The Gospel "according to Homer and Virgil" (2011 Sandnes), book
The Gospel "according to Homer and Virgil" (2011) is a book by Karl Olav Sandnes.
Abstract
"In the fourth century CE some Christians paraphrased the stories about Jesus' life in the style of classical epics. Imitating the genre of centos, they stitched together lines taken either from Homer (Greek) or Virgil (Latin). They thus created new texts out of the classical epics, while they still remained fully within the confines of their style and vocabulary. It is the aim of this study to put these attempts into a historical and rhetorical context. Why did some Christians rewrite the Gospel stories in this way, and what came out of this? On the basis of these Christian centos, it is natural to address the view held by some scholars, namely that New Testaments narratives are imitations of the epics."--Publisher's description.
Editions and translations
Published in Leiden: Brill, 2011 (Supplements to Novum Testamentum, 138).
Table of contents
Introduction: the context of the study -- The rhetorical context of biblical epics -- Why imitate classical texts? -- What is a cento? -- Faltonia Betitia Proba : the gospel "according to Virgil" -- Eudocia Athenais : the gospel "according to Homer" -- Summary
External links
- [ Google Books]