early and modern Christian literature is attributable to their presentation of the earthly life and teachings of Jesus Christ from different perspective i.e. based on the author’s experience. In some cases, the Gospels are widely regarded as examples of early biography, which have led to the idea of the Gospels being biographies. However, the Gospels about the life of Jesus differ from an autobiography of Abraham Lincoln since these books are not biographies.
According to Boring (2012), it is widely acknowledged that the Gospels are not biographies in the contemporary sense. The Gospels are not biographies since they do not provide a description of the appearance and psychological development of Jesus. Additionally, these books do not relate Jesus’ experiences and events in a precise chronological order. In this regard, the Gospels about Jesus’ life differ from an autobiography of Abraham Lincoln on the premise that the latter is presented in an accurate chronological order. Unlike the story of Jesus’ life in the Gospels, an autobiography of Abraham Lincoln shows his psychological development from childhood and demonstrates how events in his life are linked to each other chronologically. Moreover, the Gospels’ account of Jesus’ life differ from an autobiography of Abraham Lincoln through incorporating the unique elements in Gospel genre such as kerygma, anonymous community production, and simultaneity, fusion of horizons.
Using the distinctive elements of the Gospel genre in writing a Gospel of Jesus Christ, I would say that the Gospel is about the themes from the life and teachings of Jesus that can be applied to modern Christian confession and life. In this case, the Gospel is episodic, rather than anecdotal since the episodes are combined across overarching themes. When reading the themes from this Gospel, Jesus is not only the character in the story, but also acts and speaks to and in the reader’s world. Therefore, the portrayal of Jesus in this Gospel would be as human i.e. his person and character as well as divine i.e. as God speaking through the story.
As part of understanding this Gospel, the reader or parishioner will need to understand Kenosis Christology and Epiphany Christology. Kenosis Christology is emptying Christology in which Jesus is portrayed as human who is devoid of divine power. In this theology, the earthly Jesus is depicted as truly human with weaknesses that are relatively similar to the weaknesses of other humans. An example of such portrayal is when Jesus was about to face persecution and prayed at the mount Gethsemane. On the contrary, Epiphany Christology is where Jesus is portrayed as the powerful son of God with divine power unlike humans (Boring, 2006).
In his Gospel, Mark blends Kenosis Christology and Epiphany Christology, which contributes to significant difference from Matthew, Matthew from Luke, and Luke from John. Mark blends these two aspects of Christology by focusing on the person and character of Jesus as well as his divine power and works. This blend is also evident in the fact that Mark does not choose one Christology over the other and uses each to either affirm or correct the other (Boring, 2006). Mark blends the two by portraying the true identity of Jesus as he dies weak like humans while constantly demonstrating the Messianic power at work within the life of Jesus as the powerful son of God unlike humans. The Gospel I would write to my faith community would be similar to Mark’s Gospel in terms of blending Kenosis and Epiphany Christology, but different through using Epiphany Christology to affirm the other. This is largely because Christ’s coming was to demonstrate God’s power and his human form was basically a channel for doing so. The emphasis of the mystery of Christ I would emphasize is His divine nature and power.
References
Boring, M.E. (2012). An introduction to the New Testament: history, literature and theology. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
Boring, M.E. (2006). Mark: a commentary. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.