The Holy One of God in Markan Narrative
In: Horizons in Biblical TheologySearch for other papers by Arseny Ermakov in
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This article explores interpretive possibilities for the Christological title “the Holy One of God” in the context of the Markan narrative and through the prism of Second Temple Judaism. The article traces narrative connections of this title with other major Christological titles, their holiness connotations and the Markan portrayal of Jesus’ mission. This study suggests that the title is programmatic for the Second Gospel and finds its development throughout the whole of the Markan story. Jesus, the Holy One of God, is the one who restores the holiness and purity of the nation and (re)creates the new holy people of God. His contagious and transformative holiness enlarges the realm of purity and reduces the dominion of uncleanness through healings, exorcisms and forgiveness of sins. The article calls for reconsidering the place of this often neglected title in Markan Christology and adds some arguments for a higher view of Markan Christology.
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Brower Kent E. “ ‘We Are Able’: Cross-bearing Discipleship and the Way of the Lord in Mark” Horizons in Biblical Theology 2007 29 2 177 201
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Brower Kent E. Brower K.E. & Johnson A. “The Holy One of God and His Disciples” Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament 2008 Grand Rapids Eerdmans 57 75
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Brower Kent E. “The Old Testament in the Markan Passion Narrative” 1978 Ph.D. thesis, The University of Manchester
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Charlesworth James H. Charlesworth J.H., Lichtenberger H. & Oegema G.S. “Messianology in the Biblical Pseudoepigrapha” Qumran-Messianism. Studies on the Messianic Expectations in the Dead Sea Scrolls 1998 Tübingen Mohr Siebeck 21 52
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Collins Adela Y. Mark: A Commentary 2007 Hermeneia. Minneapolis Fortress Press
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Dunn James D.G. Horrell D.G. & Tuckett C.M. “ ‘Are you the Messiah?’: Is the Crux of Mark 14.61-62 Resolvable?” Christology, Controversy and Community. New Testament Essays in Honour of David R. Catchpole 2000 Leiden Brill 1 22
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Ermakov Arseny “Holy Community in the Gospel of Mark” 2009 PhD Thesis, The University of Manchester
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Eskola Timo Messiah and the Throne: Jewish Merkabah Mysticism and Early Christian Exaltation Discourse 2001 WUNT II,142 Tübingen Mohr Siebeck
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Pimentel Peter “The ‘Unclean Spirits’ of St Mark’s Gospel” Expository Times 1988 99 173 175
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Regev Eyal “Priestly Dynamic Holiness and Deuteronomic Static Holiness” Vetus Testamentum 2001 51 2 243 261
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Snow Robert S. “Daniel’s Son of Man in Mark: A Redefinition of the Earthly Temple and the formation of a New Temple Community” 2007 PhD Thesis, The University of Manchester
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Wahlen Clinton Jesus and the Impurity of Spirits in the Synoptic Gospels 2004 Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2 185 Tübingen Mohr Siebeck
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Watts Rikki Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark 2000 Grand Rapids Baker Academics
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Williamson L. Mark 1983 Louisville John Knox Press Interpretation Commentaries for Teaching and Preaching
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Wink Walter John the Baptist in the Gospel Tradition 1968 Cambridge Cambridge University Press Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series 7
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Wrede William Das Messiasgeheimnis in den Evangelien: Zugleich ein Beitrag zum Verständnis des Markusevangeliums 1901 Göttingen Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht English edition: William Wrede, The Messianic Secret. Translated by J.C.G. Grieg. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., 1971.
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1
William Wrede, Das Messiasgeheimnis in den Evangelien: Zugleich ein Beitrag zum Verständnis des Markusevangeliums (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1901); English edition: William Wrede, The Messianic Secret (trans. J.C.G. Grieg; Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., 1971).
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5
See for example, John Gammie, Holiness in Israel (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989); Jo B. Wells, God’s Holy People: A Theme in Biblical Theology (jsotSup 305; Sheffield: sap, 2000); M.J.H.M. Poorthuis and J. Swartz, eds., A Holy People: Jewish and Christian Perspectives on Religious Communal Identity (Leiden: Brill, 2006).
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6
Hannah K. Harrington, Holiness: Rabbinic Judaism and the Graeco-Roman World (London: Routledge, 2001), 6.
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7
Marcus Borg, Conflict, Holiness and Politics in the Teaching of Jesus (Harrisburg: Trinity Press, 1998), 71; Jesus in Contemporary Scholarship (Valley Forge: Trinity Press, 1994), 107-117.
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10
Jacob Milgrom, “Purity in the Priestly System” in Purity and Holiness: The Heritage of Leviticus (jcp 2; ed. M.J.H.M. Poorthuis and J. Schwartz; Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, 1999), 29.
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13
Milgrom, “Purity in Priestly System,” 31; Jacob Milgrom, “Law and Narrative and the Exegesis of Leviticus xix 19,” in vt, 46/4 (1996), 547.
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17
Jonathan Klawans, Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 90-1.
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18
See, for example, 1 En. 62:7-8; Sib. Or. 3:573, 5:429-431; 4 Ezra 7:43-44; 2 Bar. 85:15.
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20
See for example, Rikki Watts, Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark (Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2000); Joel Marcus, The Way of the Lord: Christological Exegesis of the Old Testament in the Gospel of Mark (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993); Kelli O’Brien, The Use of Scripture in the Markan Passion Narrative (London: T&T Clark, 2010).
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21
Jerome H. Neyrey, “The Idea of Purity in Mark’s Gospel,” in Semeia 35(1986): 106.
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23
Robert Gundry, Mark: A Commentary on His Apology for the Cross (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 82.
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24
Geza Vermes, The Changing Faces of Jesus (London: Penguin Books, 2000), 249.
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53
Kent Brower, “The Holy One of God and His Disciples,” 65; Hooker, Mark, 38; R. Stein, Mark, (becnt; Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2008), 51; L. Williamson, Mark. Interpretation Commentaries for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1983), 33. R. Guelich sees the baptism of the Spirit as receiving salvation through ministry of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8:26, wbc 43a: 25). Andy Johnson argues that Jesus ‘proleptically’ baptizes people in the Gospel of Mark and puts actual baptism into future (“The ‘New Creation,’ the Crucified and Risen Christ, and the Temple: A Pauline Audience for Mark,” in jti 1(2007): 180). Robert Gundry suggests that the baptism with the Spirit happens through ministry of Jesus (Gundry, Mark, 38).
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58
Peter Pimentel, “The ‘Unclean Spirits’ of St Mark’s Gospel,” ExpTim 99 (1988), 174-175.
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62
Rikki Watts, Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark (Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2000), 156.
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65
Craig A. Evans, “ “Who Touched Me?”: Jesus and the Ritually Impure.” in Jesus in Context: Temple, Purity, and Restoration (agaju 39; ed. B. Chilton and C. Evans; Leiden; Brill, 1997), 368.
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67
Adela Y. Collins, Mark: A Commentary (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007), 179.
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73
Evans, “Who Touched Me?,” 376. I’m thankful to the colleagues from the Ehrhardt seminar at The University of Manchester who heard a draft of this paper and made useful and stimulating comments that helped me to clarify my thinking.
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The Holy One of God in Markan Narrative
In: Horizons in Biblical TheologySearch for other papers by Arseny Ermakov in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This article explores interpretive possibilities for the Christological title “the Holy One of God” in the context of the Markan narrative and through the prism of Second Temple Judaism. The article traces narrative connections of this title with other major Christological titles, their holiness connotations and the Markan portrayal of Jesus’ mission. This study suggests that the title is programmatic for the Second Gospel and finds its development throughout the whole of the Markan story. Jesus, the Holy One of God, is the one who restores the holiness and purity of the nation and (re)creates the new holy people of God. His contagious and transformative holiness enlarges the realm of purity and reduces the dominion of uncleanness through healings, exorcisms and forgiveness of sins. The article calls for reconsidering the place of this often neglected title in Markan Christology and adds some arguments for a higher view of Markan Christology.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 316 | 32 | 4 |
| Full Text Views | 244 | 8 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 124 | 17 | 1 |