The Scandal of the Gospels : Jesus, Story, and Offense

This Book Argues That The Gospels Are In An Important Sense Occasions For Offense. The Jesus Of The Gospels Is A Scandal (skandalon, In The Original Greek) And He Is Never More Scandalous Than When He Is Speaking In Parables. Interpreters Of The Gospels Over The Centuries Have Consistently Labored To Domesticate The Offense Or To Eliminate It Entirely. David Mccracken, Focusing On Parables, Matthew's Narrative Contexts, And The Gospel Of John, Seeks To Recover The Gospels' Sense Of Jesus As Skandalon. To This End, He Enlists The Help Of Kierkegaard, The Philosopher Of Offense, And To A Lesser Extent That Of Bakhtin, Both Of Whom Prove To Be Surprisingly Apt Conversation Partners For The Evangelists. The Offense -- Introduction: The Offense And Us -- Encountering And Suppressing Offense -- Some Contemporary Varieties Of Offense -- Biblical Offense At Work: Defilement And Blindness -- The Pharisees And The Canaanite Woman -- Yahweh's Snares And Stumbling Blocks -- Jesus As The Stumbling Stone -- The Offensiveness Of Offense -- Offense Or Faith: The Kierkegaardian Choice -- Beguiling The Reader -- Stages On Life's Way -- Climacus On The Non-understandable -- Anti-climacus's Dialectics -- Offending The Establishment -- Offense In Gospel Narratives -- Parabolic Lies, Parabolic Truth -- Parables As Obstructions And Revelations -- Parables As Lies -- Parables As Transforming Acts Of Truth -- Collision And Crisis -- Toward Reading Parables As Scandals (a Critical Addendum) -- Training The Scribes Of The Kingdom -- Substance Versus Response -- Interpreting The Householder -- Interpreting Desire -- The Offensive And Inoffensive Jesus -- Writers, Readers, And Contexts -- Offenses From Within And Without -- How Does It Seem To You? -- The Sublime And The Bathetic -- The Unforgiving Slave -- Life In The Between: Nathan And The Good Samaritan -- Utterance And Response -- David And Nathan: Between I And Thou -- The Dialogic Samaritan -- The Official World And The Unseemly -- Between Stories -- Plot And Story In John -- Mythic Plots And Scandalous Stories -- The Beloved Disciple And The End Of Interpretation -- The Narrative Progress Of Offense -- The Divine Skandalon Enacted: God As Flesh -- Provocations And Passion. David Mccracken. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 183-191) And Index. Oxford University Press, USA Contents 12 Part I: The Offense 14 1. Introduction: The Offense and Us 16 Encountering and Suppressing Offense 17 Some Contemporary Varieties of Offense 21 2. Biblical Offense at Work: Defilement and Blindness 27 The Pharisees and the Canaanite Woman 27 Yahweh's Snares and Stumbling Blocks 35 Jesus as the Stumbling Stone 41 3. The Offensiveness of Offense 45 4. Offense or Faith: The Kierkegaardian Choice 54 Beguiling the Reader 54 Stages on Life's Way 59 Climacus on the Non-understandable 65 Anti-Climacus's Dialectics 73 Offending the Establishment 76 Part II: Offense in Gospel Narratives 82 5. Parabolic Lies, Parabolic Truth 84 Parables as Obstructions and Revelations 84 Parables as Lies 86 Parables as Transforming Acts of Truth 89 Collision and Crisis 92 Toward Reading Parables as Scandals (A Critical Addendum) 96 6. Training the Scribes of the Kingdom 103 Substance versus Response 103 Interpreting the Householder 110 Interpreting Desire 115 7. The Offensive and Inoffensive Jesus 120 Writers, Readers, and Contexts 120 Offenses from Within and Without 126 How Does It Seem to You? 131 The Sublime and the Bathetic 134 The Unforgiving Slave 136 8. Life in the Between: Nathan and the Good Samaritan 141 Utterance and Response 141 David and Nathan: Between I and Thou 144 The Dialogic Samaritan 147 The Official World and the Unseemly 150 Between Stories 155 9. Plot and Story in John 158 Mythic Plots and Scandalous Stories 158 The Beloved Disciple and the End of Interpretation 161 The Narrative Progress of Offense 166 The Divine Skandalon Enacted: God as Flesh 172 Provocations and Passion 177 Occasions for Offense 180 Notes 184 Works Cited 196 Appendix: Selected Greek Words Relevant to Offense and Their Appearances in the New Testament 206 Index 212 A 212 B 212 C 214 D 214 E 214 F 214 G 214 H 214 I 214 J 215 K 215 L 215 M 215 N 216 O 216 P 216 R 216 S 216 T 217 V 217 W 217 ISBN-13:,9780195085167 Contents......Page 12 Part I: The Offense......Page 14 1. Introduction: The Offense and Us......Page 16 Encountering and Suppressing Offense......Page 17 Some Contemporary Varieties of Offense......Page 21 The Pharisees and the Canaanite Woman......Page 27 Yahweh's Snares and Stumbling Blocks......Page 35 Jesus as the Stumbling Stone......Page 41 3. The Offensiveness of Offense......Page 45 Beguiling the Reader......Page 54 Stages on Life's Way......Page 59 Climacus on the Non-understandable......Page 65 Anti-Climacus's Dialectics......Page 73 Offending the Establishment......Page 76 Part II: Offense in Gospel Narratives......Page 82 Parables as Obstructions and Revelations......Page 84 Parables as Lies......Page 86 Parables as Transforming Acts of Truth......Page 89 Collision and Crisis......Page 92 Toward Reading Parables as Scandals (A Critical Addendum)......Page 96 Substance versus Response......Page 103 Interpreting the Householder......Page 110 Interpreting Desire......Page 115 Writers, Readers, and Contexts......Page 120 Offenses from Within and Without......Page 126 How Does It Seem to You?......Page 131 The Sublime and the Bathetic......Page 134 The Unforgiving Slave......Page 136 Utterance and Response......Page 141 David and Nathan: Between I and Thou......Page 144 The Dialogic Samaritan......Page 147 The Official World and the Unseemly......Page 150 Between Stories......Page 155 Mythic Plots and Scandalous Stories......Page 158 The Beloved Disciple and the End of Interpretation......Page 161 The Narrative Progress of Offense......Page 166 The Divine Skandalon Enacted: God as Flesh......Page 172 Provocations and Passion......Page 177 Occasions for Offense......Page 180 Notes......Page 184 Works Cited......Page 196 Appendix: Selected Greek Words Relevant to Offense and Their Appearances in the New Testament......Page 206 B......Page 212 I......Page 214 M......Page 215 S......Page 216 W......Page 217 The Dialect of Modernism uncovers the crucial role of racial masquerade and linguistic imitation in the emergence of literary modernism. Rebelling against the standard language, and literature written in it, modernists, such as Joseph Conrad, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams reimagined themselves as racial aliens and mimicked the strategies of dialect speakers in their work. In doing so, they made possible the most radical representational strategies of modern literature, which emerged from their attack on the privilege of standard language. At the same time, however, another movement, identified with Harlem, was struggling to free itself from the very dialect the modernists appropriated, at least as it had been rendered by two generations of white dialect writers. For writers such as Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Zora Neale Hurston, this dialect became a barrier as rigid as the standard language itself. Thus, the two modern movements, which arrived simultaneously in 1922, were linked and divided by their different stakes in the same language. In The Dialect of Modernism, Michael North shows, through biographical and historical investigation, and through careful readings of major literary works, that however different they were, the two movements are inextricably connected, and thus, cannot be considered in isolation. Each was marked, for good and bad, by the other. McCracken argues that the gospels are in an important sense `occasions for offence', and that the Jesus of the gospels is a scandal (skandalon in the original Greek) and never more scandalous than when he speaks in parables. McCracken seeks to recover the gospels' narrative sense of Jesus as skandalon. This text describes the role of racial masquerade and linguistic imitation in the emergence of literary modernism. Revolting against the standard language, modernists reimagined themselves as racial aliens and mimicked the strategies of dialect speakers Michael North. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 197-244) And Index.