(Download) "Moral Vision and Eschatology in Mark's Gospel: Coherence Or Conflict?" by Journal of Biblical Literature # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Moral Vision and Eschatology in Mark's Gospel: Coherence Or Conflict?
- Author : Journal of Biblical Literature
- Release Date : January 22, 2008
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 251 KB
Description
Within the so-called Abrahamic tradition of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the scriptural sanction of violence poses a perplexing array of interrelated hermeneutical, theological, moral, and practical questions. John J. Collins focused on some of these in his presidential address at the SBL annual meeting in Toronto in 2002, "The Zeal of Phinehas: The Bible and the Legitimation of Violence." (1) Illuminating and sagacious as his discussion is, his illustrations of biblical legitimation of human violence all derive from Jewish Scripture and tradition, even in the case of examples taken from Christian history to demonstrate how biblical texts have been appropriated to authorize violence. Only in his penultimate section, "Eschatological Vengeance," in which he shifts the searchlight to scriptural expectations of divine retributive violence, does he refer to a small sampling of NT texts, most notably the book of Revelation. More could have been said about violence in the NT, (2) yet for Collins to have done so would not have made more stark the question provoked by his discussion of eschatological vengeance: Is the God of biblical tradition violent? That the God of biblical tradition is depicted as commanding, condoning, or committing violence is reason enough for some to answer this question in the affirmative. For others, different biblical depictions of God that are incongruent with the notion of a violent God call for a more nuanced response. One of the hermeneutical strategies Collins recommends in dealing with biblical texts that sanction violence is to draw attention to the diversity of perspectives in the Bible, thereby relativizing those texts that legitimate violence. (3) In this connection, NT traditions concerning Jesus of Nazareth comprise a corpus of texts that to some extent counterbalances the cluster of traditions that display God as one who both authorizes violence and ultimately resorts to violence. Nevertheless, even within the fabric of traditions emanating from Jesus, texts of violence stain the whole. Of these, the most disturbing are instances of vehement anti-Judaic invective on the part of Jesus, especially in the Gospels according to Matthew and John, and seemingly eager anticipations of eschatological vengeance. In short, with respect to the issue of biblical legitimation of violence, NT interpreters must confront the same complex of hermeneutical, theological, moral, and practical questions faced by biblical scholars generally.
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