The purpose of this lesson is to challenge a common view that the New Testament Gospels are not literary. They are not typical literature, but every page of them is filled with literary form and technique. No one can doubt that the Gospels tell the story of Jesus, so they are obviously narrative in nature. Additionally, Jesus is one of the world’s most famous poets.
“[In the Gospels,] single events . . . [leave] pictures printed lastingly on the mind’s eye. The Last Supper is a deathless memory, the prayer in Gethsemane contains all that a tragic poet need learn, all disloyalty is summed in the 30 pieces of silver received by Judas. These symbolic pictures are somehow staggeringly impressive without being sensational. Most are very quietly narrated and the colourings are subdued.”— G. Wilson Knight, The Christian Renaissance