Dennis R. MacDonald
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300097702
- eISBN:
- 9780300129892
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300097702.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This challenge to prevailing views of New Testament sources 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. The book ...
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This challenge to prevailing views of New Testament sources 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. The book 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. Tracing the influence of passages from the Iliad on subsequent ancient literature, it shows how the story generated a vibrant, mimetic literary tradition long before Luke composed the Acts. Luke could have expected educated readers to recognize his transformation of these tales and to see that the Christian God and heroes were superior to Homeric gods and heroes. Building upon and extending previously adopted analytic methods, this book opens an appreciation not only of Acts but also of the composition of early Christian narrative in general.Less
This challenge to prevailing views of New Testament sources 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. The book 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. Tracing the influence of passages from the Iliad on subsequent ancient literature, it shows how the story generated a vibrant, mimetic literary tradition long before Luke composed the Acts. Luke could have expected educated readers to recognize his transformation of these tales and to see that the Christian God and heroes were superior to Homeric gods and heroes. Building upon and extending previously adopted analytic methods, this book opens an appreciation not only of Acts but also of the composition of early Christian narrative in general.
