International Workshop: "How do we compare… the Gospels"
An international workshop on the core topic of subproject 2 was held at the University of Bern on 4-5 May 2023. You can find extensive information and some highlights here.
About the Project
Around the same time as the Gospels were written, the Greek philosopher Plutarch wrote 46 biographies in which he told the life stories of important Greeks and Romans. He was not only driven by a historical concern. On the basis of the biographies, Plutarch reflects on fundamental philosophical themes, including the question of the divine and its activity in the world. If Gospel texts and Plutarch's biographies are read side by side, the question arises to what extent not only the early Christians, but also the pagan philosopher believes to recognise the work of the divine in history in the lives of great personalities and draws it into his depictions.
The research project begins with a description and analysis of the history of research on the question of the genre of the Gospels, highlighting basic tendencies, problem areas and blind spots in the discussion. The question of genre is concerned, among other things, with the comparability of the Gospels with other texts of their time, with their self-understanding and with the claim with which they are to be read and understood. From these discussions, a synchronous, reciprocal text comparison is proposed, which pays particular attention to religious aspects of comparative texts and brings them into conversation with the Gospel texts.
In a second part of the research project, such a reciprocal text comparison is carried out on the basis of Plutarch's Life of Numas and the Gospel of Luke. Both texts signal a historical as well as a strong religious interest. They show similar concepts and writerly strategies with regard to the literary depiction of the nature of the divine and its work in the life of the main character. At the same time, exciting differences in detail also emerge. Similarities as well as differences give rise to further theological discussions.
The aim of the project is to develop a new methodology of intercultural text comparison on the basis of the research-historical discussion and the exemplary example carried out, with the help of which religious aspects of pagan texts can be newly opened up and unusual impulses for Gospel exegesis can be gained. Last but not least, the research project also wants to contribute to a better understanding of the Gospels in their literary environment with regard to the discussion of genre.