3,612 research outputs found
The Gospel on the Margins: The Ideological Function of the Patristic Tradition on the Evangelist Mark
No full textIn spite of the virtually unanimous patristic opinion that the evangelist Mark was the interpreter of Peter, one of the most prestigious apostolic founding figures in Christian memory, the Gospel of Mark was mostly neglected in the patristic period. Not only is the text of Mark the least well represented of the canonical Gospels in terms of the number of patristic citations, commentaries and manuscripts, the explicit comments about the evangelist Mark reveal some ambivalence about its literary or theological value. In my survey of the reception of Mark from Papias of Hierapolis until Clement of Alexandria, I will argue that the reason why the patristic writers were hesitant to embrace the Gospel of Mark was that they perceived the text to be amenable to the Christological beliefs and social praxis of rival Christian factions. The patristic tradition about Mark may have little historical basis, but it had an important ideological function in appropriating the text in the name of an apostolic authority from the margins or periphery
The sense of a beginning : Bakhtinian dialogic criticism on 'the gospel' in Mark.
No full textContemporary literary approaches have caused paradigm shifts in Biblical Studies in the last two decades as it appears in a great deal of Markan studies using narrative, reader-response, deconstructive, feminist, and new historicist approaches. However, literary studies on the Gospel of Mark have not taken into account theoretical questions underlying those approaches. As a result biblical critics are driven by new trends without ever having a chance to examine the critical baggage of the approaches. Consequently, there is a gap of communication between the old and the new one. Therefore this thesis is an attempt to meet the need of enhancing the quality of critical endeavour in biblical studies. In the light of most recent competing critical theories of literature, the first contribution of this thesis is the methodological finding that Bakhtinian dialogic criticism contains the most profound philosophical and practical foundations for solving some crucial theoretical problems in contemporary literary theories. It is a critique to a Saussurian linguistic system of language which becomes the very foundation of modern and postmodern literary criticism. Bakhtinian literary theory shifts the foundation of literary criticism on linguistic signs into the creative activity of the socio-cultural production of human communication. The shift into socio-cultural reality of language communication makes the notion of 'genre' very important to unlock the problem of text and context in literary studies. Since the Gospel of Mark has fascinated most literary critics in Biblical Studies, the problem of 'genre' of this gospel is chosen as the focus of this study. Secondly, as no agreement is reached as to what 'genre' the Gospel of Mark belongs, this thesis makes its contribution to the discussion by locating the problem of 'genre' of Mark in the context of genre theories and argues that the Bakhtinian suggestion to find genre in the socio-cultural sphere by analysing artistic intercourse between narrative agents in Mark has freed the competing analysis from the unresolved problem between the kerygmatic (content oriented) approach and the analogical (form oriented) approach. To achieve finding 'genre' in the socio-cultural sphere, this thesis focuses on Bakhtinian analysis of the process of artistic intercourse between narrative agents. The narrative communicative interrelationships between narrative agents is constructed in this thesis as a 'stereophonic' Bakhtinian model of dialogic communication. This model is an original contribution of this thesis for revising the traditional two dimensional model of narrative communication. Based on this dialogical model of communication, a special role is given to the Bakhtinian 'author-creator' in the realization process of genre through the interaction of polyphonic voices. Through the interaction of voices of the author-artist and the hero we are led to discover a relatively stable type of portraying and controlling reality in Mark, known as the genre of Roman 'satire'. The closest literary affinity is Satyrica by Petronius. This narrative strategy of 'satire' in Mark has its root in the prophetic discourse of the Old Testament which is saturating the speech of the narrator, John the Immerser, the centurion, the people, and even Jesus. Finally, the whole search for Markan 'genre' culminates in the analysis of the realization of genre through the analysis of Bakhtinian chronotope. The reality of the genre of Mark is its social reality that is in its role as dpxrj/ 'beginning'. As the Gospel of Mark proclaims itself as 'a beginning', it defines its claim of socio-cultural 'authority' in early Christianity. It is this 'sense of beginning' which enables the narrating and the narrated world of Mark to interact dialogically
Agenda for change: strategic choices for the next government
No full textThe next government has a primary requirement to be well briefed on the challenges inherent in Australia’s strategic circumstances and the policy options available to it. ASPI is publishing this report to layout our strategic choices and to provide recommendations.
Contributors are Peter Jennings on strategic policy, Mark Thomson and Andrew Davies on defence, Anthony Bergin and Kristy Bryden on homeland security, Russell Trood on foreign policy and Ryan Stokes on economic security.
This body of ideas makes a compelling contribution to the discussions which ought always to characterise the Australian strategic and defence debate
Other endings of Mark as responses to Mark : an ideological-critical investigation into the longer and the shorter ending of Mark's Gospel
No full textThe Longer Ending and the Shorter Ending of Mark's Gospel are the ancient Markan readers' responses to Mark's Gospel. This leads us to the question of how the authors of these endings read their Mark's Gospel. These endings reflect the ideologies of their authors. The ideologies are related to the interests of the author or the authorial community (ideological primary group), and are embedded within the text. The Longer and the Shorter Ending were produced within a social context where the matter of apostolic authoritative leadership was a sensitive issue. A potential conflict is found in many contemporary texts from the NT and the extra- canonical texts, especially with regard to the apostolic authority of Mary Magdalene and Peter. Their struggles for apostolic authority are often found in the post-Easter narrative context. The assumed ideological primary community of the Longer Ending is Pro- Magdalene. It acknowledged Mary Magdalene as its authoritative leader who enjoyed apostolic authority especially over Peter. This community was interested in mission, and re-authenticated the mission of the Eleven. The LE provides a certain guideline for the qualification of leadership in the LE's community, which is the visual experience of the resurrected Jesus. The assumed ideological primary community of the Shorter Ending is Pro- Petrine. It was in favour of Peter, and suggested him as holding authoritative apostolic authority. This community wanted to clarify the resurrection of Jesus, and emended the empty tomb narrative of Mark's Gospel. It was also interested in mission, and the authority of disciples, especially that of Peter, in their performing mission tasks is highlighted in the Shorter Ending
Maria Pirgerou on Peter Messent’s Mark Twain and Male Friendship
No full textPeter Messent, Mark Twain and Male Friendship: The Twichell, Howells and Rogers Friendships. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Pp. 272. Cloth. ISBN 978-0-19-539116-9. Peter Messent’s book seeks to explore the lifelong relationships between Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), one of the most prominent literary figures of post-Civil War America, and three equally renowned men of the same period: the minister Joseph Twichell, the literary editor and author William Dean Howells and the shrewd busin..
Zechariah 9-14 as the substructure of 1 Peter’s eschatological program
No full textThe principal aim of this study is to discern what has shaped the author of 1 Peter to regard Christian suffering as a necessary (1.6) and to-be-expected (4.12) component of faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ. Most research regarding suffering in 1 Peter has limited the scope of inquiry to two particular aspects—its cause and nature, and the strategies that the author of 1 Peter employs in order to enable his addressees to respond in faithfulness. There remains, however, the need for a comprehensive explanation for the source that has generated 1 Peter’s theology of Christian suffering. If Jesus truly is the Christ, God’s chosen redemptive agent who has come to restore God’s people, then how can it be that Christian suffering is a necessary part of discipleship after his coming, death and resurrection? What led the author of 1 Peter to such a startling conclusion, which seems to runs against the grain of the eschatological hopes and expectations of Jewish restoration ideology?
This thesis analyzes the appropriation of shepherd and fiery trials imagery,
and argues that the author of 1 Peter is dependent upon Zechariah 9-14 for his
theology of Christian suffering. Said in another way, the eschatological program of
Zechariah 9-14, read through the lens of the Gospel, functions as the substructure
for 1 Peter’s eschatology and thus its theology of Christian suffering.
In support of this hypothesis, this study highlights the fact that Zechariah 9-
14 was available and appropriated in early Christianity, in particular in the Passion
Narrative tradition; that the shepherd imagery of 1 Pet 2.25 is best understood
within the milieu of the Passion Narrative tradition, and that it alludes to the
eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14; that the fiery trials imagery found in 1
Peter 1.6-7 and 1 Pet 4.12 is distinct from that which we find in Greco-Roman and OT
wisdom sources, and that it shares exclusive parallels with some unique features of
the eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14; that Zechariah 9-14 offers a more
satisfying explanation for the modification of Isa 11.2 in 1 Pet 4.14, the transition
from 4.12-19 to 5.1-4, why Peter has oriented his letter with the term διασπορά,
and why he has described his addresses as οἶκος τοῦ θεοῦ; and finally that 1 Peter
contains an implicit foundational narrative that shares distinct parallels with the
eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14.
We can conclude that 1 Peter offers a unique vista into the way in which at
least one early Christian witness came to understand and to communicate the fact
that Christian suffering was a necessary feature of faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ
Incomprehension or resistance? : the Markan disciples and the narrative logic of Mark 4:1—8:30
No full textThe characterization of the Markan disciples has been and continues to be the object of much scholarly reflection and speculation. For many, the Markan author’s presentation of Jesus’ disciples holds a key, if not the key, to unlocking the purpose and function of the gospel as a whole. Commentators differ as to whether the Markan disciples ultimately serve a pedagogical or polemical function, yet they are generally agreed that the disciples in Mark come off rather badly, especially when compared to their literary counterparts in Matthew, Luke, and John.
This narrative-critical study considers the characterization of the Markan disciples within the Sea Crossing movement (Mark 4:1–8:30). While commentators have, on the whole, interpreted the disciples’ negative characterization in this movement in terms of lack of faith and/or incomprehension, neither of these, nor a combination of the two, fully accounts for the severity of language leveled against the disciples by the narrator (6:52) and Jesus (8:17–18). Taking as its starting point an argument by Jeffrey B. Gibson (1986) that the harshness of Jesus’ rebuke in Mark 8:14–21 is occasioned not by the disciples’ lack of faith or incomprehension but by their active resistance to his Gentile mission, this investigation uncovers additional examples of the disciples’ resistance to Gentile mission, offering a better account of their negative portrayal within the Sea Crossing movement and helping explain many of their other failures.
In short, this study argues that in Mark 4:1–8:26, the disciples are characterized as resistant to Jesus’ Gentile mission and to their participation in that mission, the chief consequence being that they are rendered incapable of recognizing Jesus’ vocational identity as Israel’s Messiah (Thesis A). This leads to a secondary thesis, namely, that in Mark 8:27–30, Peter’s recognition of Jesus’ messianic identity indicates that the disciples have finally come to accept Jesus’ Gentile mission and their participation in it (Thesis B).
“Chapter One: Introduction” offers a selective review of scholarly treatments of the Markan disciples, which shows that few scholars attribute resistance, let alone purposeful resistance, to the disciples.
“Chapter Two: The Rhetoric of Repetition” introduces the methodological tools, concepts, and perspectives employed in the study. It includes a section on narrative criticism, which focuses upon the story-as-discoursed and the implied author and reader, and a section on Construction Grammar, a branch of cognitive linguistics founded by Charles Fillmore and further developed by Paul Danove, which focuses upon semantic and narrative frames and case frame analysis.
“Chapter Three: The Sea Crossing Movement, Mark 4:1–8:30” addresses the question of Markan structure and argues that Mark 4:1–8:30 comprises a single, unified, narrative movement, whose action and plot is oriented to the Sea of Galilee and whose most distinctive feature is the network of sea crossings that transport Jesus and his disciples back and forth between Jewish and Gentile geopolitical spaces.
Following William Freedman, “Chapter Four: The Literary Motif” introduces two criteria (frequency and avoidability) for determining objectively what constitutes a literary motif and provides the methodological basis and starting point for the analyses performed in chapters five and six.
“Chapter Five: The Sea Crossing Motif” establishes and then carries out a lengthy narrative analysis of the Sea Crossing motif, which is oriented around Mark’s use of θάλασσα (thalassa) and πλοῖον (ploion), and “Chapter Six: The Loaves Motif” does the same for The Loaves motif, oriented around Mark’s use of ἄρτος (artos).
Finally, “Chapter Seven: The Narrative Logic of the Disciples (In)comprehension” draws together all narrative, linguistic, and exegetical insights of the previous chapters and offers a single coherent reading of the Sea Crossing movement that establishes Theses A and B.
Spiritual Inhabitation in the Gospel of Mark: A Reconsideration of Mark 8:33
No full textThe article presents the author\u27s view on a subject pertaining to the gospel of Saint Mark particularly the sayings verbalized by Jesus Christ who regarded Peter as Satan. He argued that the sayings contained in the gospel signify that Mark is trying to convey that Peter was spiritually inhabited by Satan. The author also reveals that Jesus has seen Satan within Peter, and that he was trying to get rid of him. He also offered various interpretations of scholars regarding the passage. Some scholars interpreted it metaphorically, arguing that only the behavior of Peter resembles that of Satan
Construction, theory, and practical considerations for using self-referencing of Ca2+-selective microelectrodes for monitoring extracellular Ca2+ gradients
No full textAuthor Posting. © The Author(s), 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Methods in Cell Biology 99 (2010): 91-111, doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-374841-6.00004-9.Ca2+ signaling in the extra- and intracellular domains is linked to Ca2+ transport across the plasma membrane. Non-invasive monitoring of these resulting extracellular Ca2+ gradients with self-referencing of Ca2+-selective microelectrodes is used for studying Ca2+ signaling across Kingdoms. The quantitated Ca2+ flux enables comparison with changes to intracellular [Ca2+] measured with other methods and determination of Ca2+ transport stoichiometry. Here we review the construction of Ca2+-selective microelectrodes, their physical characteristics and their use in self-referencing mode to calculate Ca2+ flux. We also discuss potential complications when using them to measure Ca2+ gradients near the boundary layers of single cells and tissues.NIH:NCRR grant P41 RR00139
Mystical strategies and performative discourse in the theologia mystica of Teresa of Avila: A Wittgensteinian analysis
No full textThe thesis argues that a Wittgensteinian approach to the 'mystical' writings of a 'mystical theologian' such as Teresa of Avila reveals that rather than exhibiting an ontological mysticism these writings are better understood as enacting what are termed 'mystical strategies' or 'performative discourse'. The notion that both Wittgenstein and Teresa employ what are termed 'therapeutic or transformational strategies' to effect change in their readers is central to its argument. In this respect the thesis concludes that their writing is fundamentally transformational in character.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
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