Character Studies and the Gospel of Mark

Characters in the Second Gospel are analysed and an in-depth look is provided of different approaches currently employed by scholars working with literary and reader-oriented methods of analysis. The first section consists of essays on method/theory, and the second consists of seven exegetical character studies using a literary or reader-oriented method. All contributors work from a literary, narrative-critical, reader-oriented, or related methodology.

The book summarizes the state of the discussion and examines obstacles to arriving at a comprehensive theory of character in the Second Gospel. Specific contributions include analyses of the representation of women, God, Jesus, Satan, Gentiles, and the Roman authorities of Mark's Gospel. This work is both an exploration of theories of character, and a study in the application of those theories.

• Table Of Contents
• Preface
• List of Abbreviations
• List of Contributors
• Introduction
  
  
• Part One: Markan Characterization: History and Method
  • 1. ‘The Study of Character(s) in the Gospel of Mark: A Survey of Research from Wrede to the Performance Critics’ (1903 – 2013) Christopher W. Skinner, Mount Olive College in North Carolina, USA
  • 2. ‘History, Theology, Story: Re-Contextualizing Mark’s “Messianic Secret” as Characterization’ Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA
  • 3. ‘The Creation of Person in Ancient Narrative and the Gospel of Mark’ Matthew Ryan Hauge, Azusa Pacific University in California, USA
  
  
  
• Part Two:Approaching the Characters of Mark’s Gospel
  • 4. ‘God as Healer of Creation in the Gospel of Mark’ Ira Brent Driggers, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenoir-Rhyne University, USA
  • 5. ‘The Characterization of Jesus as Lord in Mark’s Gospel’ Joel F. Williams, Cedarville University, USA
  • 6. ‘Characterizing the Non-Human: Satan in the Gospel of Mark’ Elizabeth E. Shively, University of St Andrews, UK
  • 7. ‘The Narrative Rhetoric of Mark’s Characterization of Peter’ Paul L. Danove, Villanova University, USA
  • 8. ‘Women in Mark’s Gospel’ Susan E. Miller, University of Glasgow, UK
  • 9. ‘“Their Great Ones Act as Tyrants Over Them”: Reading Mark’s Characterization of Roman Authorities from a Distinctly Roman Perspective’ Adam Winn, Azusa Pacific University, USA
  • 10. ‘Gentile Characters and the Motif of Proclamation in the Gospel of Mark’ Cornelis Bennema, Wales Evangelical School of Theology, UK
  
  
  
• Bibliography
• Index