Emotion Made Right: Hellenistic Moral Progress and the (Un)Emotional Jesus in Mark

Richard James Hicks

Published by De Gruyter 2021

Emotion Made Right

Hellenistic Moral Progress and the (Un)Emotional Jesus in Mark

Richard James Hicks

Volume 250 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110723076

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

Richard J. Hicks, Vernon Hill, VA, USA.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Chapter 1: Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 2: A Methodological Proposal for Discussing Emotion in a First-Century CE Milieu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
Chapter 3: Emotional Temptation, Disbelief, and Anti-emotional Repentance in Mark: The “Good News” of the Kingdom as Divine-Rational Empowerment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
Chapter 4: Mark’s “(Un)Emotional” Jesus: “He Saved Others; Himself He Cannot Save[?]” (Mark 15:31) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	162
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	216
Subject Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
Ancient Sources Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Modern Authors Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Theolog/-innen, Religionswissenschaftler/-innen, Religionsphilosop/-innen.
Pages
- Front matter: 8
- Main content: 271
Keywords: Theory of Emotion; Emulation; Ethics; Characterization

eBook

Published: September 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110723076

Hardcover

Published: September 20, 2021
ISBN: 9783110723045