Theology of the Gospel of Mark: A Semantic, Narrative, and Rhetorical Study of the Characterization of God

Description

Paul L. Danove presents the first full-length study of God and the theology of God in the Gospel of Mark. In dialogue with scholars who assume that texts are designed to guide their own interpretation, Danove develops and applies methods of analysis to describe the actions and attributes of God in the Gospel of Mark. Danove presents his argument in a threefold structure, beginning with outlining a set of complementary semantic, narrative, and rhetorical methods for investigating characterization. He then moves to examine the semantic and narrative content related to the character of God in the Gospel of Mark and then formulates this information under the guidance of the narrative rhetoric into statements of God's fifty-six repeated and sixty-two non-repeated actions and attributes, arranged according to God's portrayal as semantic agent, benefactive, content of human experience, experiencer, goal, instrument, patient of predication, source, theme, and topic of faith.

Paul L. Danove is Professor of New Testament Studies, Villanova University, USA.

Danove's virtually exhaustive study of the Gospel of Mark supplies a most basic and thorough level of textual analysis that is both quantitative and hermeneutical. The author operates with the precision of an analytic philosopher as he maintains a keen awareness of his role as a researcher and interpreter within a larger theological enterprise. By focusing on the character, attributes, and activity of God, the work addresses issues that are of central importance to communities of religious believers. The study both affirms much existing scholarship and offers new insights, with conclusions that are relevant not only for biblical scholars but also for systematic theologians who can build on its findings. * Dennis M. Doyle, University of Dayton, USA * The author of this work presents a new and very detailed image of God in the Gospel of Mark with the rigorous application of strictly conceived semantic, narrative and rhetorical criteria. This book comes to fill a void in studies about God in Mark's Gospel in a complete, exhaustive way to students and theologians. * Jesus Pelaez, University of Cordoba, Spain *