Acts of Andrew Imitating Plato & Homer | Dennis R. MacDonald, PhD | Apocryphal New Testament

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After the Ascension the apostles dispersed to preach in various countries. Andrew began in the province of Achaia, but Matthew went to the city of Mermidona. The Acts of Andrew is the Apocryphal New Testament Testimony that was central to the early Church in both Orthodox and Catholic circles. In this video, New Testament Scholar Dr. Dennis R. MacDonald demonstrates how the text imitates Plato's Phaedo & Homer's Odyssey. In some instances he is portrayed like Odysseus being condemned to a cross, or like Socrates the philosopher who takes his condemnation with ease.

For the Book, Acts of Andrew:
Dennis R. MacDonald received his PhD from Harvard University in 1978 and has taught New Testament and Christian origins at Goshen College, the Iliff School of Theology, and the Claremont School of Theology. From 1999-2010 he served as the director of The Institute for Antiquity and Christianity at Claremont Graduate University. For the academic year of 1985-1986 he was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School, and for the spring term in 1991 he was a Visiting Scholar at Union Theological Seminary (NYC). Twice he was awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1984-1985 he was President of the Rocky Mountain/Great Plains Region of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature, and in 2005-2006 he was President of Pacific Region of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. He also has served on editorial boards, chaired program units for various professional societies, and appeared as an authority on A&E, PBS, and the History Channel.
For the most part his scholarship has been devoted to Christian apocryphal writings, the Synoptic Problem, and the influence of classical Greek literature, especially the Homeric epics, on Jewish and Christian narratives.

#DennisRMacDonald #ActsofAndrew #Mimesis #Gnostic #GnosticInformant

[GnosticInformant]

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[mdug]

The more and more I listen to Dr MacDonald, the less and less I find reason to think Christianity has significant, genuine characters in history and more and more I feel that Greek intellectuals were just competing for the best sensational versions.
Mind 💥

[debcamp]

Great discussion! I listen to your wonderful playlist when working. ❤ the clever storytelling of ancients.

[laurenjones]

Great discussion.
Some of the acts are so interesting.

I wonder if Paul knew the story of Philemon and Baucis when he wrote to Philemon about hospitality.
The story was included in Ovids Metamorphosis and Philemon is rewarded for his good hospitality, the wine jug is refilled at the table, and the town is flooded as punishment for not being hospitable.

[mdug]

27:35Old habits die hard, I guess. National patron saints sound so similar to patron deities as in antiquity: Enlil, Baal, Yhwh, Aphrodite, etc. Herodotus mentions numerous places which had patron gods.
Andrew for Scotland, David for Wales, Patrick for Ireland and George for England. (George was most likely actually a brutal knight in the crusades or a fictional character akin to Uncle Sam. Slaying the dragon being allegorical for killing Muslims as envoys of the devil.)

[robertherring]

That was so cool! Knew many of the stories but never sat and thought about how they align. Thanks!

[theflaggedyoutuberii]

1:30 Wow, a minute in; and we found out that people who live in mountainous areas tend to write about people falling off cliffs.

[SabracadabrO]

Christian’s tried to make Homer”cooler/tougher”, but ended up with Homer Simpson…

[Militairee]

BTW Saint Andrew is the patron Saint of Scotland. St George is the patron Saint of England.

[xiiinosceteipsum]

Seems a bit like they refer to Odysseus and Andrew as the actual sail on the mast no? The way you read the comparisson between the 2 sounds a bit like if a sail could talk and explain what it provides to the ship and crew, and what it sees on its travels. He is also tied to the cross/mast not nailed, and makes more sense for being a sail

[DavidWilson-hdiz]

Great discussion! My question is, what happened to the end of Acts (the canonical one)? Was it ever written or was it edited out?

[MrBlazingup]

@20:57 that's the Great One Aquarius, and the Mouth of the fish Fomalhaut, known as the Southern Fish Pisces Australia, This Dagon or it's the Fish that Set fed the Penis of Osiris to, but you see it is also the Wolf Headed god Wepwawet. This falls in the month of February. Lets knock these words and see what they say
"Thou Am Wolf, She Saw, Say You Will Talk, You Will Be Fed" BACKWARDS "February, Aquarius, Pisces, Fomalhaut"

[djfrank]

After watching this. I have the urge to listen to Steely Dan, Home At Last 😎

Well the danger on the rocks is surely past
Still I remain tied to the mast
Could it be that I have found my home at last
Home at last

[manbearpig]

Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland George is England

[kingdavid]

If you're crafting a persuasive argument that the New Testament immitates Homer, I think it's best to start off by showing these similarities in Homer and Acts Of Andrew.. Because I feel like alot of people, especially Christians will be more receptive to accept these parallels in an apocryphal book first. Then after they accepted that memisis really happens among Christian literature, then unload the parallels from the NT.

[MrBlazingup]

@23:11 "The Midwife" Now here we go we are now at Scorpio and the Month of November, Scorpio as you know is the Sexual organ, as Sagittarius is the Hips & Thighs, that makes our 13th sign, Ophiuchus the womb of the Goddess.
"Her Bid One, Her Mid One, Wise Folk" BACKWARDS "Scorpio, November, November" one be the Child the other the Midwife that cut the cord of the Chosen One.
"Her Message, Say There Is A Guest" BACKWARDS "Sagittarius, December" Here comes the Chosen One, Guess Who.
"Wise Folk, She Raise Dead" BACKWARDS "Antares, Scorpio" the Heart of the Scorpion
"Sacred Aether" the echo of Ophiuchus, who represents Asclepius, Greek god of medicine and doctors. He was so wise he could raise the dead, like Orion, that echoes "They All Rule"

[MrBlazingup]

The constellation Delphinus would be the swine. It was sacred to Damu, 'The Child'
Damu is Dumuzi who dies every summer and was subsequently reborn every winter. Myths relate how Damu escaped from the underworld via a river.
The dolphin is associated with the womb, next to Delphinus is the Northern Cross, Cygnus the swan.
He shows association with the Greek myths and I showing you both came from the Stars and Constellations. those are winter constellations, If you don't know the secret to the stars you won't understand the bible and mythology, because that's where it all came from, The Stars
Play the words "Her Star" backwards you hear the slang word for Penis but it means Famous Spear
A Spiculum, a Spear, that is where you find the Sun every Winter Solstice, Next to a Bloody Red Spot in Sagittarius, known as the the Lagoon Nebula, "A Body of water" the Son/Sun walks over every winter solstice,
But the Speculum, is what the Doctor puts in the woman, You know where. LMAO so much word play.

[MrBlazingup]

@20:43 It looks like they replaced the Leviathan with Cancer, the Leviathan is a Serpent, the same word you hear playing the Cancer backwards "Her Snake", add the month Cancer falls on, it gives it more meaning. play the words "Hell Is, Her Snake" the echo you hear "Cancer, July"
Around the 4th of July is when our Earth is furthest away from the Sun, and New Years the closest, July is when we make that little swing around and start heading back towards the Sun we call Leo.
Something to ponder, we light fireworks off at both events and barbecues some meat, and those are the smells of space, Burnt Meat and Gunpowder. I think I read that Noah after the flood made a burnt offering of Meat that God found pleasing
Do you know why space smells like Gunpower, I do, what should concern you is, Where the Meat smell comes from

[alanherz]

Prof. MacDonald edited "The Jewish Christian Recognitions" which has side by side versions of the Syriac, Armenian, and Latin. Read from 1.441 through 1.45.5. Then pick up the Valentinian Gospel of Truth and read it. What you will conclude is that between the two they are defining the Righteous Nazirite's heroic journey through life and his reward for maintaining his vow. Otherwise just watch videos.

[tsemayekekema]

9:45 the existence of a female Queen of England doesn't in any way contradict the fact that Victorian-era England was patriarchal. The existence of a single Thecla ordained by Paul doesn't in any way contradict the more or less generic instructions against female influence you find in the pseudonymous Pastorals, it's a misguided notion among modern western scholars (who were born into societies that value gender equality) to see contradiction between explicit denouncements of female authority, and the concurrent existence of females in authority. There has never existed any patriarchal society in human history that did not contain influential females. This historically misguided methodology has caused many scholars to see a false & illusory conflict between the idea of female apostles acknowledged by Paul and the existence of "misogynistic" statements from the mouth of the same Paul. It's an unfortunate projection of peculiarly modern western either/ors on ancient peoples