9780310159599

0310159598

9780310159605

"New Testament scholar Michael Licona offers a fresh approach to the question of differences, discrepancies, and apparent contradictions found in the Gospels"-- Provided by publisher.

"The differences and discrepancies in the Gospels constitute one of the foremost objections to their reliability and the credibility of their message. Some have tried to resolve Gospels contradictions with strained harmonization efforts. Others conclude that the Gospels are hopelessly contradictory and, therefore, historically unreliable accounts of Jesus. In Jesus, Contradicted, New Testament scholar Michael Licona shows how the genre of ancient biography, to which the Gospels belong, actually allows biographers to be flexible in how they report events, construct a narrative, and make an argument. Licona demonstrates that the intentional changes to the Jesus tradition by the Evangelists reveal that the differences in how the Gospels report events are not grounds for their rejection. Instead, they are a result of the Gospel writers employing standard literary conventions common in their time for writing ancient biography. Using Plutarch's work, Licona offers numerous examples of compositional devices employed in Plutarch's biographies and compares them with instances in the Gospels where the Evangelists appear to use similar techniques. Licona also examines Theon's Progymnasmata, a first-century textbook that provides several techniques for paraphrasing sources when writing a narrative. In doing so, he helps readers understand why the Gospels report many events differently. Finally, he concludes by addressing the thorny question of whether the editorial moves commonplace in ancient biography are compatible with the doctrines of the divine inspiration and the inerrancy of Scripture. Rather than trying to resolve discrepancies by bending the Gospel narratives, which risks making them say things they aren't saying, Jesus, Contradicted situates the Gospels within their proper context and helps readers account for differences in the Gospels in a cohesive and historically cogent way." -- Publisher, inside flaps of dust jacket.

The quest for a better answer

Normal variation in reporting and the use of sources

Who wrote first?

The gospels as biography

Truth-telling in ancient biography

Compositional textbooks

Plutarch and more compositional devices

Transferal

Displacement

The outer limits of compositional devices

Fine-tuning our doctrine of scripture : Inspiration

Fine-tuning our doctrine of scripture : Inerrancy

Final thoughts

Appendix.

Bible. Gospels > Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Biography > To 500.