The subject is a complex one, and best illustrated first with contemporary examples, before discussing whether Biblical literature reflects a similar situation. Is a movie like Braveheart<\/em> or JFK<\/em> history? Is it fiction? Would a hybrid category like \u201chistorical fiction\u201d adequately capture it? The situation seems to be that of a spectrum, rather than one that a threefold typology can do justice to.<\/p>\n On one end, we can have sources that are the primary sources of history. An individual\u2019s memoirs and writings about their own experiences would fall into this category. Note that this does not mean that such works are completely accurate historically. Is there no one who doubts the extent to which Confessions of a Dangerous Mind<\/em> reflects reality? It may provide accurate information, but this cannot simply be assumed.<\/p>\n On the other end of the spectrum we have \u2018pure fiction\u2019. Even this can provide important types of useful historical information. It is easy to dismiss Harry Potter<\/em> as pure fantasy. But what if it were one of the few works of literature from our time to survive into the far distant future? Historians might debate whether there really was a platform 9 3\/4, not to mention the details of wizarding practice, but there are certainly places that are alluded to even in such a fictional work that a historian could use, if other more useful ones were not available.<\/p>\n In between, we have a number of different types of historical works. An example of historical fiction might be The Crucible<\/em>. Once again, if a historian had only such a source, they still might be able to glean useful information. Historical traditions have been compared to a palimpsest, and The Crucible<\/em> is a wonderful example. It tells a story set in the past, but precisely because it is felt to parallel a story currently running its course in the present. Others, like the movie Pearl Harbor<\/em>, are similar inasmuch as they deal with fictional characters in the midst of actual events.<\/p>\n Even in movies that consist primarily of characters who were real people, the disclaimer tends to be added: Some persons and events have been dramatized. In telling a story about historical events, there is a difference from a list of dates and events. Some think the latter is \u201chistory\u201d, but the events we are living through now will one day be \u201chistory\u201d, and they aren\u2019t mere dates, places, names and numbers. History, it may be argued, cannot be separated from storytelling.
If we consider the New Testament Gospels, it is quite possible that some events of a particularly traumatic character (such as the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus) may have been fixed well in the minds of the disciples, a phenomenon referred to today as \u201cflashbulb memory\u201d. But there is little evidence (the case made in Richard Bauckham\u2019s recent book not withstanding) that the New Testament Gospels were written by eyewitnesses<\/a>. They are thus not individual memoirs but something else, and not necessarily all the same thing. Some may be based on the deposit of information shared by one particular Christian community. Others may have been based on research and information gathered from many places.<\/p>\n
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