In Hearing Kyriotic Sonship Michael Whitenton explores first-century audience impressions of Markâs Jesus in light of ancient rhetoric and modern cognitive science. Commonly understood as neither divine nor Davidic, Markâs Jesus appears here as the functional equivalent to both Israelâs god and her Davidic king. The dynamics of ancient performance and the implicit rhetoric of the narrative combine to subtly alter listenersâ perspectives of Jesus.
Previous approaches have routinely viewed Markâs Jesus as neither divine nor Davidic largely on the basis of a lack of explicit affirmations. Drawing our attention to the mechanics of inference generation and narrative persuasion, Whitenton shows us that ancient listeners probably inferred much about Markâs Jesus that is not made explicit in the narrative.
Michael R. Whitenton, Ph.D. (2015), Baylor University, is a Lecturer at Baylor University. He has published in top journals on cognitive and rhetorical approaches to the gospels and is currently completing Configuring Nicodemus: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Complex Characterization (Bloomsbury, 2018).
"Whitentonâs work moves Markan scholarship forward with its coherent approach to the characterization of Jesus. I would argue that this is a must-read for those engage in intertextual readings of the Gospels. For those interested in performance criticism, whether novice or advanced, Hearing Kyriotic Sonship would be a helpful companion." - Kara Lyons-Pardue, Point Loma Nazarene University, USA
"The monograph is a helpful reference on rhetoric, performance, and cognitive approaches, given the breath of Whitentonâs interaction with primary and secondary sources as well as recent scholarship on the subject. Whitenton has provided Markan scholarship with a helpful resource with fresh perspective on the Gospel of Markâs characterization of Jesus." - Abson Joseph, Wesley Seminary, Indiana Wesleyan University, USA
All interested in Markâs Gospel, the discursive world of Hellenistic rhetorical culture, cognitive approaches to the gospels, audience-oriented criticism, and NT christology.