Divine Interventions Research Articles

The Motif of Wonder in the Gospel of Mark

The Motif of Wonder Gospel of Mark, by Timothy Dwyer. JSNTSup 128. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996. Pp. 243. L39.00/$58-50. Originating as a project at University of Aberdeen under direction of Ruth Edwards and 1. Howard Marshall, this monograph is a well-researched, well-written, carefully structured assessment of its titular topic. The introduction (chapter 1) establishes need for Dwyer's study: by his reckoning Mark contains thirty-two occurrences of motif of wonder, many of which have been heretofore absorbed into consideration of other subjects (such as miracle stories). Of 32 occasions where Mark uses motif, eight involve miracles or (2.12; 4.41; 5.15, 33, 42; 6.50, 21; 7.37); teaching or passion predictions also have eight occurrences (1.22, 27; 6.2; 9.32; 10.24, 26; 11.18; 12.17); three occurrences are empty tomb narrative (16.5, 6, 8); five relate to fear of various leaders, either Jewish or Gentile (6.20; 11.32; 12.12; 15.5, 44); remaining eight are difficult to categorize (3.21; 5.20; 6.6; 9.6, 15; 10.32; 12. 11; 14.33) (p. 20). Dwyer's method combines redaction criticism, by which he aims to focus on discrete pericopae which motif of wonder occurs Mark, and narrative analysis, by which that motif may be exegetically synthesized with Gospel's other salient features. Following a brief comparison of Markan reactions of wonder with those Matthew and Luke-both of which tend to delete, soften, or stereotype that motif-- Dwyer turns to reactions of wonder Greco-Roman literature (chapter 2), early Jewish writings (chapter 3), and early Christian literature (chapter 4). While occurring Greek magical papyri and with surprising rarity miracle stories, motif is found to play little part portraits of divine-men and esteemed teachers, Greco-Roman biographies, ancient drama, and rhetorical conventions of pathos. Across all genres wonder most commonly occurs in reference to signs, portents and dreams, or divine interventions general (p. 46). Dwyer discerns same phenomenon LXX, Philo, and josephus. Those works, as well as QL and Pseudepigrapha, tend also to associate wonder with eschatological age and messianic expectation. Wonder serves a propagandistic purpose early Jewish literature: the of Israel is [shown to be] true by way does things to astound people (p. 67). In early Christian documents other than Synoptic Gospels, reactions of wonder are infrequent and polyvalent. In John they are usually negative responses of Jesus' opponents, never reactions to specific miracles. Acts and Revelation wonder can carry either strong negative or strong positive connotations, leading to faith or to deception. In texts canonical (2 Thess 1:10; Jas 2:19) and noncanonical (e.g., Gos. Thom. 2; Acts of Peter 5.12), wonder is depicted as an awe-inspiring encounter with supernatural realm, akin to Rudolf Otto's characterization of essential religious experience as a mysterium tremendum. Chapters 5 and 6 examine those pericopae in, respectively, Mark 1:1-9:13 and 9:14-16:8 where language of wonder occurs. first half of Gospel, Dwyer repeatedly observes that wonder is not focused on the naked miracle or exorcism (p. 115; see Mark 1:22, 27; 5:15, 20); beyond pure acts of power wonder is prompted, rather, by the acts of breaking-in of kingdom (pp. 143, 144; see Mark 4:41; 6:50, 51; 7:37). Either obedience to Jesus or rejection of him may follow from this uncanny eschatological intervention (e.g., Mark 2:12; 6:2, 6a, 20). When followed by faith, [w]onder is then integrated with Jesus' mission and serves as a vehicle to properly identify it as medium through which God has acted .... to (p. 143; see esp. Mark 5:33, 42). For Dwyer, Mark's theological achievement is (largely redactional) use of motif of wonder to illumine passion and resurrection, interpreted Jesus' teaching as in-breaking rule of to save (thus, Mark 9:32; 10:24, 26, 32; 11:18; 15:5, 44; 16:5, 6, 8). …

Remaking a cultural icon: Phèdre and the operatic stage

The age of Louis XIV was an age of contrasts. It was fond of spectacle and ostentation, typified in the great fêtes of Versailles, yet it is rightly known as ‘l'époque classique’, characterised by order and decorum. Its greatest playwright was Jean Racine, whose eleven tragedies had only the barest of sets, presented one action in one place during a maximum of twenty-four hours, chose subjects from history or mythology that featured only mortal characters in easily believable situations, relegated violence and other unseemly behaviour to the wings and to descriptions (récits), and used a limited, noble vocabulary to explore the depths of the human condition and to create poetry of extraordinary beauty. However, in 1673, during the peak of Racine's career, Quinault and Lully created French opera (tragédie lyrique), which, while also using a limited, noble vocabulary, featured spectacular sets and costumes for each act, allowed subplots (even comic ones in the first three operas), staged battles, storms and divine interventions, eschewed historical characters, and presented simpler situations and characterisations in order to leave time for music and dance.

The Complete Romances of Chrétien de Troyes by David Staines

Although Jeffrey in People of the Book is responding to developments in literary theorizing over the past two decades, he has wisely not allowed those ideas to set his agenda. The expansive perspective of the study turns contemporary literary theory into another episode in the long history of hermeneutics. Of course, readers may quibble with his choice of represen­ tative writers, but those he has chosen effectively serve his purposes. Both as a guide to the animating values of hundreds of years of Western literary tradition and as an attempt to sketch the features of a Christian aesthetic, David Jeffrey’s book is invaluable. NOTE 1 Contemporary Literary Theory: A Christian Appraisal, Eds. Clarence Walhout and Leland Ryken. Grand Rapids MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1991. Da v i d a . r e n t / Centennial College The Complete Romances of Chrétien de Troyes. Trans, with an introduction by David Staines (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990). xxix, 542. $57.50 (U.S.) cloth, $12.95 paper. Chrétien de Troyes, who lived in the second half of the twelfth century, created the literary romance of King Arthur, using both oral Celtic stories and written chronicles as his inspiration. His romances are the wellspring of the medieval Arthurian tradition. They are also the first literature since antiquity in which women play complex and sustained roles, and in which gender relations are decisive to the realization of human potential. Written in musical and witty Old French octosyllabic couplets, they are not easy to translate. David Staines has captured both the literal sense of the original and its poetic power in a dignified, modern idiom. There are good reasons to publish and possess Chrétien’s works in a col­ lected edition. Unlike most medieval authors, he named himself at some point in his stories, leaving no doubt about his authorship. His self-awareness as an author shaped the medieval reception of his works: three manuscripts transmit all of his Arthurian works, and two others contain three. Such clustering is unusual, and it suggests that some medieval scribes and readers were aware of his romances as an oeuvre. Events in two of the romances, The Knight of the Cart (Lancelot) and The Knight with the Lion (Yvain), are connected in time through an intricate set of references, showing that they were to be read and interpreted as a pair. And, of course, Arthur’s court is consistently depicted as the place from which knights set out and to 178 which they return for social recognition. One could wish only that Staines had translated Chretien’s two lyric poems so that the connections between lyric and romance could be as easily observed and studied as the connections among the romances themselves. Three other collections of Chretien’s romances are currently available in English, and I will make a comparison below.1 Staines has one significant ad­ vantage over these others, since he alone translates a fascinating work called William of England. Its author refers to himself as “Chrétien,” and scholars have long debated his identification with Chretien de Troyes. Staines does not take sides in the debate, but rather includes William of England on con­ textual grounds. The author, if not Chrétien de Troyes himself, was perhaps a student or disciple “familiar with the twelfth-century romance world and, in particular, with some of the romances of Chrétien de Troyes” (xxvi). The only other English translation was published in 1904 by W.G. Collingwood.2 Though recently reprinted, its usefulness is diminished by the fact that it combines two differing versions of the narrative. Staines aptly describes William of England as “a romance with hagiographic overtones in which the goal is not knightly success but endurance and survival in the face of trials and tortures” (xxvi). Though it is a spiritual tale, divine interventions in the secular realm are restrained. What makes the text so interesting is its combination of improbable twists of plot and realistic descriptions of life beyond the courtly world, especially the opportu­ nities for smart and motivated people to get ahead as merchants. The story begins when a heavenly voice orders King William into exile as a...

Skimming the New Waves

The past century has witnessed an increased mushrooming of religious sects, denominations of the two conquering missionary religions Islam and Christianity, secret organizations, and sociopolitical cults with religious overtones in all of the continent of Africa and especially in Nigeria. New Age religions in Nigeria are an amalgamation of traditional worship, Christianity, Islam, and the local metaphysics. By custom, Africans are not unfamiliar with religious or sectarian activities, beliefs, and spiritism. They live in a world that intermingles continuously with spirits, the ancestors, and the gods. They are incurably superstitious, naturally explaining life, death, and the mysteries of the universe through the divine interventions and will. There is nothing that does not have an explanation, the inaudible, the unseen and all-natural/supernatural phenomena. Islam and Christianity found in Africa an already religiously grounded and spiritually fervent population that served as an easy prey for conversion. The struggle was not only political and military but was spiritual and religious as well. The two

L'esthetique de Stace (review)

Reviewed by: L’esthétique de Stace A. M. Keith Anne-Marie Taisne. L’esthétique de Stace. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1994. 433 pp. Paper, 280 FF. (Collection d’Etudes Anciennes 122) Anne-Marie Taisne is the author of numerous articles concerning the literary history and artistic context that inform single poems in Statius’ Silvae and self-contained passages in his Thebaid and unfinished Achilleid, papers which lay the groundwork for her comprehensive new study of the literary aesthetic on display in the extant poetic oeuvre of P. Papinius Statius. In this ambitious monograph, she undertakes to explore two facets of Statius’ technical artistry, his spatial and temporal imagery, within the theoretical framework provided by ancient literary criticism. She is particularly concerned to articulate the poet’s dynamic reuse of the weighty literary tradition to which he is heir, and accordingly proposes, in her introduction, to structure her discussion around such central ancient critical issues as imitatio (mimesis) along with its close relatives aemulatio and contaminatio, and doctrina with its associated critical vocabulary of ingenium, ratio, and ars (6–10). Throughout the volume, she explicates these techniques in detailed analysis of Statian imagines, which she defines generally in the sense of “imagery” following S. Viarre (“L’image et le symbole dans la poésie d’Ovide: Recherches sur l’imaginaire,” REL 62 [1974] 263–80), and particularly by reference to individual usages of the term as they are discussed in the article on imago in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (11). Part 1, “Correspondances dans l’espace,” examines the spatial imagery of Thebaid, Achilleid, and Silvae in three chapters which treat (1) echo and reflection (17–52), (2) metamorphosis, multiplication, and contagion (53–119), and (3) simile (120–76). Part 2, “Correspondances dans le temps,” investigates the poems’ use of time as a structural principle, again in three chapters which discuss (1) prophecies and portents (177–236), (2) digressive elements such as ecphrases and embedded narratives (237–303), and (3) leitmotifs, or repeated patterns of imagery, such as divine and human interventions and the role of nature in the poems. The material Taisne analyzes in part 1 coheres more convincingly with her overarching theme of spatial imagery than that which she discusses in part 2 under the rubric of temporal imagery. I did not understand, for example, why nature, well discussed in connection with Statius’ use of the simile in part 1 (137–62), reappears in part 2 (331–58) with no explanation of its relevance to temporal imagery. Taisne persuasively documents the wide range of literary models on which Statius draws in all his poetry, and shows that the Thebaid makes particular use of epic and tragic models (166–68, 170, 373–75), the Achilleid of tragic and lyric models (168–71, 374–78). Her discussion of the literary echoes and wider symbolic relevance of individual passages is often very interesting, and the sheer accumulation of literary parallels is extremely impressive. I was reminded of and newly alerted to significant literary resonances on almost every page, and noticed only one incomplete assemblage of literary parallels (in her discussion of Hylas [End Page 159] in Silvae 1.2.199 [27–28], there is no mention of Theocr. Id. 13, Ap. Rhod. Arg. 1.1207–72, or Nicander apud Ant. Lib. Met. 26). The service to which this material is put, however, is not as exciting as the length of the study might lead one to hope. Throughout, Taisne argues that Statius’ deployment of imagery is consistent with the overarching thematic framework of each poem, defined as furor and horror in the Thebaid (23 and passim), an ambiguous and deceptive calm in the Achilleid (353–54 and passim), and serenity and harmony in the Silvae (28 and passim), but she does not press her analysis beyond the accumulation of imagery in the service of these themes as evidence of Statian amplificatio. This is particularly disappointing in an author so well placed to discuss the material culture of the Flavian epoch and the interrelations between Statius’ poetry (especially the Silvae) and the culture of display in Domitian’s Rome. Nevertheless, scholars will be grateful to Taisne for the material she has collected...

Saints, Doctors, and Soothsayers: The Dynamics of Healing in Gregory of Tours's De Virtutibus Sancti Martini

Besides objecting to Gregory of Tours’s “barbarized” Latin, critics and historians often regarded his writings as proof of the crude and superstitious outlook of the author and his society. Countless incidents of miraculous healings and divine interventions, meticulously recorded by Gregory, formed the basis of such an interpretation. Although students of this period are becoming less inclined to show such disdain for the prominent role Gregory gives to the supernatural in everyday life, there is yet to be, as Peter Brown has noted (222), “a religionsgeschichtliches Kommentar” on the work of this prolific writer and bishop of sixth-century Gaul. The absence of a new, thorough, and precise interpretation of Gregory means that the conventional assessment of his work remains largely unchallenged. Of course, a brief discussion such as this cannot provide the “full religious commentary” on Gregory of which Brown speaks and for which he claims there is an “urgent need” (222). Nevertheless, the following remarks may contribute to the larger process of changing our understanding of Gregory and of reinterpreting the religious practices and attitudes of his society.

Dialectics of Alienation: Individuals and Collectivities in Chinese Religion

This article analyzes religious activities of private worship and public testimony in Taiwan as processes of social and self production. Durkheimian understandings of the genesis and efficacy of collective representations are enhanced by a Marxian appreciation of alienation. 'Alienation' here applies to representations of productive power that invert the real productive relations between producer and product so that the product appears to produce the producer. In the context of Chinese religious activities, two forms of alienation are conjoined in the supernatural power (ling) attributed to territorial-cult gods. First, in the idiom of divine interventions that defend community boundaries, the collectivity's powers of self production (and reproduction) are attributed to the god. Secondly, in a structurally analogous mythology of miracles performed onI behalf of individuals, the person's powers of self-production are also attributed to divinity. Each of these representational tropes invokes the other in a rhetoric of reciprocal authentication that constitutes an important arena of cultural production of, simultaneously, individual subjects and social collectivities.

Sobering Reflections on a Forgotten French Opera Libretto

DURING MUCH OF THE FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT regular, nonmusical, tragedy and opera tragedy (tragedie lyrique) developed essentially as opposites.' Regular tragedy had always aimed above all at a concentrated experience, just as T. S. Eliot suggested, and, narrowly circumscribed by the unities, it continued to require only a small cast with a single setting, and was dominated by a single serious mood. Le merveilleux and divine interventions were hardly ever employed, since they might have undermined the vraisemblance of the psychological motivations: miracles came from without, whereas the essence of tragedy came from within the characters and the situation; it was self-contained. Opera, by contrast, evoked a world of illusions based on almost totally different intentions: its