Sanzio 01 Socrates (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Just putting some thoughts on paper here. The first recorded genre classification of the Gospels were by Justin Martyr. He writes,
All who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits (Apology I 67.3)
So, some have taken this to point to the ancient biographies although few knew the difference between ancient and modern biographies. But, I was thinking… Maybe Justin, the Platonist, used the word in a similar fashion to Xenophon who wrote some memoirs of Socrates (So-crates). These Memorabilia of Socrates presents the teacher as defending himself against the charges of the Athenians, but unlike Socrates’ Apology by the same author, this work is a running commentary on sayings and other things of Socrates meant to prove the innocence of the philosopher who died for his people. It is filled with dialogue, narrative, and other genres cobbled together by Xenophon, not as a matter of recording history but as a matter of preserving truth. Tons of stuff in there.
I’m not saying Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John were writing to in the style of Xenophon; however, their style may have allowed Justin to place the two together, especially if the early Church understand the Gospels as a defense of Jesus rather than a record of Jesus.
Thoughts?
Related articles
- Solomon, Socrates, and Aristotle in Pompeii? (rogueclassicism.com)
- Jesus and Plato (modernplatonist.wordpress.com)
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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[...] the “Memoirs of the Apostles”October 17, 2012 By Michael F. Bird Leave a CommentOver at Unsettled Christianity, Joel Watts has a post about Justin Martyr and his references to the Gospels as “memoirs of [...]
[...] As for the term “memoirs,” see other interesting posts from a few months ago by Joel Watts and Mike Bird. Both think the clearest parallel is to Xenophon’s Memorabilia of [...]