WHY ARE THERE DIFFERENCES IN THE GOSPELS? HB

Anyone who reads the Gospels carefully will notice that there are differences in the manner in which they report the same events. These differences have led many conservative Christians to resort to harmonization efforts that are often quite strained, sometimes to the point of absurdity.

Many people have concluded the Gospels are hopelessly contradictory and, therefore, historically unreliable accounts of Jesus. The majority of New Testament scholars now hold that most, if not all, of the Gospels belong to the genre of Greco-Roman biography and that this genre permitted some flexibility in the manner that historical events were narrated. However, few scholars provide a robust discussion on how this plays out in Gospel pericopes (self-contained passages).

'Why Are There Differences in the Gospels?' provides a fresh approach to the matter by examining the works of Plutarch, a Greek essayist who lived in the first and second centuries CE. Michael R. Licona discovers three-dozen pericopes narrated two or more times in Plutarch's Lives, identifies differences between the accounts, and views these differences in light of compositional devices acknowledged by classical scholars to have been commonly employed by ancient authors. The book then uses the same approach with nineteen pericopes narrated in two or more Gospels to demonstrate that the major differences found in them likely result from the same compositional devices employed by Plutarch.

By suggesting that both the strained harmonizations and the hasty dismissals of the Gospels as reliable accounts are misguided, Licona invites readers to view the Gospels in light of their biographical genre in order to gain a clearer understanding of why the differences are present.

'Licona's book is the most important book I've ever read on the literary techniques of the Evangelists. There is no book that has this finesse based on the Gospel genre as a "biography" and hence this study can be used with confidence in classes engaged in the Synoptic Gospels. His conclusions about how the Evangelists did what they did are reliable and give us yet one more clear glimpse in how to understand the nature of the Gospels.' - Scot McKnight, Jesus Creed

Michael R. Licona, Associate Professor of Theology, Houston Baptist University, and Foreword by Craig A. Evans, John Bisagno Distinguished Professor of Christian Origins and Dean of the School of Christian Thought, Houston Baptist University

Michael R. Licona is Associate Professor of Theology at Houston Baptist University.

Book review by GLO General Director, Dr. Stephen McQuoid 09/03/2017 'Why are there Differences in the Gospels' is written by the well-known Christian apologist and New Testament scholar Michael Licona. In this book he tackles a question that has often concerned many devout Christians, namely, why are there so many differences between the gospels even though they are supposed to be divinely inspired? The problem has, of course, been compounded by critics who make much of the differences, suggesting that they take away from the credibility of scripture.

Licona’s response is an interesting one. Rather than doing violence to the texts and subjecting them to what he calls ‘a sort of hermeneutical waterboarding’ (p.201) so that they say what the reader wants them to say, he chooses to see the Gospels against their literary background. Essentially he does this by agreeing with the majority of scholars who believe the gospels to be in the genre of Greco-Roman biography. He then examines the writings of the Roman historian Plutarch who wrote extensive biographies (Plutarch’s Lives), also in Greek and at a similar time period to the gospel writers. He examines numerous periscopes from Plutarch biographies and identifies lots of literary devices that are used as part of his storytelling. These include transferal – transferring words and deeds from one person to another, displacement – taking an event out of one context and putting it into another, conflation – combining elements from two or more events, compression – shortening the duration of a story, spotlighting – focussing on one person at the expense of another, simplification – leaving out peripheral material, expansion – writing with flair for emphasis and paraphrasing. These elements are used to tell the story so as to focus the reader on the hero. They should not be seen as a reason for questioning the basic accuracy of the historian. Rather, ancient historians should be seen in their own context and not pictured as modern historians or journalists whose only concern is precision. In other words, Plutarch should be read within his own context and we should not impose modern literary norms on him as we read.

From this point Licona looks at numerous instances in the gospels where there ‘appear’ to be discrepancies, but where a more intelligent conclusion would be to assume that the gospel writers are using the normal literary conventions of their day. Licona identifies the literary devices that are being used but also adds some other interesting insights. For example, he notes that even though the gospels do indeed fit into the Greco-Roman biography genre, the extent of their use of literary devices is minimal compared to historians such as Plutarch and in particular they are extremely cautious about utilising paraphrasing. He also notes that the gospels usually only employ these devices when dealing with minor issues in the accounts. Again he insists that the reliability of the gospels cannot reasonably be questioned because these devices emphasize truth not detract from it. He compares the process to a photographer who takes a picture of a couple walking through the countryside hand in hand and later adds a slight haze that was not originally there, to enforce the story of the romance. No one looking at that photo would assume that the event did not take place and in the way that the picture suggests.

This book is academic as you would expect, coming from Oxford University Press, but it is not inaccessible. It is helpfully detailed and demonstrates that those who question the historic reliability of the gospels are reading them in an uninformed way. Anyone teaching the gospels, or indeed anyone interested in apologetics who would wish to better equip themselves, would find this book very helpful. It will, I believe, become a core textbook in the not too distant future.

Published: 12 January 2017 Oxford University Press USA

336 Pages - 3 illustrations