"In Dennis MacDonald's book The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark
he puts forward the idea that as Mark wrote his gospel he imitated the epics of Homer but sometimes altered the story in such a way as to show how his values were different from Homer's. I think I've found an example in the gospel of Matthew where Buddhist scriptures (you read right!) are imitated with a twist in order to emphasize different theological values. Buddhism was alive and well in the Hellenistic world (Wikipedia has some good links and historical references on that) and there were apparently Buddhist missionaries in the Middle East/Mediterranean prior to the gospels. In the Buddhist scripture, (Jataka 190), there is a story about a disciple of the Buddha who begins walking on water but begins to sink after he loses his meditational trance. The point of the story is that you can do anything through focus. Contrast this with Matthew 14:22-33 in which a disciple of Jesus begins to walk on water but sinks when he loses faith. Point of the story: You can do anything through faith.
"I think the early Christians knew about the Buddhist story (it was likely present in the culture of the time) and imitated it but with their own change in order to show how their values differed from Buddhism. Though many others have noticed this similarity and Randel Helms has suggested borrowing, as far as I know I am the first one to recognize why it was borrowed. What sayest thou?"
By the way, you can now purchase Robert Price's Deconstructing Jesus
and Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable Is the Gospel Tradition?
for your kindle for under ten bucks each. Fascinating books.
I just found your site. I have several questions:
ReplyDelete1. What is your book about? It is scholarly, fiction?
2. How well do you know the Christian Bible?
3. Do you have happen to know Hebrew / Greek / Aramaic (I know, a stretch)?
4. How well do you know Christian other source religions: Judaism, Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Egyptian “monotheism,” Islam, Homeric and Greek and Roman faiths? I am not going to criticize. I write literary essays and satirical essays, which often have a religious theme. I have the thesis for a scholarly essay about Paul’s creation of Christianity and how others, Jesus Himself, would have been horrified. That is in the works and will not come out for a while. Most of my religious articles are purely satirical, though, Gateway to Heaven, Let There Be Light, The Christian Gods: a Recount. Some of my satire in the works requires scholarly knowledge to finish and I am always in the market for knowledgeable resources to tap. In case you haven’t figured it out already, I am an atheist, but I love religion anyway.
5. Just a recommendation. Obviously, I just discovered you. I have not read “Atheism and Naturalism,” but by reading the contents, I kind of get the gist, I think. Have you considered inviting others, not me, to submit essays in rebuttal to some of your premises? You would then, at your discretion add some of the rebuttals to your book (the ones that had merit, preferably). I have found that an intelligent rebuttal is far more powerful and completes a work much better than someone who is hostile to an idea representing, then refuting, the idea. Just a thought. It is always better to have solid arguments refuted with other solid arguments. You may say that the other side has no other solid arguments, but in most cases both sides have something. I am even capable of making some of the arguments on the other side, even though I am a very devout infidel.
6. I have no intention of contacting you about anything specific at this point. That said, may I have your email address so I can contact you about nothing specific? In the future, should the desire arise, I will need it. I have found once I have someone’s email address, the desire does often arise pretty quickly.
1. What is your book about? It is scholarly, fiction?
ReplyDeleteIt's a book explaining/defending atheism and philosophical naturalism.
2. How well do you know the Christian Bible?
Fairly well. Not a biblical scholar, but I do know much more than the average Christian.
3. Do you have happen to know Hebrew / Greek / Aramaic?
Not really. I know a couple of words, but I don't translate.
4. How well do you know Christian other source religions: Judaism, Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Egyptian “monotheism,” Islam, Homeric and Greek and Roman faiths?
Having read the Old Testament I believe I know a fair amount about Judaism. All the rest I know only a little bit about.
"You may say that the other side has no other solid arguments, but in most cases both sides have something."
True. I tried very hard to give a fair representation of other points of view, and I included references to the works of others so that people could check out the other side if they wished.
"I have no intention of contacting you about anything specific at this point. That said, may I have your email address so I can contact you about nothing specific? In the future, should the desire arise, I will need it. I have found once I have someone’s email address, the desire does often arise pretty quickly."
You can leave a comment on my blog whenever you want. I usually respond in a day or two.