Hey, I'm editing my "Jesus book" manuscript, and I need your help.
Several years ago, Asbell told me that the absence of infancy narratives in the four Gospels was actually not all that unique for ancient stories. He suggested that biographical propaganda of the surrounding time/culture typically recounted a hero's birth and then -- boom -- the story jumped to his adult exploits.
He cited a source for this idea (I think), but I don't know what it was.
I have a pretty good collection of references on Jesus and the Gospels, but I'm coming up empty on any discussion of childhood/infancy narratives in the Gospels and their similarity or dissimilarity to other ancient biographies.
Anybody know of a secondary source where I might see this notion confirmed or contested?
Scratch that: Anybody HAVE a secondary source on this? I'm footnoting this discussion and need to be able to provide page numbers. If I can't find a source, I won't mention this discussion in the book at all.
Thanks ahead of time!
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Robert, thanks. I've got that book and have read that entry. I'm looking for something with a lengthier discussion, though.
I'm going to take your email addy out of the comment, btw, to protect you from spambots and other snoopy sorts. :-)
Unfortunately, my library's all packed for the move, and I don't know when I'll have everything out again. How soon do you need it?
Ideally? Tomorrow. :-)
But I can hold out till the end of the month.
If you've got something in there that could help out, I'd appreciate it much, AM.
AM, packing books away is probably the thing I hate most about moving. :-(
Bird, at least books are regular in shape. Much as I dislike putting my library out of my reach, it's the things that I cannot for the life of me figure out how to pack that drive me up the wall. :( Once you're well into things, though, yeah, it's the books I miss the most.
Fortunately, one of the good things about being a pastor is that the church pays people to do the packing and the moving; that's about the only reason I'm sane right now.
Jared, I know I do, and I'll certainly try to get everything dug out in time. If I can't manage that, I'll try to remember which book(s) I'm looking for so I can give you the reference(s); this isn't terribly arcane, after all. (The frustrating thing is that I can half see the page, even, but I can't remember titles or anything actually useful. I hate it when I do that.)
BTW, random note: I tagged you guys in another meme, which you should like better this time--"five things I'm thankful for."
Thanks, man!
Even if it's a journal article or something, that'd be great.
If anybody else knows of something in the meantime, feel free to mention it also.
Jared,
I'm sorry to say that I can't remember! I'd blame it on getting old, but the truth is that I've always been agonizingly mindful of stray odd details while remaining fuzzy on particulars.
I suspect that I got these notions from Richard Burridge, who has done much work on the genre of the gospels. His main work is What Are The Gospels?: A Comparison With Graeco-roman Biography. I'm now trying to figure out if that's a book that actually own or not. So far, I can't put my hands on it. I've looked up a few references in another book of his, Four Gospels, One Jesus?, and find a few hints of what I was saying.
The content of Graeco-Roman biographies also has similarities with the gospels. They begin with a brief mention of the hero's ancestry, family or city, followed by his birth and an occasional anecdote about his upbringing; usually we move rapidly on to his public debut later in life. (Four Gospels, One Jesus?, p.7)
Furthermore, while Mark's Jesus bounds on to the stage fully grown, Matthew makes his account more like ancient biographies by providing some information about Jesus' ancestry, origin, and birth. Ancient lives often included these topics, before jumping ahead to subject's arrival on the public scene, although this was usually done briefly, rather than the full treatment we expect in modern biography.(p.67)
I'm sure that Burridge's academic work, What Are the Gospels?, would give examples from ancient biographies.
Of course, some Jewish stories from our Bible follow the pattern of relating the details of the hero's birth before moving on to the main story. I'm thinking particularly of Moses and the way Matthew's story of Jesus mirrors it.
Hope this helps. I'll continue looking to see if I own the other book.
Asbell, you. are. awesome.
What a way to pop your head back in. (Dare I hope for a post? :-)
I've got Burridge's "Four Gospels, One Jesus?", and I'm ashamed to say I didn't think to look in it b/c I figured it was a more popular work and wouldn't cover such detail. The passages you mention would work just fine, I think.
I can't believe it was under my nose, but at least now I have the comfort of knowing I can put my hands on a source. Thanks, man!
AM, don't hurry to unpack your books on my account.
Hurry to unpack them b/c they are mad at you for cramming them into darkness.
Yeah, Burridge is one of the guys I was thinking of; the other main one, I think, is one of my wife's references on Roman history.
Asbell, thanks for taking care of that. :) Now I just have to worry that the movers may have packed a couple bags of garbage by accident. :(
Jared,
I found an entry here - and can e-mail you the text if you want(it's on my Logos computer program).
Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight and I. Howard Marshall, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 60 (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1992).
Here's the lead paragraph, with more specifics following (too much to paste here):
The question of the genre of the birth narratives is still being debated, and opinions vary as to whether these stories are more like pagan birth legends or like Jewish infancy narratives, with most scholars now persuaded that they are closer to the latter than the former.