Does the New Testament Imitate Homer?: Four Cases from the Acts of the Apostlesdiv In this provocative challenge to prevailing views of New Testament sources, Dennis R. MacDonald argues that the origins of passages in the book of Acts are to be found not in early Christian legends but in the epics of Homer. MacDonald focuses on four passages in the book of Acts, examines their potential parallels in the Iliad, and concludes that the author of Acts composed them using famous scenes in Homer’s work as a model. |
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... Christianity and thus freed me to pursue my research and writing with increased intensity. Olga Morales and Judy Little have provided secretarial assistance with class and care. As was the case with my previous book on Homer and the New ...
... Christian authors not only fiddled with traditions and sources ; they created stories after pagan literary models , sometimes without Jewish or Chris- tian traditions to inform them . That is , they wrote as they had been taught in ...
... Christian history — and in a manner surprisingly analogous to Virgil's interpretation of the meaning of Roman history . " 17 Although Vergil was not the first author to do so , he linked the creation of the Roman people to Aeneas and ...
... Christian claim a powerful and appealing rival to the ubiquitous and potentially seductive salvation claims of imperial Rome . ” 21 Luke - Acts presents a rival vision of empire [ viz . the kingdom of God ] , with a rival deity issuing ...
... Christian source. Such prison escapes occur frequently in ancient narratives, including two other instances in Acts itself (5:17–42 and 16:16–40). Acts 12:1–17 does indeed contain narrative elements that character- ize this genre, as do ...
Contents
1 | |
17 | |
Pauls Farewell at Miletus and Iliad | 67 |
The Selection of Matthias and Iliad | 103 |
Peters Escape from Prison and Iliad | 121 |
Conclusion | 146 |
Greek and Latin Parallels | 153 |
List of Abbreviations | 167 |
Notes | 171 |
Bibliography | 209 |
Index | 221 |