What are gospels?

I have noticed in my own life and the lives of others that a fundamental misunderstanding of what the gospels are has caused major problems.  Because much of the Christian faith is based on the historical man Jesus, and because so much of that faith is based on the four gospels, which claim to offer firsthand information regarding him, it is really important that we understand what they are.  I have often been guilty of asking too much or too little of these books, or reading them as one document instead of four.  Here, according to Mark Allan Powell, is how we ought to understand the gospel genre as seen in the New Testament:

-Gospels are “literary artworks” presenting a portrait of Jesus that is distinctive from the other gospels—we should not try to combine the portraits of the gospels to paint a unified picture of Jesus, because this causes us to miss the particular image each gospel writer wanted to present…  First we must recognize the four separate portraits.

-Gospel genre: loosely fits into the genre of “ancient biography”—these were common in the Roman world, with Plutarch writing more than 50.  Mostly were about emperors, generals, heroes, philosophers, and religious leaders.

-Five more things need to be said about the gospel genre:

1. They are compilations—include other genres within their pages, like genealogies, hymns, parables, miracle stories, speeches, pronouncement stories, etc.
2. They are influenced by Jewish literature—written in Greek but by people well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures, which include semibiographical narratives of people like Abraham and Moses. 
3. They are ancient biographies, not modern ones—make no pretense of offering objective or balanced perspectives on Jesus’ life, nor do they report their sources or offer any way for readers to check the reliability of what they wrote.  Further, their treatment is not comprehensive: reveal little about Jesus’ personality or motivation, provide almost no information about his early life, do not describe his physical appearance, etc.  Audiences at this time did not expect such questions to be addressed in biographies—point was to relate accounts that portrayed the essential character of the person so as to invite emulation of him.  Chronology was also typically not of concern, so that events were not reported in the order they occurred but in a sequence likely to have a particular rhetorical effect on its readers.
4. They employ a fictive (“fictionlike”) style of narrative—literary style is closer to that of modern fiction than to modern historical reporting.  This doesn’t speak to the accuracy of what was reported, but the STYLE of writing is similar to today’s historical fiction.  They knew the art of storytelling, employing literary devices such as irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing—so we can talk about the “plot” of a particular gospel, or about how its rhetorical features bring the story to a climax.  Authors in this time treated history as a story and told it with a flair that modern readers associate with fiction.
5. They are overtly evangelistic—most biographies in the ancient world were in one way or another, not simply passing on information but reporting on extraordinary people with the hope that readers would be inspired and motivated to change their values or behaviors accordingly.  The gospel writers clearly tell the story in a way that may inspire people to accept his teaching or practice his way of life.  More than this, the writers make it clear that they believe Jesus’ story has ultimate significance and will affect the lives of all people, whether they believe in him or not.

These items were extremely helpful to me in understanding what the gospels are and what they were intended to be.  These help me not to read too much into these accounts, or expect them to report in certain ways they never intended to.  For example, it is easy to read the gospels with an expectation that they will conform to modern historical writing.  This is very different from the gospels, and while this does not mean that anything reported in the gospels is historically inaccurate, it does mean that this was not their purpose.  So if something is reported differently or in a different sequence in Mark and Luke, it does not mean one is right and one is wrong--it means that the two authors have chosen to present the facts of what happened in different manners and with different purposes.

Hope this is helpful to you as well, and inspires you to pick up those gospels as individual books and learn about who Jesus was and is according to each gospel writer...

Real Baby Fake Baby...

The article below appeared today on CNN.  Needless to say, I was disgusted.  And the question that came to mind was: What causes this?  What on earth is going on inside people that they act in such a way?  Consider those questions as you read...

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- Police have arrested a South Korean couple whose toddler starved to death while they were raising a virtual child online, authorities said.

The couple fed their 3-month-old daughter once a day between marathon stretches in a local Internet cafe, where they were raising a virtual child in the fantasy role-playing game Prius Online, police told local reporters Friday.

Prius Online is a 3-D game in which players nurture an online companion, Anima, a young girl with mysterious powers who grows and increases her skills as the game progresses.

Police have not identified the 41-year-old father and 25-year-old mother, who lived in Suwon, a suburb south of Seoul. But the father apologized, speaking to reporters.

"I wish that she hadn't got sick and that she will live well in heaven forever. And as the father, I am sorry," he said.

The baby reportedly died five months ago.

South Korea has one of the world's fastest broadband networks. Seoul has won international awards for e-governance. Online gaming teams are sponsored by major conglomerates and 24-hour, high-speed Internet cafes, known as PC Bangs, dot every urban neighborhood.

Police said the couple had lost their jobs and used the game as an escape from reality, especially after the birth of their premature baby.

"They instead played an online game in which they raised a virtual character so as to escape from reality, which led to the death of their real baby," Chung Jin-won, a police officer in Suwon, told Yonhap News Agency.

"South Korea remains a very conservative society so people who fall outside the norm can come under severe stress and pressure," said Michael Breen, the Seoul-based author of "The Koreans."

"The Internet has provided such people with a paradise to escape to and simply get lost in."

Now what do you think?  I welcome your thoughts.  What is behind such escapism?  Such blatant disregard for life, even the life of your own flesh and blood.  I do not understand it, but I think we can find a clue by looking at the current state of our culture.  By "culture" I don't mean American culture, or Korean culture in this case, but our world's culture.  How have we gotten to where we are?  How have we come to value the things we value?  Personally, I think much of the root of the problem, the source of such terrible, self-centered actions is our relativism.  There is no truth, nothing grounded.  There may be norms of acceptable behavior, which differ from society to society or country to country.  But these norms are not accepted as truth, but only expectations.  There is no absolute truth, so there is no "right" way to treat your spouse, or your kids, or a stranger.  There is no "right" way to live.  I think this has led to the general acceptance of selfish behavior.  If there is no "right" way to live, then I can live however I want.  Don't tell me how to live, or that my way isn't right--it's right for ME, we say.  So our relativism has led to selfishness, which has made all sorts of behavior normal.

I think one of the most acceptable forms of behavior in our world culture is escapism.  The escapism that leads us to consume vast amounts of TV so we don't have to deal with our issues.  The escapism that leads us to eat vast amounts of food so we don't have to deal with our emotions.  The escapism that leads to adults playing hours of video games each day.  Or spending hours browsing the internet.  Or, in my own personal sphere, spending hours playing "fantasy sports"...  What, exactly, are we trying to escape from???  Our own mortality?  Our issues?  Our LIVES?

Why on earth this couple would take part in a fantasy internet game (about raising a human) and forsake actually raising their own daughter is beyond comprehension. It is utterly disgusting.  Despicable.  But the further our culture fades into relativism, and then into selfishness, the more such behavior will happen.  

May we all escape from our escapist tendencies.

May we drink in the life that is front of us, life that is calling to be lived to the full.

And more than anything, may we realize there is a right way to live, a way that loves and values life and sacrifices for others.  A way that lays down its own right to be selfish...