Emotion in the Gospel of Mark

What is it about?

Accounting for a variety of literary genres circa the first century CE, the author identifies a prominent strand of thought about the ethical implications of emotional behavior. Morally minded authors consistently describe emotion in terms of a rising temptation to do what feels right irrespective of whether that course is right/rational or godly.

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Photo by Dragisa Braunovic on Unsplash

Photo by Dragisa Braunovic on Unsplash

Why is it important?

A historically-grounded working definition of emotion guides the author's hermeneutic to assess emotion and emotional culpability. Having independently explored emotion in Philippians, the author here turns his attention to the Gospel of Mark.

Perspectives

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My initial interest in Jesus's emotion was sparked during a graduate seminar in Mark (2003), and I concluded that Mark is attuned to Jesus's anger throughout the narrative. As I became better acquainted with the historical context of the New Testament, however, my prior understanding of passages featuring "anger" (e.g., Mark 1:40-45; 11:15-17) was turned on its head. This study, which is the fruit of many years of research, reflects a sort of 180 degree turn from where I started.

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