between modern and ancient biography. Moses Hadas and Morton Smith argued that the Gospels are aretalogies, a subcategory of ancient biography which described the miraculous deeds of a hero or a god in such a way as to urge readers to emulate him and follow his teachings.13 Philip Shuler insisted that the Gospels, and in particular the Gospel of Matthew, are an example of “laudatory biography,” or encomium, which was produced to heap praise on the subject.14 Unfortunately, these scholars were unable