"'Jesus as the Holy One of God"
Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism
A scholar-friend (John C. Poirier) and I have had a jointly authored article accepted by the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, as a recent email from one of the editors informs us:
[Y]our article 'Jesus as the Holy One of God: The Healing of the Zavah in Mark 5.24b-34' . . . . got a great review . . . . We are happy to accept this article for publication in vol. 8 of the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism . . . . [Y]our article will probably . . . appear . . . [in] early 2012. I will be in touch when I start the editing and typesetting process.That was a nice email to receive, for we've been reworking this article for a long while now. Here's the introductory paragraph:
Mark b-34 tells the story of Jesus healing a woman suffering from a flow of blood. The story has a number of features that make it more than just another account of a healing miracle. It is foremost a story about the woman’s faith (Jesus is unwitting to the miracle until it actually occurs), but it also informs the reader, in a not-so-subtle way, that the healing virtue that flowed from Jesus has certain dynamic properties -- properties not unlike those characterizing the egressive properties of ritual purity. The story, as Mark has redactionally cast it, interrupts the narrative of Jesus bringing Jairus's daughter back to life (vv. 21-24a, 35-43). Two questions arise: (1) What does the miraculous healing of the woman signify? and (2) Why does it interrupt the narrative about Jairus's daughter?
That probably all that I ought to say about this article for now. When the time of publication comes, I might post more. I also have a few articles solely my own that I worked on earlier in Australia and Israel but have had to put on back burners until the day that the internet has advanced enough to enable me to rework them myself here in Korea.
That day may have arrived. Now, if I can just find the time to move them forward onto front burners . . .
Labels: Christology, Holiness, Purity, Religion
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 3:30 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
The story has a number of features that make it more than just another account
A VERY fascinating feature is that "power" coming from Jesus, and even without him commanding it to. How do you interpret that?
It's similar to the power coming from the Ark of the Covenant, which happens automatically.
But the power of the Markan Jesus doesn't always operate in this fashion, so the parallel isn't perfect.
Jeffery Hodges
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which happens automatically (...)
But the power of the Markan Jesus doesn't always operate in this fashion
The Ark connection sounds new to me. Thanks, it is absolutely intriguing.
This in its turn rises two further questions:
1. Jesus is not an object, he is a living man, and much more than that, he is the Lord of All. So, how can he be 'used' automatically, like a dispenser? [Indeed, not even the Ark was a mere, passive object...]
2. What can those two operating fashions mean?
I don't think that Markan Christology asserts that Jesus is Lord of All.
The early church had to work out its theology over time, and Mark's depiction of Jesus as the Holy One of God draws upon Old Testament views on the dynamism of the Holy.
But Jesus is not quite so automatic in dispensing power as you've inferred.
When the article is published, you might see what we mean.
Jeffery Hodges
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I don't think that Markan Christology asserts that Jesus is Lord of All
oops, this was my Catholic roots emerging
:-)
Keep those roots underground, or they'll dessicate!
Jeffery Hodges
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:-D
Jeffery,
The article is now online. (I'll send an email when I get home.)
Jack
Thanks. I found it myself a couple of days ago when I had to update my CV.
Jeffery Hodges
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