The term "genre" is used in a double sense. It is sometimes used to designate a smaller segment of writing that is distinctive in its own right from the larger literary corpus of which it is a part. On the other hand, the term is also used in a broader sense to classify the type of writing the corpus of literature is as a whole. The form of writing that dominates the whole is generally what determines its classification as a specific genre. The gospel of Matthew can be used to illustrate both usages of this word. The first sense mentioned above can be seen in the opening chapter of the Matthew's gospel. The first seventeen verses make up a genealogical record. This is a form or genre that is distinctive in its own right. On the other hand, the book as a whole is classified as a "gospel," -- a distinctive type of writing unique to the Greco-Roman literature, though similar to biographies of that day.1 Throughout this website, "apocalyptic" as a genre, unless otherwise noted, will be used as a classification of a larger body of literature and not a subunit within. Consider Aune's definition of genre as a very useful definition:
A literary genre may be defined as a group of texts that exhibit a coherent and recurring configuration of literary features involving form (including structure and style), content, and function. Literary forms, on the other hand, while exhibiting similar recurring literary features, are primarily constituent elements of the genres that frame them.
2
Perhaps it would be helpful to add one further note on the subject of genre. Genre, as such, is not a static form of writing. A study of a particular style of writing over a period of time evidences development and change, much like music does, for example. As such, it is very much a part of the sociological matrix of that time period. Again, Aune states it well:
Literary genres and forms are not simply neutral containers used as convenient ways to package various types of written communication. They are social conventions that provide contextual meaning for the smaller units of language and text they enclose. The original significance that a literary text had for both author and reader is tied to the genre of that text, so that the meaning of the part is dependent upon the meaning of the whole.
3 [emphasis added]
This insight is significant for the study of apocalyptic genre during the Second Temple period. An investigation of such genre can be helpful for uncovering some of the social nuances of that day, thereby providing a clearer picture of the mental posture of the people contemporary to that time and how they grappled with the issues confronting them. Equipped with these observations, one is able to glean how these literary conventions made an impact upon the literature of the NT by comparing and contrasting them to the only genre of the NT usually classified as apocalyptic (viz. Revelation4 ), and to smaller subunits within the NT5.
1There is scholarly debate about the classification of the New Testament "gospel" as a distinctive genre in its own right. The two sides of the debate, put simply, are, on the one hand (C. W. Votaw), the gospels ought to be classified as a sub-category, or sub-genre under biography, history, or novel; the other side of the debate (K. L. Schmidt) argues that these comprise a unique brand of early Christian writing not to be found anywhere else during that time period. Cf. L. W. Hurtado, "Gospel (Genre)" in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels , Eds. Joel B. Green and Scot McKnight (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1992): 277-78.
2David Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, Library of Early Christianity 8, Wayne A. Meeks, Gen. ed. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987): 13.
3Ibid.
4 Though the book of Revelation is often classified as "apocalyptic," there are many who would question or even dispute this. This is partly due to the confusion of terminology and the difficulty surrounding a definition of apocalyptic. See the discussion under Apocalyptic Defined.
5E.g. Mark 13 and parallel passages; 2 Thess. 2; et. al.