This chapter first compares Jesus’s translation and reappearance story with similar tales of Achilles appearing in a transformed body around White Island. Both Achilles and Jesus were translated after their deaths, both had their corpses enlivened and immortalized in another location, both appear in solid form to many witnesses, and both were worshipped by their votaries. A second comparison analyzes Jesus’s tomb tokens with those of Numa, Rome’s second king. The tombs of both Numa and Jesus are sealed, but their bodies disappear. Despite the disappearance, sure signs of their presence are revealed, as in the case of Alcmene (mother of Heracles). This chapter also discusses the trope of alternative reports, used in the stories of both Romulus and the Matthean Jesus.
{"title":"Empty Tombs and Translation","authors":"M. Litwa","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.15","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter first compares Jesus’s translation and reappearance story with similar tales of Achilles appearing in a transformed body around White Island. Both Achilles and Jesus were translated after their deaths, both had their corpses enlivened and immortalized in another location, both appear in solid form to many witnesses, and both were worshipped by their votaries. A second comparison analyzes Jesus’s tomb tokens with those of Numa, Rome’s second king. The tombs of both Numa and Jesus are sealed, but their bodies disappear. Despite the disappearance, sure signs of their presence are revealed, as in the case of Alcmene (mother of Heracles). This chapter also discusses the trope of alternative reports, used in the stories of both Romulus and the Matthean Jesus.","PeriodicalId":115187,"journal":{"name":"How the Gospels Became History","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121206974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This chapter compares Jesus’s miracles with analogous wonders in contemporary mythic historiography. Singled out for attention are episodes of walking on water, stilling storms, catching and releasing fish, casting out demons, healings, and resuscitations.
{"title":"Miracles","authors":"M. Litwa","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.13","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter compares Jesus’s miracles with analogous wonders in contemporary mythic historiography. Singled out for attention are episodes of walking on water, stilling storms, catching and releasing fish, casting out demons, healings, and resuscitations.","PeriodicalId":115187,"journal":{"name":"How the Gospels Became History","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122366406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This chapter compares Matthew’s story of the endangered child Jesus and his precocity with similar stories in mythic historiography. The ancient histories of Augustus, Moses, Cyrus, and Alexander the Great serve as key comparanda.
{"title":"Child in Danger, Child of Wonder","authors":"M. Litwa","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.11","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter compares Matthew’s story of the endangered child Jesus and his precocity with similar stories in mythic historiography. The ancient histories of Augustus, Moses, Cyrus, and Alexander the Great serve as key comparanda.","PeriodicalId":115187,"journal":{"name":"How the Gospels Became History","volume":"619 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116455179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This chapter discusses the enfleshment of particular deities in historiographical discourse and compares it with the incarnation of Jesus in the gospels. The comparison begins with Hermes the Logos incarnated as Caesar Augustus. It turns to focus on Pythagoras, thought to be an incarnation of the god Apollo. The revelation of Pythagoras’s divinity is especially analogous to the stories of transfiguration in the Synoptic gospels.
{"title":"INCARNATION","authors":"M. Litwa","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.6","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter discusses the enfleshment of particular deities in historiographical discourse and compares it with the incarnation of Jesus in the gospels. The comparison begins with Hermes the Logos incarnated as Caesar Augustus. It turns to focus on Pythagoras, thought to be an incarnation of the god Apollo. The revelation of Pythagoras’s divinity is especially analogous to the stories of transfiguration in the Synoptic gospels.","PeriodicalId":115187,"journal":{"name":"How the Gospels Became History","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126505603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This chapter presents a positive program of comparison. In doing so, it criticizes the method and presuppositions of mimesis criticism (spearheaded by Dennis Ronald McDonald). Mimesis criticism compares texts on the basis of assuming direct genetic causations. A better theory vouches for polymorphous influence based on dynamic cultural interaction. Also treated is the notion of gospel genre, the identity of the evangelists, the themes of their gospels, and brief biographies of five contemporary Greco-Roman historians who serve as major sources of data: Diodorus of Sicily, Plutarch, Suetonius, Philostratus, and Iamblichus.
{"title":"A Theory of Comparison","authors":"M. Litwa","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.5","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter presents a positive program of comparison. In doing so, it criticizes the method and presuppositions of mimesis criticism (spearheaded by Dennis Ronald McDonald). Mimesis criticism compares texts on the basis of assuming direct genetic causations. A better theory vouches for polymorphous influence based on dynamic cultural interaction. Also treated is the notion of gospel genre, the identity of the evangelists, the themes of their gospels, and brief biographies of five contemporary Greco-Roman historians who serve as major sources of data: Diodorus of Sicily, Plutarch, Suetonius, Philostratus, and Iamblichus.","PeriodicalId":115187,"journal":{"name":"How the Gospels Became History","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134474403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-08-06DOI: 10.12987/yale/9780300242638.003.0015
M. Litwa
This chapter compares the cloud-borne ascent of Jesus in Luke with the similar ascent and deification of Romulus. Two strategies of increasing the realism of ascent stories were available to ancient writers: one could, like Cicero, argue for the historicality of bodily ascent because it occurred in a cultured era when history was faithfully recorded. Alternatively, one could rationalize the ascent by saying that only the soul or mind was translated. In either strategy, certain theological commitments—especially that the gods can bend reality—were factors shaping what ancients could and did believe.
{"title":"Ascent","authors":"M. Litwa","doi":"10.12987/yale/9780300242638.003.0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12987/yale/9780300242638.003.0015","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter compares the cloud-borne ascent of Jesus in Luke with the similar ascent and deification of Romulus. Two strategies of increasing the realism of ascent stories were available to ancient writers: one could, like Cicero, argue for the historicality of bodily ascent because it occurred in a cultured era when history was faithfully recorded. Alternatively, one could rationalize the ascent by saying that only the soul or mind was translated. In either strategy, certain theological commitments—especially that the gods can bend reality—were factors shaping what ancients could and did believe.","PeriodicalId":115187,"journal":{"name":"How the Gospels Became History","volume":"99 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134541974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This chapter compares Matthew’s depiction of Jesus as a lawgiver with portrayals of Greco-Roman and Jewish lawgivers in contemporary mythic historiography. Special attention is given to Moses, Numa, and Lycurgus of Sparta.
{"title":"The Righteous Lawgiver","authors":"M. Litwa","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.12","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter compares Matthew’s depiction of Jesus as a lawgiver with portrayals of Greco-Roman and Jewish lawgivers in contemporary mythic historiography. Special attention is given to Moses, Numa, and Lycurgus of Sparta.","PeriodicalId":115187,"journal":{"name":"How the Gospels Became History","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133314730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This chapter analyzes and critiques the comparative method of three scholars who advocated the (virtual) nonexistence of Jesus: Bruno Bauer, Thomas L. Brodie, and Richard Carrier. It exposes an assumption of antiquity that has been carried over and accentuated in modern times: that the historical connotes the “real” or “true”; thus to be historical is to be true. If something is thereby not historical, but a combination of mythic motifs, it is not real.
{"title":"Jesus Myth Theory","authors":"M. Litwa","doi":"10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvmd867c.4","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter analyzes and critiques the comparative method of three scholars who advocated the (virtual) nonexistence of Jesus: Bruno Bauer, Thomas L. Brodie, and Richard Carrier. It exposes an assumption of antiquity that has been carried over and accentuated in modern times: that the historical connotes the “real” or “true”; thus to be historical is to be true. If something is thereby not historical, but a combination of mythic motifs, it is not real.","PeriodicalId":115187,"journal":{"name":"How the Gospels Became History","volume":"85 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124696075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"MIRACLES","authors":"D. Basinger","doi":"10.1017/9781108558167","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108558167","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":115187,"journal":{"name":"How the Gospels Became History","volume":"183 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121950524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2002-06-10DOI: 10.12987/yale/9780300242638.003.0005
M. Litwa
This chapter compares the historiographical practice of genealogizing mythic heroes with the genealogies of Jesus in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. It discusses why genealogies went back to heroes and kings, why generations were sometimes omitted, and why traditions of double paternity made sense to ancient readers.
{"title":"Genealogy","authors":"M. Litwa","doi":"10.12987/yale/9780300242638.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12987/yale/9780300242638.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter compares the historiographical practice of genealogizing mythic heroes with the genealogies of Jesus in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. It discusses why genealogies went back to heroes and kings, why generations were sometimes omitted, and why traditions of double paternity made sense to ancient readers.","PeriodicalId":115187,"journal":{"name":"How the Gospels Became History","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125961870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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