Gospels as Biography vs. Autobiography: Genre and Christology
This paper examines the literary genre of the New Testament Gospels, arguing that they are not biographies in the contemporary sense. Drawing on Boring's scholarship, it contrasts the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life with a conventional autobiography such as one about Abraham Lincoln, highlighting differences in chronology, psychological development, and narrative structure. The paper also explores the distinctive elements of Gospel genre — including kerygma, anonymous community production, and the fusion of horizons — and discusses how a modern Gospel for a faith community might be constructed. Special attention is given to the distinction between Kenosis Christology and Epiphany Christology and how Mark's Gospel blends both approaches.
- Introduction: The Gospels and the Question of Genre: Gospels introduced as significant but not biographies
- How the Gospels Differ from Conventional Biography: Contrast with Lincoln autobiography on chronology and psychology
- Distinctive Elements of Gospel Genre: Kerygma, community production, and fusion of horizons
- Writing a Gospel for a Modern Faith Community: Episodic themes applied to modern Christian life
- Kenosis and Epiphany Christology: Two Christological models defined and contrasted
- Mark's Blending of Christological Approaches: Mark unites both Christologies; author's own emphasis
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper anchors its argument in a concrete comparative framework — measuring the Gospels against the recognizable standard of a conventional autobiography — making an abstract literary distinction accessible and clear.
- It integrates specialist theological vocabulary (kerygma, Kenosis Christology, Epiphany Christology) while providing brief, clear definitions, showing both content knowledge and awareness of audience.
- The personal reflection on writing a Gospel for a faith community gives the argument a practical dimension, moving from analysis to application.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates genre analysis as an academic method: rather than simply summarizing what the Gospels say, the student interrogates the formal properties of Gospel literature — chronology, characterization, authorship, theological function — and uses those properties to draw a principled distinction from biographical writing. This is supported by consistent citation of a single authoritative secondary source (Boring), showing how to build an argument on scholarly foundations.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by establishing the topic and thesis. It then builds the comparison between Gospels and autobiography before introducing Gospel-specific genre elements. The middle section shifts to constructive theology, describing what a modern Gospel would look like and introducing Christological categories. The paper closes by analyzing Mark's Gospel as a model that blends Kenosis and Epiphany Christology, ending with the student's own theological emphasis. The progression moves from descriptive analysis to normative application.
Introduction: The Gospels and the Question of Genre
The Gospels in the New Testament are books written during a period of enormous literary production, and they remain among the most important works in Christian literature. Their significance — in both early and modern Christianity — stems from their presentation of the earthly life and teachings of Jesus Christ from different perspectives, each shaped by the individual author's experience. In some respects, the Gospels are widely regarded as examples of early biography, which has fueled ongoing debate about whether they should be classified as biographies. However, as this paper argues, the Gospels about the life of Jesus differ fundamentally from a conventional autobiography — such as one about Abraham Lincoln — because they are not biographies in the modern sense.
How the Gospels Differ from Conventional Biography
According to Boring (2012), it is widely acknowledged that the Gospels are not biographies in the contemporary sense. They do not provide a physical description of Jesus' appearance, nor do they trace his psychological development over time. Additionally, the books do not relate Jesus' experiences and events in a precise chronological order. In this regard, the Gospels about Jesus' life differ markedly from an autobiography of Abraham Lincoln, which would be presented in an accurate chronological sequence. Unlike the story of Jesus in the Gospels, an autobiography of Abraham Lincoln would show his psychological development from childhood and demonstrate how the events of his life are causally and chronologically connected.
Furthermore, the Gospels' account of Jesus' life differs from a conventional autobiography through the incorporation of distinctive elements unique to the Gospel genre — including kerygma, anonymous community production, and the simultaneity and fusion of horizons.
Distinctive Elements of Gospel Genre
These genre-specific elements set the Gospels apart from any form of personal memoir or biography. Kerygma refers to the proclamatory character of the Gospel texts: they are not neutral historical records but theological announcements addressed to communities of faith. Anonymous community production reflects the fact that, unlike a named autobiographer writing from a single perspective, the Gospels emerged from early Christian communities whose collective witness shaped the texts. The fusion of horizons — a concept that captures how the world of the original narrative and the world of the reader are brought together — means that, when reading the Gospels, the events of Jesus' life are not simply past occurrences but living address to the present reader.
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