Emotion made right : Hellenistic moral progress and the (un)emotional Jesus in Mark

Author(s)

    • Hicks, Richard James

Bibliographic Information

Emotion made right : Hellenistic moral progress and the (un)emotional Jesus in Mark

Richard James Hicks

(Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche, v. 250)

De Gruyter, c2021

Available at  / 2 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [216]-226) and indexes

Description and Table of Contents

Description

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.

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

  • NCID
    BC10279241
  • ISBN
    • 9783110723045
  • LCCN
    2021933452
  • Country Code
    gw
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    Berlin
  • Pages/Volumes
    vi, 271 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
  • Parent Bibliography ID
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