Responses in the Miracle Stories of the Gospels

Beschreibung

What roles do characters' responses play in New Testament gospel miracle stories? By analysing each gospel's narrative, this study by Jordash Kiffiak is the first to examine how responses to miracles are employed creatively in both the gospels' portrayal of characters and the development of plot. In addition, the analysis makes it possible to posit an early shared oral tradition behind the miracles stories of the gospels.
Jordash Kiffiak offers the first concentrated study of a motif ubiquitous in the miracle stories of the gospels, namely the descriptions of characters' speech, feelings, physical actions and the like in response to miracles. Conventional wisdom sees the response motif as a means of casting the miracle worker in a positive light. However, the author's narrative-critical analysis argues that within each gospel the motif is employed creatively in a variety of ways. Responses serve to characterize various individuals and groups, both positively and negatively, sometimes in a more complex manner. They also contribute to the development of the plot, both in the individual episode and in the larger narrative. At the same time, observing that a network of features in the responses is shared among the gospels, Kiffiak argues that there is a common oral tradition behind the miracle stories, originating among the early followers of Jesus in the Galilee and/or Judea.

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Jordash Kiffiak
Born 1977; 1998 BA in European History; 2004 MA in Religious Studies; 2015 PhD in Comparative Religions from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; since 2007 teaching Hellenistic Greek and biblical Hebrew; since August 2015 post-doctoral researcher at the University of Zurich.

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Narrative Criticism Oral Tradition Synoptic Problem

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