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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... scholars . Most modern treatments of the Gospels and Acts view their authors as redactors , or editors , of preexisting traditions and written sources . These practitioners of form criticism divide texts into constituent units and ...
... scholars thus restrict distinctive traits to words or phrases that are nearly unique to the proposed model and copy, an approach that has been called ''philological fundamentalism.''∞∑ Although this approach might be the most ...
... scholars seldom discuss their criteria explicitly . My criteria may be flawed , and , if so , I welcome alternatives , but I refuse to be a mimetic agnostic . I refuse to believe that the discovery of literary imitation is impossible ...
... scholars have made a similar case for the raising of Dorcas in Acts 9:36– 42.≥∞ If Luke used 1 Kings 17:10–24 as a model for a story about Jesus, it would find analogies elsewhere in rewritings of the Elijah-Elisha cycle. The ...
... Scholars usually assign this complex and extensive narrative to local legends about the origins of the church at Caesarea. Apparently no one has noticed that it strikingly resembles two visions at the beginning of Book 2 of the Iliad ...
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 |