Theology Day 2020: Boundary Issues: The Recognition of Lord Odysseus and the Lord Jesus in Homer’s Odyssey and The Gospel of Luke
Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
2020
Abstract
This presentation will explore the literary and cultural similarities between the theme of recognition in two works by Greek authors; Homer’s Odyssey and The Gospel of Luke, at the end of which both Odysseus and Jesus appear as strangers to their followers. These literary works use the same Greek word, epignosko to describe the kind of deep, penetrating knowledge required for recognition of the true person of Odysseus and Jesus. Such knowledge is understood within the context of four distinct narrative patterns, the most important of which is the loving surrender of one’s heart. The presentation will develop these narrative patterns and conclude with a discussion of both the challenges and rich possibilities that Luke’s borrowing of Homer might have for our own most recognition of the true person of Jesus as risen.
Dr. Jane Kelley Rodeheffer is a philosopher who currently holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Great Books at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA. She holds degrees from Boston College, Harvard, and Vanderbilt Universities. In the Fall of 2019, she will be the Killian McDonnell Fellow in residence at the Collegeville Institute
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Rodeheffer, Jane, "Theology Day 2020: Boundary Issues: The Recognition of Lord Odysseus and the Lord Jesus in Homer’s Odyssey and The Gospel of Luke" (2020). Theology Day Lectures. 33.
https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/sot_theology_day/33