The Gospels and Homer: new book by Dennis MacDonald

[Blood]

Forgive me if this has been mentioned already. Dennis MacDonald's new two-volume book was published in November:

(Vol. 1) The Gospels and Homer: Imitations of Greek Epic in Mark and Luke-Acts by Dennis R. MacDonald

(Vol. 2) Luke and Vergil: Imitations of Classical Greek Literature

"These two volumes of The New Testament and Greek Literature are the magnum opus of biblical scholar Dennis R. MacDonald, outlining the profound connections between the New Testament and classical Greek poetry. MacDonald argues that the Gospel writers borrowed from established literary sources to create stories about Jesus that readers of the day would find convincing.

"In The Gospels and Homer MacDonald leads readers through Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, highlighting models that the authors of the Gospel of Mark and Luke-Acts may have imitated for their portrayals of Jesus and his earliest followers such as Paul. The book applies mimesis criticism to show the popularity of the targets being imitated, the distinctiveness in the Gospels, and evidence that ancient readers recognized these similarities. Using side-by-side comparisons, the book provides English translations of Byzantine poetry that shows how Christian writers used lines from Homer to retell the life of Jesus.

"The potential imitations include adventures and shipwrecks, savages living in cages, meals for thousands, transfigurations, visits from the dead, blind seers, and more. MacDonald makes a compelling case that the Gospel writers successfully imitated the epics to provide their readers with heroes and an authoritative foundation for Christianity."

[Leucius Charinus]

Thanks for the heads up on this Blood,

I was impressed with what I read in "Christianizing Homer : The Odyssey, Plato, and the Acts of Andrew" By Dennis R. MacDonald Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins. FWIW I have appended my brief notes of this at the end of this post.

I think this guy is on to something very interesting.
The authors of the books of the NT used Homer. (So did the author of the [non canonical] Acts of Andrew. So what's going down here?)

We need to add this to a list.

• What literary sources did the authors of the NT use?
  
  1) Greek LXX
  2) Josephus
  3) Stoic literature (theological/philosophical)
  4) Plato
  5) ????

What type of fabrication are the books of the NT and what type of literary school would contemplate such indulgence and for what purpose?




LC









NOTES: "Christianizing Homer : The Odyssey, Plato, and the Acts of Andrew" By Dennis R. MacDonald

• Introduction
  
  Late in the sixth century, Georgius Florentinius Gregorius, bishop of Tours, claimed to have discovered an important manuscript: “I have found a book of miracles of the holy apostle Andrew,” wrote Gregory. (“Liber de miraculis”)
  
  ///
  
  Gregory epitomised the “Acts of Andrew” (including Andrew’s martyrdom/passion) and attests its original architecture of thirty episodes commencing with the first story “The Acts of Andrew and Matthias in the City if the Cannibals”.
  
  ///
  
  scholars now set the AA at the end of the second or early in the third.
  
  ///
  
  Somehow one must explain why this relatively obscure apostle dominated the longest of the apocryphal acts.
  
  ///
  
  deaths of Peter and Paul in Rome (The Acts of Peter and the Acts of Paul)
  death of John in Ephesus (the Acts of John)
  death of Thomas in India (Acts of Thomas)
  
  death of Andrew in Patras - Andrew leaves Archaea by ship in order to rescue Matthias from cannibals and many episodes later he returns to Achaea to preach and die.
  
  ///
  
  The Acts of Andrew is a Christianisation of Homer, especially the Odyssey.
  
  //
  
  Andrew is not only a baptised Odysseus but also a baptised Socrates.
  
  The genre and much of the content apparently derive from an imitation of the Acts of Peter. One also finds striking parallels with the Illiad, the plays of Euripides, and especially the dialogues of Plato. In fact Andrew’s martyrdom unmistakably imitates Plato’s construal of the death of Socrates in the Phaedro.
  
  
  Conclusion
  
  The Acts of Andrew and Matthias is a Christian Iliad in which Andrew reluctantly leaves Achaea to rescue Matthias from Myrmidonia, just as Odysseus begrudgingly left Ithaca to help rescue Helen from Troy.
  
  ///
  
  More remarkable is the depiction of Jesus in roles that Homer had given to Athena and Hermes. Just as Athena assisted Telemachus by sailing with him in disguise, Jesus does the same for Andrew. As Athena appeared to Odysseus after he awoke on his Ithican shore, Jesus appears to Andrew when he awakes at Myrmidonia. Jesus’ appearance as a young child at the end of the AAMt imitates Hermes’ appearance as a youth to Priam. Like Olympians who took sides between Greeks and Trojans, Jesus and the devil appear to their champions granting advice, inspiration and strength. ….