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gmark - Re: The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark

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Subject: Kata Markon

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  • From: JFAlward AT aol.com
  • To: gmark AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark
  • Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 15:55:06 EST


In a message dated 1/30/01 10:54:40 AM Pacific Standard Time,
rwatts AT interchange.ubc.ca writes:

Finally, in terms of judgment, surely any truly coherent theory
must also explain why the other possible explanations do not work as well as
the one you are proposing. If you were able to articulate other possible
scenarios (explanations) and show why the Homeric model has the most
comprehensive explanatory power, then you'd have a much stronger case. If
you'll forgive me for saying so, I'm not sure that simply reiterating that
there are eleven parallels gets us much further down the track.
>>
==========
I absolutely agree with your last point; I'm repeating myself too much.
However, I must respectfully disagree with you on the former one. I don't
believe it's the duty of the proponents of a theory to search for others and
show they're inferior; if that were the rule, and MacDonald searched for
other theories and successfully rebutted them, his opponents could always
claim that he didn't look hard enough.

It's difficult to rebut someone who's arguing in the abstract; it would be
easier to reply if something concrete were presented by MacDonald's (and my)
critics. If anyone can provide another scenario which explains Mark's
strange story better than MacDonald, I'm sure everyone would like to see it.
Until that happens, I'm strongly inclined to believe that Mark's story of
John the Baptist's beheading was patterned in part after Homer's
(traditional) story of Klytemnestra chopping Agamemnon's head off.

http://sol.sci.uop.edu/~jfalward/john_baptist.html


Kind Regards,

Joe
==============
Joseph F. Alward, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
University of the Pacific
Stockton California 95211
e-mail: JFAlward AT aol.com




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