Are the gospels objective

Answer 1

Objective in what sense? They are obviously from the perspective of their various authors, but the thing about the gospels is, they are historical accounts that were written within the lifetimes of the other hundreds/thousands of witnesses around. If they were lies, then they would have been easily shown to be as such by people who'd be around Jesus/the events in the Gospels.

Is any historical document objective? Alexander the great's biography was written I believe 400 years after his life...no witnesses were alive to speak it its accuracy, and yet no historical scholar calls into question it's truth. I think Socrates had only ONE person write about his life, his student Plato, and again, it's not called into question.

Jesus has four stories that differ slightly (given the different authors, witnesses, and the audiences they were authored to) but show remarkable congruence where it matters most.

Answer 2

As a note of caution, however we form an opinion as to whether the gospels were written objectively, our opinion will probably not be objective. All we can do is look at the histories of the gospels and try to be as objective as possible in assessing that.

All the New Testament gospels were originally anonymous and were not attributed to the persons whose names they now bear until later in the second century, so we do not know who the real authors were. Scholars say, with good reason, that none of the gospels could have been written by eyewitnesses of the events portrayed, so we can not describe them as reliable eyewitness accounts. Since the authors were anonymous, we can not answer this question based on the perceived characters of the putative authors, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

Ian Wilson (Jesus: The Evidence) describes the author of Matthew as "demonstrably over-fond of the miraculous." In saying this, Wilson is clearly describing Matthew's Gospel as not objective. The early Church Father, Origen, spoke in defence of John's Gospel by saying (Commentary on John, 10:4-6) "Although he does not always tell the truth literally, he always tells it spiritually." Again, a comment against the objective nature of John. Similar comments could be applied to Mark and Luke.

The gospels were written with a theological purpose. They can not be regarded as objective.