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Abstract
Jesus is referred to as Rabbi or Rabbouni on four occasions in Mark. Most scholars assume that it was a commonplace term during Jesus’ lifetime and it is a Hebrew synonym for Teacher. It will be posited that it was not in use during the early decades of the first century ce and that it is actually an Aramaic term utilized by Mark and endowed with a messianic valence. This will be viewed within the context of Mark’s agenda of obfuscating the true identity of Jesus and employing Aramaic as a code language. Both Bartimaeus’ petition and Judas’ betrayal of Jesus will also be viewed from this perspective.
Abstract
In 1894 Germain Morin identified a collection of 31 Pseudo-Chrysostomic sermons as the work of a single late antique Latin author. Although widely read in the Middle Ages, there is still little consensus about where or when this author wrote. Morin himself originally proposed sixth-century Naples, Adalbert de Vogüé noticed parallels with the Rule of the Master, and, most recently, Jean-Paul Bouhot and Francois Leroy have argued for fifth-century North Africa. This paper explores the collection’s contextual clues, pre-baptismal liturgy, and anti-Arian and anti-Pelagian theology to make a case for considering it the product of clerical circles within Ostrogothic Rome. The author may have been writing during the Second Semi-Pelagian Controversy (519–529 CE), perhaps in direct dialogue with Fulgentius of Ruspe. He displays an attitude towards human free will that is surprisingly similar to Boethius’s and may have been a member of the circles of Boethius, Proba, and the deacon John in the early 520s.