Mythologizing Jesus

Dedication
Mythological Names and Places (Greek and Roman)
List of Figures
Introduction: The Christian Superhero
1. Born Divine and Human
2. Empowered from Above and Enlisting Sailors
3. Feeding Thousands
4. Master of the Winds
5. Tamer of Monsters
6. Curing an Old Woman and Bringing a Girl back to Life
7. Water Walker
8. Land of the Dead
9. Blind Seer
10. Daring Hero Eats with the Enemy
11. Hero in Disguise Transformed
12. Curing a Boy with a Demon
13. Entering a City in Disguise
14. Clearing out a Den of Robbers
15. Prophet Anointed by a Woman
16. Following a Water Carrier
17. Preparing for Death while Friends Sleep
18. Traitor in the Midst
19. Cowardly Promise Breaker
20. Preferring a Rascal to a Hero
21. Heroic Death and Mourning Women
22. Rescuing a Corpse
23. Living Dead
24. Disappearing into the Sky
Conclusion: The Mythologized Jesus and Modern Culture
Appendix: The Gospels of Matthew and John
Works Cited
Further Reading on the Homeric Epics and Greek Mythology
Further Reading on the New Testament and Classical Greek Literature

The Christian scriptures took shape within a rich literary landscape, as the gnostic gospels and the Dead Sea Scrolls make clear. But MacDonald, a biblical studies professor at Claremont Graduate School and Claremont School of Theology, sheds light on a different dimension of literary dependence: Homeric material, especially the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. MacDonald (author of The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark, to which he directs interested readers for more scholarly treatments) aims here to distill his findings and present a cogent comparison of Homeric tropes with the Christian gospels of Mark and Luke. To that end, in brief chapters, the author shows some 24 major parallels explored chapter by chapter, from 'Born Divine and Human' to 'Disappearing into the Sky.' . . . The evidence certainly seems to demonstrate . . . dependence by the gospel writers on their masterful Greek predecessor in their stories about and portrayals of Jesus.