Jesus' Defeat of Death Persuading Mark's Early Readers [Hardcover]

A study of Mark's Gospel and its role in the rise of early Christianity.Peter Bolt explores the impact of Mark's Gospel on its early readers in the first-century Graeco-Roman world. Focusing upon the thirteen characters in Mark who come to Jesus for healing or exorcism and, using analytical tools of narrative and reader-response criticism, he explores their crucial role in the communication of the Gospel. Enlisting a variety of ancient literary and non-literary sources, this book brings to life this first-century world of illness, magic and Roman imperialism. This new approach to Mark combines reader-response criticism with social history.Peter Bolt explores the impact of Mark's Gospel on its early readers in the first-century Graeco-Roman world. Focusing upon the thirteen characters in Mark who come to Jesus for healing or exorcism and, using analytical tools of narrative and reader-response criticism, he explores their crucial role in the communication of the Gospel. Enlisting a variety of ancient literary and non-literary sources, this book brings to life this first-century world of illness, magic and Roman imperialism. This new approach to Mark combines reader-response criticism with social history.Peter Bolt explores the impact of Mark's Gospel on early readers in the first-century Graeco-Roman world. Focusing upon the thirteen characters in Mark who come to Jesus for healing or exorcism, Bolt analyzes their crucial role in the communication of the Gospel. Enlisting a variety of ancient literary and non-literary sources, this book recreates the first-century world of illness, magic and Roman imperialism. This new approach to Mark combines reader-response criticism with social history.1. Introduction; 2. The beginning of the gospel (Mark 1.113); 3. The Kingdom is near (Mark 1.144.34); 4. Jesus and the perishing (Mark 4.358.26); 5. Entering the coming Kingdom (Mark 8.2710.52); 6. The clash of Kingdoms (Mark 11.113.37); 7. The coming of the Kingdom (Mark 14lÓ,