Jesus, Contradicted

Why the Gospels Tell the Same Story Differently

By: Michael R. Licona

Narrated by: Tom Parks

The differences and discrepancies in the Gospels constitute the foremost objections to their reliability and the credibility of their message. Some have tried to resolve Gospels contradictions with strained harmonization efforts. Many others conclude that the Gospels are hopelessly contradictory and, therefore, historically unreliable accounts of Jesus.

In Jesus, Contradicted, New Testament scholar Michael Licona shows how the genre of ancient biography, to which the Gospels belong, actually allows biographers to be flexible in how they report events, construct a narrative, and make an argument. Licona demonstrates that the intentional changes to the Jesus tradition by the Evangelists reveal that the differences in how the Gospels report events are not grounds for their rejection. Instead, they are a result of the Gospel writers employing standard literary conventions common in their time for writing ancient biography.

Licona introduces readers to the genre of ancient biography through Plutarch, who wrote 48 of the 90 extent biographies written within 150 years of Jesus, giving numerous examples of compositional devices employed by Plutarch, and comparing them with instances in the Gospels where the Evangelists appear to use similar techniques. Licona also examines Theon's Progymnasmata, a first-century textbook that provides six techniques for paraphrasing one's sources when writing a narrative. In doing so, he helps readers understand why the Gospels report many events differently. Finally, Licona concludes by addressing the thorny question of whether the editorial moves commonplace in ancient biography are compatible with the doctrines of the divine inspiration and the inerrancy of Scripture.

Rather than trying to resolve discrepancies by bending the Gospel narrative, which risks making them say things they aren't saying, Jesus, Contradicted situates the Gospels within their proper context and helps readers account for differences in the Gospels in a cohesive and historically cogent way.

Reflection questions and the bibliography can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.

encouraging

I liked that Licona took on the major differences between the gospels in a rational discussion that utilized faith, logic and historical sourcing. I appreciated how he sourced his arguments concerning Gospel writers using literary devices to describe events differently.

Helpful & easy to follow along

Highly recommend to all believers and nonbelievers alike. This is a detailed and intentional presentation of research, broken down for the layperson.

Well Organized and Convincing

Dr. Licona does a good job at explaining what artistic licenses ancient biographers used and showed parallels in scripture. He also explains reasons for believing some Gospels copied from others, reasons for believing in Jesus’ divinity, and reasons for believing that scripture is inspired by God.

This is a very well organized and very well explained book and one that I would recommend to those reading the Gospels their first time. This may certainly put you at ease with scripture and hold it in a high view.

Interesting book

This book has given me much to think about. It has answered many of my questions and I now have the think about it a lot deeper. I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to think a lot of difficult thoughts and pray for answers.

Stretching

This book greatly challenged me. It was so stretching mentally that I had to finish it in less than a week! I am reformulating my thoughts on the Bible’s infallibility and inerrancy, which may not have been correct in the first place. I am thankful for the book being able to tackle an important and controversial problem.