Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism: The Charge against Jesus in Mark 14:53-65 (Biblical Studies Library)

This book is a reprint of Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus: A Philological-Historical Study of the Key Jewish Themes Impacting Mark 14:61-64 (WUNT 2/106; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1998). At about one-third of the cost of the European edition, Bock’s important work is now affordable and accessible to greater numbers of North American scholars and students. Bock has assembled a massive amount of documentation in the effort to understand exactly in what sense Jesus was accused of blasphemy and on what grounds. Some readers will no doubt dispute an interpretation here or there—and some will have little sympathy for the overall approach—but all will profit from Bock’s labors and, in the opinion of this reviewer, will do well to be guided by the approach and the conclusions. In the first chapter Bock reviews one dozen scholarly attempts to interpret Mark 14:53-65, ranging from Hans Lietzmann in 1931 to J. C. O’Neil and this reviewer in 1995. Bock sides with those studies that focus on the juxtaposition of Ps 110:1 and Dan 7:13, fragments of which make up almost the whole of Jesus’ reply to the high priest in Mark 14:62. There are two sides to Bock’s study. The one concerns blasphemy; the other concerns exaltation. How one understands the second will condition the perception of blasphemy. [Full Review]