What do you think?
Rate this book
The Gospel and the Sacred: Poetics of Violence in Mark
In six lucid chapters, the author displays a remarkable perspective on the inner workings of the Markan text. Taking the account of the cleansing of the Temple as his starting point, he describes the relation in Mark of the Sacred, violence, the scapegoat, and also the poetics of faith.
160 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1993
1 person is currently reading
11 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 29, 2013
Four and a half stars.
This is mostly a very good book. The introduction to mimetic theory (and its application as a method of biblical interpretation), and the appendix with its even more detailed discussion of the scapegoat mechanism, are valuable in and of themselves. The main body of the text, chapters one through four, is akin to a commentary on the gospel of Mark as interpreted through mimetic theory. H-K’s reasonably close reads of the text and his explications of significant or puzzling passages are well done, frequently although not invariably persuasive; they are slightly marred by the ubiquitous use of the technical terms for elements of mimetic theory: these make the text hard to follow for a reader who has not mastered H-K’s presentation of mimetic theory, and thus difficult for a reader to share with others. But this slight flaw is actually consistent with H-K’s premise that in order to fully understand the gospel, one must indeed have mastered mimetic theory.
Read the rest of the review on my blog.
This is mostly a very good book. The introduction to mimetic theory (and its application as a method of biblical interpretation), and the appendix with its even more detailed discussion of the scapegoat mechanism, are valuable in and of themselves. The main body of the text, chapters one through four, is akin to a commentary on the gospel of Mark as interpreted through mimetic theory. H-K’s reasonably close reads of the text and his explications of significant or puzzling passages are well done, frequently although not invariably persuasive; they are slightly marred by the ubiquitous use of the technical terms for elements of mimetic theory: these make the text hard to follow for a reader who has not mastered H-K’s presentation of mimetic theory, and thus difficult for a reader to share with others. But this slight flaw is actually consistent with H-K’s premise that in order to fully understand the gospel, one must indeed have mastered mimetic theory.
Read the rest of the review on my blog.
Displaying 1 of 1 review