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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... recognize an imitation in a specific text . Students learned to disguise their dependence to avoid charges of pedantry or plagiarism , but mimesis often is difficult to recognize even when authors advertise their works as imitations ...
... recognize similarities in the sequence of the motifs with that of the model . new Density of parallels and similar sequencing may not be sufficient of themselves to demonstrate literary dependence insofar as stories of the same genre ...
... recognized the targeted model, so authors often advertised their dependence. For example, Vergil blatantly imitated the Homeric epics in the Aeneid but took up the Trojan cause, not the Greek. I have argued that Mark openly imitated ...
... recognizing these clashes is no reason to give up doing so . No matter how precise and demanding the criteria , they will never replace imagination and playfulness . Comparing literary works is an art , not a science . I trust that my ...
... recognizes that the similarities between Luke - Acts and the Aeneid are seldom “ one - for - one ” or “ direct analogies , " but common literary strategies , themes , and plot devices , many of which may be found in Greek epics as well ...
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 |