Is there a biography of Jesus Christ?

Answer 1

A gospel is a scripture, usually written in the form of a biography, but the gospels are a genre separate from biography. A biography should tell us facts about events in the life of the subject person or about his personality, and if the biography is found not to be substantially factual it is no longer a biography. On the other hand, a gospel remains a gospel whether or not it is factual.

To test the above comparison, we should examine the histories of the New Testament gospels. Scholars have established that Mark's Gospel was written first and that Matthew and Lukewere substantially based on that original gospel. In fact, the term 'synoptic' comes about because when the three gospels are laid in parallel and read synoptically ('with the same eye') in the original Greek language, it can be seen that there is a literary dependency among them, and further analysis shows that Markwas indeed the first of the synoptic gospels. Scholars have also established that John's Gospel was loosely based on Luke, with some material taken direct from Mark. This means that the authors of Matthew, Luke and John were relying on Mark's Gospel to be substantially factual. If Mark was not, then their own gospels would not be.

One way to assess the reliability of Mark as a story of the life and mission of Jesus is to look at how it was written. If it shows signs of artificiality, then it was probably not based on actual events. The entire gospel is based around a parallel structure, a litertary sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another, parallel set of events that mirrors the first, providing emphasis and creating narratives by context and association:A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

Notice that each important event has a matching event in just the right sequence. This is too neat and artificial to be based on real life. This is evidence that the author knew little or nothing about the life and mission of Jesus, but created a narrative around Jesus, using what few facts he knew from sources such as Paul's epistles. Dennis R MacDonald also provides credible evidence in The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark that two of the sources that inspired Mark were the Iliad and the Odyssey. Once again, Mark is not a biography. And if Mark is not a biography, then Matthew, Lukeand John are not biographies in the literal sense.

Answer 2

There is no definitive biographical account of Jesus Christ outside of the Gospels in The Bible. The Gospels provide the primary source of information about his life, teachings, and actions, although there are also some historical references to him from non-Christian sources.

Answer 3

Yes...it's called the New Testament. It is part of the JudeoChristian bible. Read especially the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the bible.