Freethought & Rationalism Archive

aa5874 · 07-24-2008, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben C Smith

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid

Bringing this more to original topic, I still don't see how gospels are different genre than, let's say, Odyssey. Once upon a time, there was that cool guy, he travelled all around and made bunch of interesting stuff ... Where is some genre difference?

I recommend R. Burridge, What Are the Gospels?. He discusses various genre markers.

Ben.

Trying to determine the genre of the Gospels is circular. A person has to assume or imagine the genre and then claim to know the genre.

The authors of the Gospels are unknown, but what is even more alarming is that all Christian writers of antiquity gave erroneous information about the assumed authors, including the chronology and veracity of the writings.

The authorship of every single book of the NT has not been confirmed by any non-apologetic source.

No non-apologetic source has ever identified any authors of the Gospels.

However it is known certainly that the stories about Jesus in the Gospels are fundamentally implausible or incredible.

Genre, in this case, is irrelevant.

Nothing the authors wrote with respect to Jesus is known or can be confirmed to be true.

mountainman · 07-24-2008, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by No Robots

Who wrote the Iliad? Is the Iliad Greek literature?

By whom were the gospels written in Greek? And most importantly exactly when were the gospels written in that collegiate style reminiscent of the scriptores of the historia augusta?

Quote:

Bringing this more to original topic, I still don't see how gospels are different genre than, let's say, Odyssey. Once upon a time, there was that cool guy, he travelled all around and made bunch of interesting stuff ... Where is some genre difference?

One difference is the existence of the anti-canon. Where is the equivalent of the Homeric apocrypha? The gospels have their anti-gospels or apocryphal gospels and the acts have their same non-canonical counterparts. The genre difference between the canon and the non canonical christian texts is rather striking.

Quote:

Interpreting the New Testament documents
Dr. Cranford, Gardner-Webb University

In the canonical New Testament one finds the Acts of the Apostles as the lone example of the early history of the Christian movement. Additional writings in this genre intended to supplement and expand the information found in the canonical NT document. These documents include the Acts of Peter, the Acts of John, the Acts of Paul, the Acts of Andrew, the Acts of Thomas, and the Acts of Pilate, which are generally considered as the more important of these documents. For the English translation texts of 25 of these documents see the Non-Canonical homepage. Many of the early church traditions about the activities of the original twelve apostles have their origin in these documents.

The historical reliability of the data in these documents is not very great, and thus what is said about the activities of the apostles is seldom to be taken seriously. But, they do serve to help the modern Bible student better understand how these first century Christian leaders were viewed in subsequent centuries. Encyclopedia Britannica article states the questions well:

"The various acts, close in form and content to the contemporary Hellenistic romances, turned the apostolic drama into melodrama and satisfied the popular taste for stories of travel and adventure, as well as for a kind of asceticism that was generally rejected by Christian leaders:

Best wishes,

Pete

No Robots · 07-24-2008, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainman

One difference is the existence of the anti-canon. Where is the equivalent of the Homeric apocrypha?

The Trojan Cycle.

mountainman · 07-24-2008, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by No Robots

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainman

One difference is the existence of the anti-canon. Where is the equivalent of the Homeric apocrypha?

The Trojan Cycle.

But where are the Homerian heretical writings?
Were any of the Homerian stories "banned"?
Were any of the Homerian stories burned?
Were any of the readers of heretics of Homer burned?
Did a Roman emperor publish Homer lavishly?
If so, when.
etc

Best wishes,

Pete

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