Miracles and the Kingdom of God: Christology and Social Identity in Mark and Q

by Myrick C. Shinall Jr.

Overview

In the last decade or so, scholarship on the miracles of Jesus has shifted from reconstructions of the historical Jesus to the questions of why and to what end early Jesus-followers told stories about miracles. Myrick Shinall contends that Mark and Q contain two distinct ways of remembering Jesus’s miracles in relation to his proclamation of the kingdom of God. He compares three cases of Mark-Q overlaps which feature miracles: the Beelzebul controversy, the commissioning of the disciples, and the testing or “temptation” narratives, and finds that in Mark, the miracles and the kingdom of God both point to Jesus’ identity as a divine figure, whereas in Q, Jesus and the miracles point instead to the coming kingdom of God. Shinall further argues that these different views represent different strategies for creating group identities for Jesus’ followers, strategies that came into conflict as the movement’s identity coalesced. At length, he shows that the mix of “high” and “low” Christology in the Synoptic tradition requires reframing of the current debate over how early a “high” Christology developed in the nascent Jesus movement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781978701120
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	03/28/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	184
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Myrick C. Shinall Jr. is assistant professor of surgery and medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society.

Table of Contents

1. Preliminary Objections

The Kentucky Fried Rat
Objection 1: The Bible is not Folklore
Objection 2: There is no Q
Objection 3: There is no New Testament Christology
Conclusion

1. The Purposes of Narrating Miracle Stories

Miracles and Identity Formation
Miracles in the Ancient Mediterranean
Conclusion

1. The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan

The Kingdom of God: Background
The Kingdom of God: Q
The Kingdom of God: Mark
Satan and His Kingdom
Conclusion

1. The Beelzebul Controversy

Controversy and Identity
The Beelzebul Controversy in Mark
The Beelzebul Controversy in the Double Tradition
Conclusion

5. The Commissioning of the Disciples

Charisma and Succession
The Commissioning in Mark
The Commissioning in the Double Tradition
Conclusion

6. The Testing of Jesus

Testing and Initiation
The Testing of Jesus in the Double Tradition
The Testing of Jesus in Mark
Conclusion


7.Conclusion

Mark and Q
Christology and Social Identity
Miracles and the Kingdom of God

Editorial Reviews

This is a very fine and rich comparison of the miracles stories that overlap the Gospel of Mark and the synoptic Sayings Gospel Q. Deep knowledge of the use of miracle stories in Greco-Roman antiquity, a studied sensitivity to the relationship between miracles stories and early Christian intellectual and social formation, and skilled exegesis of the relevant texts, allow the author to make a convincing argument that Mark and Q represent very different conceptions of Jesus and social visions for his groups of followers.

Willi Braun

Smartly written and full of instructive comparative materials, Miracles and the Kingdom of God is a salutary warning against flattening or harmonizing parallel synoptic texts. The volume is an important contribution to the on-going debates about early Christology, and scholars will henceforth have to reckon with Shinall’s novel suggestions and provocative conclusions.

Dale C. Allison Jr.

Shinall's thesis is provocative and presented in a lively manner.

The Bible Today

This study of the miracles and the kingdom in Mark and Q/double tradition, with also a valuable eye to social identity and sociological issues, finds significant differences between the two strands. Well-argued and thought-provoking, this is an important contribution to gospel studies and will be of interest to all students of Mark and Q.

Christopher Tuckett