Acts and the Bacchae repost of Luke as Historian
Jason Filley jfilley@primary.net
Wed, 27 May 1998 23:30:53 -0500 (00896347853, 005b01bd89f1$695f0340$0a01010a@computer1)
>HELEN:
>This is a repost of a post made by Pat Spears a few months ago on Luke as a
>historian. I don't speak Greek, so it is not really my place to judge how
>good this analysis is. Just about every city had a Greek theater at this
time
>in history and there is a very good chance Euripides being by that time a
>classic was performed often so the borrowing of lines by Luke or whoever
>wrote Acts may not have been conscious, but I think that Pat makes a good
>argument that it did occur. The lifting of whole scenes is a more serious
>matter. By the way, I think there was another post on this issue which if I
>get a chance I will try to find.
>Helen
>hhiwater@bright.net
>
>LUKE AS HISTORIAN
>
>PATSPEARS patspears@email.msn.com
>Mon, 2 Feb 1998 03:15:06 -0800 (00886439706,
>06b131718080228UPIMSSMTPUSR01@email.msn.com)
>
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>
>
>
>PAT
>> Sir William Ramsay, who spent over 30 years checking out the
>> archaeology involved in the books of Luke and Acts, stated "Luke is a
>> historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact
>> trustworthy...this author should be placed along with the very greatest
>> of historians."
>
>
>PATRICK
>
>Anyone who has kept up with NT studies over the last century can only laugh
>when they hear such as statement. For example, concerning Paul, George
Wells
>quotes A. J. Mattill as saying that the "dominant" view of Acts'
>presentation of Paul, the one which "has succeeded in putting the burden of
>proof on others," is the view that in "Acts and the epistles there are two
>Pauls, the historical Paul of the authentic epistles and the legendary Paul
>of Acts" (Evidence for the Historical Jesus, 165).
>
>Speaking of Luke's geneaology, which lists Joseph, Judah, Simeon and Levi
as
>sequential ancestors, Joachim Jeremias states in his book "Jerusalem":
>
>"...the custom of using the names of the twelve progenitors of the nation
as
>personal names did not appear until after the exile [536BCE]...When Luke
>cites the names of Joseph, Judah, Simeon, and Levi as descendants six
>through nine...this is an anachronism that proves the pre-exilic portion of
>Luke's genealogy to be historically worthless."
>
>Do historians of the first rate engage in plagiarism? Luke's gospel
>integrates 50% of Mark, who was not even an eyewitness, and who makes a
>variety of stupendous errors. Luke also apparently plagiarizes from the
play
>of Euripedes called the Bacchae. The famous 'conversion' of Paul is a good
>example. In ACTS, it is said that Paul hears the voice of Jesus say:
>
>"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you, this kicking
>against the goads [pros kentra laktizein]" (ACTS 26:15).
>
>In the Bacchae, which is approximately five hundred years older than ACTS,
>the situation is parallel. Dionysis, the persected God, says to King
>Pentheus, his persecutor:
>
>"You disregard my words of warning... and kick against the goads [pros
>kentra laktizoimi]" (line 794).
>
>It is highly probable that 'Luke' has 'borrowed' this from the Bacchae,
>because 'Luke' retains the plural form of the noun 'kentra,' which, while
>maintaining the meter in the Bacchae, seems out of place in ACTS.
>
>'Luke' also apparently plagiarized the Bacchae when constructing the
>jail-break scenes of Peter and Paul. When Peter is imprisoned in Jerusalem,
>an angel appears, saying:
>
>"Quick! Get up... And the chains fell away from his wrists. [When they
>appraoch the prison gate, it] opened for them of its own accord" (ACTS
>12:8,10).
>
>Similarly, when Paul and Silas are imprisoned in Phillipi, "all the doors
>burst open and all the prisoners found their fetters unfastened" (ACTS
>16:26).
>
>Both scenarios seem to be derived from the Bacchae, where the persecuted
>Maenads [followers of Dionysus] find that "The chains on their legs snap
>apart ...untouched by any human hand, the doors swing wide, opening of
their
>own accord" (lines 447-8).
>
>Randel Helms observes that "it really is not surprising that this play
>should have had such a lasting effect on Luke's imagination; for it
concerns
>a young, persecuted and misunderstood deity, the son of Zeus and a mortal
>woman (Semele)..." (Who Wrote the Gospels, 91).
>
>Do historians of the first rate contradict themselves? Luke's gospel
>presents the ascension as occuring on the same day as the resurrection, on
>the Emmaeus road. Acts, on the other hand, describes a forty-day period
>seperating the resurrection and ascension. Why do all of the other NT books
>fail to mention an ascension at all?
>
>Luke's chronology is confused. George Wells, in his "Historical Evidence
for
>Jesus," observes:
>
>"Luke is in such complete confusion over the chronolgy of events that
>occurred in the first half of the first century as to suggest that he was
>not close to them in time. In Acts 5, where the scene is Jerusalem about
the
>mid-30's, Gamaliel reviews bygone Messianic risings and mentions that of
>Theudas. But we know from Jospehus that Theuadas' Messianic promises were
>made when Fadus was procurator (AD 44-46) and so could not have been known
>to Gamaliel at the time when he is represented as speaking. . . Gamaliel
>continues by saying that, after Theudas, there was a Messianic uprising
>under Judas the Galillean at the time of the census. Luke knows of only one
>census, that under Quirinius (LK 2:1-2) of AD 6-- forty years before
>Theudas. In his gospel Luke compounds the muddle by dating this census of
AD
>6 under Herod, who died in 4 BC" ("The Historical Evidence for Jesus,"
119).
>
>Luke as historian of the first rank? I think not. I do not even see any
good
>reason to believe that Luke wrote the books attributed to him at all.
>
>Sincerely,
>Patrick
>
JASON FILLEY
Are we starting over? Oh well....
******************
And the Bacchae whom you shut up, whom you carried off and bound in the
chains of the public prison, [445] are set loose and gone, and are gamboling
in the meadows, invoking Bromius as their god. Of their own accord, the
chains were loosed from their feet and keys opened the doors without human
hand. This man has come to Thebes [450] full of many wonders. You must take
care of the rest.
http://hydra.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/text?lookup=eur.+ba.+447
******************
Pentheus
Do not instruct me, but be content in your escape from prison. Or shall I
bring punishment upon you again?
Dionysus
I would sacrifice to the god rather [795] than kick against his spurs in
anger, a mortal against a god.
http://hydra.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/text?lookup=eur.+ba.+794
*******************