Emotion made right : Hellenistic moral progress and the (un)emotional Jesus in Mark / Richard James Hicks.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hicks, Richard James, author.

Series:

Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche ; Beiheft 250.

Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 0171-6441 ; volume 250

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Mark--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Bible. Mark.

Christian ethics--History--Early church, ca. 30-600.

Christian ethics.

History.

Emotions--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Emotions.

Sin--Christianity.

Sin.

Hellenism.

Christian ethics--Early church.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 271 pages ; 23 cm.

Other Title:

Hellenistic moral progress and the (un)emotional Jesus in Mark

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, 2021.

Summary:

Prominent Hellenistic moralists from ca. the first century CE warn that all emotions carry temptation(s) to sin or error. To be guilty of emotional sin is to allow psychosomatic feelings (or rising emotion) free reign to trump godly (rational) guidance of behavioral pursuits. Thus, morally minded Hellenists widely view unemotional behavior as a sign of moral progress. Emotive language peppers the Markan narrative, inviting moral assessments, yet scholarship has seldom delved into a historical-literary analysis of Jesus's emotional characterization. This study proposes a working definition of emotion apropos the narratival nature of Hellenistic emotion theory. It finds that Jesus consistently vanquishes emotional temptations with "battle" techniques similar to those championed by the moralists. Mark characterizes Jesus in the moral tradition of the anti-emotional exemplar, and several minor characters are liberated from destructive emotions through the mercy of Jesus's godly rationale. By recognizing the Markan Jesus as a model, this study outlines a method for persevering in emotional testing that modern readers might also emulate to resist temptation with divine help. -- Publisher's description.

Contents:

Introduction

A methodological proposal for discussing emotion in a first-century CE milieu

Emotional temptation, disbelief, and anti-emotional repentance in Mark: the "good news" of the kingdom as divine-rational empowerment

Mark's "(un)emotional" Jesus: "he saved others; himself he cannot save[?]" (Mark 15:31)

Conclusions and implications.

Notes:

Includes bibliographic references and indexes.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9783110723045

3110723042

OCLC:

1240774719