How accurate is Dennis MacDonald's thesis regarding the Gospel of Mark?

[archicastor1 (Juan Romero)]

I recently came across a youtuber known as TruthSurge, who has a series titled Excavating the Empty Tomb:

Excavating The Empty Tomb - Part 1

He basically promotes the Christ myth “theory” but from a different perspective. He uses a book by Dennis MacDonald which says that the Gospels were responses to the Homeric epics and that Jesus is a fictional character.

I am quite skeptical of it, because of two things:

1. TruthSurge is not a scholar or has any credentials.

2. I think it is very strange that in almost 2000 no one noticed such a thing. I mean, why didn’t people from centuries ago notice that already? I read in a review that MacDonald strains passages to fit his thesis.

Is MacDonald right or is this just Christ myth nonsense?

[beaglelady]

Why bother with every little thing you come across on the internet? The internet is filled with religious kooks who have silly ideas! You say this guy isn’t a scholar, so shouldn’t that tell you something?

[archicastor1 (Juan Romero)]

@beaglelady

You say this guy isn’t a scholar

I know, but I was talking about Dennis MacDonald, who IS a scholar.

@beaglelady

so shouldn’t that tell you something?

He fooled many then, just look at the comment section of most of his videos.

[Jonathan_Burke (Jon)]

@archicastor1

He fooled many then, just look at the comment section of most of his videos.

So he’s convincing to random people commenting on Youtube. Meanwhile, he is less convincing to trained academics. Now why would that be?

[beaglelady]

@archicastor1

I know, but I was talking about Dennis MacDonald, who IS a scholar.

No, You said that TruthSurge is not a scholar. [quote=“archicastor1, post:1, topic:37365”]

Is MacDonald right or is this just Christ myth nonsense?
[/quote]

Is this a question you can answer yourself? Do you honestly think that anybody here thinks that McDonald is right? Why not read his publications and tell us what you think?

[archicastor1 (Juan Romero)]

@beaglelady

No, You said that TruthSurge is not a scholar.

That’s right, but he was using MacDonald’s book, and MacDonald IS a scholar.

@beaglelady

Do you honestly think that anybody here thinks that McDonald is right?

I should have said “To what extent is MacDonald right?”

[Jonathan_Burke (Jon)]

@archicastor1

I should have said “To what extent is MacDonald right?”

What audience did Mark have for a mythical savior figure modeled on Homeric epic?

[beaglelady]

@archicastor1

I should have said “To what extent is MacDonald right?”

Why don’t you read his book since you are interested in him? I don’t get the feeling that anybody here wants to study his ideas.

[gbrooks9 (George Brooks)]

I watched most of these videos… and all the material comes from a fairly impressive array of books.

I was impressed with some of the scholarship… but … I’m a Unitarian.