Category: ‘In the Company of Jesus’
Musings on Mark: Minor Markan Characters – Bartimaeus, the Blind Beggar
“Through the identification with Bartimaeus and subsequent minor characters, the reader is encouraged to move beyond faith in Jesus and his power toward a more faithful acceptance of the demands and values of Jesus.” – Joel F. Williams1 MARK 10:46-522 46 And they came… Continue Reading “Musings on Mark: Minor Markan Characters – Bartimaeus, the Blind Beggar”
Musings on Mark: Minor Markan Characters – The Centurion at the Cross
In her excellent book In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark’s Gospel,1 New Testament scholar Elizabeth Struthers Malbon uses the tools of narrative criticism2 to analyze the story we find in the Gospel of Mark. As the title of her work suggests, Malbon focuses on characters… Continue Reading “Musings on Mark: Minor Markan Characters – The Centurion at the Cross”
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: Minor Characters in Mark as “Narrative Punctuation”
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark’s Gospel (WJK, 2000), 209. In addition to their significance in extending the continuum of responses to the Markan Jesus, minor characters often appear at significant points in the narrative. Especially when Mark’s Gospel is… Continue Reading “Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: Minor Characters in Mark as “Narrative Punctuation””
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: The Poor Widow’s Offering
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark’s Gospel (WJK, 2000), 177-178. I would argue…that the overall temple context of the poor widow’s story adds to the impressive irony of the Markan passion narrative. Jesus’ summoning his disciples to observe the poor widow’s action and to consider… Continue Reading “Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: The Poor Widow’s Offering”
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: Women With Jesus to the End
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark’s Gospel (Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 60. Within the Markan story, only the women follow Jesus to the end. At Gethsemane one of the twelve betrays Jesus (14:43-45) and the remaining eleven forsake him… Continue Reading “Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: Women With Jesus to the End”
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: The Silence of the Women
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark’s Gospel (Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 64-65. Perhaps one’s initial impression is of a certain irony to the women’s silence: throughout the narrative Jesus asks various characters to be silent and they rarely are;… Continue Reading “Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: The Silence of the Women”
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: The Key to the Markan Plot
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark’s Gospel (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 17. Conflict is the key to the Markan plot. As Markan characterization does not depend on psychological development within the characters, so the plot does not… Continue Reading “Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: The Key to the Markan Plot”
