Synopses of Epic, Tragedy, and the Gospels by Dennis R. MacDonald

Volume 1 of Synopses of Epic, Tragedy, and the Gospels is an English synopsis like no other. Among its innovations are the incorporation of the lost Gospel Q+ and the rearrangement of the columns to reflect the historical evolution of the Synoptic tradition (Q+ → Mark → Matthew → Luke). What makes it a “Mimetic Synopsis” is its concentration on literary imitations of classical Greek poetry to present Jesus as a hero who transvalues characters in the Homeric epics and Athenian tragedy. Volume 2 is not a synopsis but a syncrisis, a comparison of the Acts of the Apostles with classical Greek literature. By applying the criteria of mimesis criticism, one can detect, for example, how Luke imitated the Homeric epics to rival Vergil’s Aeneid. This volume again contains original translations of the relevant ancient texts and includes Luke’s imitations also of Euripides’ Bacchae and Plato’s Socratic dialogues. Mimetic Synopsis of Three Gospels of John, Volume 3, compares the three compositional stages that produced the Fourth Gospel: (1) the Dionysian Gospel, which extensively imitated Euripides’ Bacchae; (2) the Anti-Jewish Gospel; and (3) the Beloved Disciple Gospel.