NT309 Critical Issues in the Synoptic Gospels
Overview
Explore the historical reliability of the Gospels and the controversy of miracles. Probe the Gospels as biographies recounting historical information passed down through written and oral traditions and eyewitness accounts.
Top Highlights
“Memorization was the most widespread feature of ancient education.” (source)
“The Gospels fit the genre of ancient biographies. A biography was just about the only kind of work focused on a single character. Biographies fell within a very particular range of length: precisely that of the Gospels. Unlike dramas, they weren’t in poetry, they were written in prose. Biographies often started with or focused on the hero’s public career. If the person’s death was significant—say, a martyrdom—they would focus a lot on that, as we have in the Gospels.” (source)
“Genre doesn’t settle all the historical questions, but it does suggest where we should start, and that is not with the premise that the Gospel writers are simply making things up, but rather with the premise that they’re probably depending on a substantial amount of information that they edit and present in a certain way—but that they actually are depending on information.” (source)
“Source and form criticism asked historical questions, but redaction criticism came back closer to the question of meaning.” (source)
“Except for historical monographs like Acts and for biographies, historical works were usually many volumes, but biographies usually were one volume, and they were historical in character. Historians and biographers both sought to teach moral lessons through their work, but through facts, not through fabrication. Both sought to be entertaining like novels, but by their arrangement of information, not by fabrication.” (source)
- Title: NT309 Critical Issues in the Synoptic Gospels
- Author: Craig Keener
- Series: Logos Mobile Education
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Print Publication Date: 2016
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Courseware
- Subjects: Bible. N.T. Gospels › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Bible. N.T. Gospels › Evidences, authority, etc; Education › Bible. N.T. Gospels--Criticism, interpretation, etc; Education › Bible. N.T. Gospels--Evidences, authority, etc; Education › Miracles; Miracles
- Resource ID: LLS:NT309KEENER
- Resource Type: Courseware Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-12T04:49:52Z
Dr. Craig S. Keener (PhD, Duke University) is professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, and is the author of 17 books, four of which have won book awards in Christianity Today. One, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, has sold more than half a million copies. He has authored scholarly commentaries on Matthew, John (two volumes), Acts (four volumes), and more briefly on Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Revelation. Dr. Keener is married to Dr. Médine Moussounga Keener, who spent 18 months as a refugee in her nation of Congo before their marriage.