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The author comments on the raising of the dead daughter of Jairus, as mentioned in chapter five, verse 42 of the book of Mark, by Jesus Christ. The topics discussed include the clausal interpretation of the said clause, the reasons why it is considered an allusion to the texts of the Old Testament, and the reasons why the clause is considered an Ancillary Act.

This article investigates the role of the wilderness in Jesus' feeding miracles in Mark 6:31–44 and 8:1–10, which connects God's provision of manna in the original exodus with Jesus' feeding miracles, envisioning the new exodus. In the exodus story, the wilderness was a special place where the Israelites established their identity as the people of God by witnessing God's grace, punishment, and power. In the later biblical writings, the Second Temple Jewish literatures, and rabbinic writings, the wilderness had been re-interpreted symbolically, cosmologically, and eschatologically, implying a chaotic state that should be transformed by God's grace and a place where God's people are gathered and fed with the hope of a messianic banquet. Mark accumulates these images and implications of the wilderness into Jesus' feeding miracles, and presents the feedings of the multitude in the wilderness in light of the new exodus. The wilderness is portrayed as the place where green grass grows; in the wilderness Jesus as the eschatological shepherd leads and cares for his people with compassion and gathers and feeds them with a messianic banquet. Jesus is manifested as the Savior and Feeder who guides, cares for, and gives abundant food to his people, in which the new exodus is unfolded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studies on Art & Architecture / Kunstiteaduslikke Uurimusi is the property of Estonian Society of Art Historians and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper discusses the painting Jesus Raising Jairu's Daughter (c. 1917) by the Finnish artist Venny Soldan-Brofeldt. The intriguing painting challenges the representational conventions of altar painting in early twentieth-century Finland. The case study has international significance: it demonstrates how the imagery of Jairu's daughter changed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a process which took place in religious art elsewhere in Europe too. The aim is not only to highlight how the iconographic and compositional details changed within the theme of Jairu's daughter, but also to emphasise how its iconography began to bear a resemblance to Sleeping Beauty, another subject popular at that time, addressing the borders between life and death. The results of the analysis are placed in the context of the artist's views and the societal changes of the era. Jairu's daughter in Soldan-Brofeldt's painting is presented as a modern woman placed in the conservative context of altar painting, which particularly leads in the direction of the women's movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Jesus' healing of the disabled man at the Pool of Bethesda. This healing is only reported in the Gospel of John, and the location of the healing is described in some detail. After addressing the textual and archaeological challenges in locating the Pool of Bethesda, this article discusses both the tradition of healing associated with this site and the well-known Greco-Roman god of healing, Asclepius. While this healing may serve more than one purpose in John's Gospel, I propose that the location of the healing serves as a challenge to the Gentiles in John's audience: Jesus was more than a god who could heal--he was a God who could provide eternal life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounts of healings like the one reported concerning Bartimaeus present a challenge for preachers on Disability Awareness Sunday. This study illustrates how among experienced preachers sensing types and intuitive types approach the problem in different ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing memory, orality and performance this article posits a model of how the miracle tradition of Jesus may have been transmitted. What was spoken of and remembered, specifically, about Jesus’ miracles provided faith and transformation in the discipleship process both during the life of Jesus and after. Jesus extended his ministry to The Twelve and others through calling them to participate in his Kingdom mission through imitating him in word and deed, particularly miracle working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the argument over the miracles claimed for Jesus Christ over several centuries. It refers on the argument of three philosophers including Celsus, Origen and Julian. It outlines the healing miracles of Jesus Christ found in the Gospels such as the instruction of Jesus to the disciples of John to go and tell him that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed.

This article examines the history of interpretation of the pericope of the healing of the haemorrhaging woman and the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mk 5.21-43; Mt. 9.18-26; Lk. 8.40-56). It starts with the earliest attempts to harmonize the synoptic accounts, and reviews medieval allegorical interpretations, historical-critical theories, including the apparent death (coma) theory, D.F. Strauss and mythical interpretation, form-criticism, the question of sources, literary and narrative approaches, socio-critical (feminist) interpretation, psychoanalytical criticism, and contextual (poststructural) readings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many analyses of Mark 1–4 sharply separate the Parables discourse (4:1–34) from the Storm pericope (4:35–41) and consider the latter to begin a new phase in Jesus’ ministry (4:35–8:26). However, even scholars who make this distinction note a close link between the Parables and the Storm. In this article I use a narrative-critical approach to identify and engage thirteen lexical connections and how they develop for the implied audience through the narrative structure of 4:1–41. Overall, I seek to demonstrate that the Parables discourse and Storm pericope complement one another and follow the instruction-demonstration pattern evident in 1:21–28; 1:35–45; 2:1–12; 2:13–3:6. In each case, a miraculous demonstration follows an episode of Jesus instruction, the two are marked by a similar setting and lexical connections, and the latter miracle story develops the teaching of the kingdom and divine Sonship of Christ that were initially explained in the adjacent instruction. I will show how Mark 4:1–41 shares this structure and that analyzing the implied audience's reception of the narrative offers new developments of the Parables discourse, explains several obscurities in the Storm pericope, and further demonstrates the theological perspective and narrative line of thought in the text of Mark 1–4. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While it has not been a central aspect of his work on the historical Jesus, E.P. Sanders has contributed to the understanding of Jesus' miracles. In Jesus and Judaism, Sanders argued that Jesus was an eschatological prophet and maintains that he certainly healed people in ways that his contemporaries regarded as miraculous, but that his miracles were not signs of the end, and cannot be used to determine what type of figure he was. The fuller treatment of miracles in the later The Historical Figure of Jesus emphasizes the exorcisms and dismisses the nature miracles as having made minimal impact, leading Sanders to conclude that Jesus' miracles were not as spectacular as the Gospels suggest, and that they probably led his contemporaries to view Jesus as a holy man like Honi the Circle-Drawer, although Jesus himself probably understood his miracles as signs of the imminent arrival of the new age, and his disciples may have come to see them as a defeat of evil powers and as a legitimation of Jesus' claims. After summarizing Sanders's arguments this article goes on to suggest how some of their foundations may be secured while also suggesting that the case for associating Jesus' miracles with his role as an eschatological prophet may be stronger than Sanders allowed. It then concludes by indicating how Sanders's account of the role of Jesus' miracles might be further rounded out first by exploring their possible symbolism (as Sanders does with the Temple incident) and second through various social-scientific approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To write a comprehensive history of research regarding miracle narratives and the Gospels that is also reasonably sized would itself be miraculous. This article attempts to present a history of literature that is faithful to the wealth of research about miracles and Jesus, but at the same time focuses directly on studies most relevant to the narrative of the Gospel of Mark in its final form. The development of miracle studies has multiple facets and has been approached in a variety of disparate ways. In order to facilitate the clearest history of research, the article has placed relevant works into five major categories: history of religions and the theios anēr debate; historical Jesus studies; the miracle, medicine, and magic discussion; comparative, literary, and other studies; and miracles in Mark and the identity of Jesus. Each of these categories are designed to review the history of secondary scholarship regarding Jesus, miracles, and the identity of Jesus as a miracle-worker with special attention to the Gospel of Mark. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

At the present level of research it is generally accepted that the Gospels are believers' writings, from faith to faith. The Gospels speak about faith narratively; in other words, as something that has a visible impact. In this type of narrative, it is not possible to define faith or express it unambiguously or reduce it to a common denominator. It must be viewed in different narrative units, which in addition to their real-life context have a literary context. The author of this article starts from the term "faith" in its verbal and noun form and then isolates contexts in which the concept of faith appears in Mark, noting that faith is usually found in scenes that describe Jesus' miracles, his prayers, and places where he calls for prayer and teaches about prayer. The fact that Mark places faith in these contexts shows that faith is first of all a true relationship with God and that it manifests His almighty power in history. With this idea, Mark echoes the Old Testament concept of faith, where faith is submission to God. He relies on this ancient concept of faith, but introduces new ideas and new emphases. He stresses that faith is a reliance on God, but mediated by Jesus, His actions, words and teaching. For Mark, the theocentricity of faith is inseparable from Christocentricity. Faith has its contextual variables, but faithful behavior also has a constancy and this is: accepting the Kingdom; coming to Jesus; asking for help from Him and through Him from God; accepting and understanding His words and deeds; prayerfully addressing God, trusting that He, in Jesus, does what is humanly impossible; and finally totally imitating Jesus and His way. Mark clarifies these positive frames of faith through behavior that shows unbelief or insufficient faith. Faith is insufficient when it is based only on signs and wonders; when it looks and seeks only human security; when it is not attentive to the words of Jesus, and when it stays only at the level of wonder and awe that does not lead to Him who is the source of it. Infidelity is seen as a rejection of the person of Jesus and His realization of God's plan; as misunderstanding caused by fear for the self and flawed expectation of God; as an escape from Jesus's way; as a wrong perception of reality; as hardened hearts; as blind eyes and deaf ears; as poor memory of what has already been experienced; as thinking "by human, not by God". True faith is following Jesus; walking after Him and accepting His death as God's will. Before that kind of death, existential faith can be poured into true religion, confession of Jesus' identity as the Son of God. As much as faith is a personal attitude and conviction of God's action in history, true faith also has an ecclesial dimension, interceding for the troubles of other people. In this article we speak of the paralytic man, who was helped by his own faith, but also by the faith of those who brought him to Jesus. We see here the personal and ecclesial, interceding dimension of faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defining the miraculous, the adequacy of the Western mindset to comprehend human experience, and the ability of the historian to establish the occurrence of a miracle, are issues threaded through study of the miraculous. Current work draws attention to our lack of understanding of the miraculous in the period. So far, research on Jesus has not explained his interest in miracles, their meaning, or how they relate to his other work and self-perception. Also, the nature miracles remain a problem, and a critical study of Jesus remains to be written that takes full account of the evidence of his miracles. More work needs to be done on Paul’s understanding of the miraculous. Further, despite studies on individual stories, insufficient work has been done on the miraculous from the perspective of the Gospel writers. Finally, how far early Christianity can be understood without due regard for the miraculous is open to question. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The epistemological humility proper to methodological naturalism is the suspension of belief in divine causation, and by entailment, of the belief that events that violate the laws of nature sometimes occur. Epistemological humility does not, however, require the suspension of knowledge of how the world works, i.e., of the laws of nature. Methodological naturalism, therefore, requires us to reject the literal truth of reports in ancient texts of events that we know to be physically impossible, regardless of whether a text attributes such events to divine causality. Reports about the deeds of Jesus are not exempt from this methodological restriction. Methodological naturalism, and the epistemological humility it subsumes, therefore, requires that historians deny, for example, that the historical Jesus (the human Jesus as reconstructed by critical historiography) literally walked on water. Since epistemological humility does not require the suspension of knowledge about how the world works, but only of belief in divine causation, it therefore does not require that one hold open the possibility that the historical Jesus walked on water, since that possibility is incompatible with naturalism (both ontological and methodological). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most biblical scholars and historians hold that the investigation of a miracle report lies outside of the rights of historians acting within their professional capacity. In this essay, I challenge this position and argue to the contrary. A definition of history should not a priori exclude the possibility of investigating miracle claims, since doing so may restrict historians to an inaccurate assessment of the past. Professional historians outside of the community of biblical scholars acknowledge the frequent absence of a consensus; this largely results from conflicting horizons among historians. If this is the present state among professionals engaged in the study of non-religious history, it will be even more so with historians of Jesus. Finally, even if some historians cannot bring themselves to grant divine causation, they, in principle, can render a verdict on the event itself without rendering a verdict on its cause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution compares two views of the Resurrection of Christ; a traditional view that assumes that at the Resurrection, the dead body of Christ was transformed with the result that after the Resurrection, the grave was empty, and a revised view that assumes that the grave was not empty and that the Resurrection of Christ is not something that happened in this world, but in heaven. On the basis of a consideration of arguments for and against both views, the author argues for the traditional view. He goes on to show, however, that the traditional view cannot be adopted by historians who apply the principle of analogy. He argues, moreover, that this principle cannot be abandoned altogether. In the case of alleged singular events or miracles, however, this principle cannot be applied. This means that even if, as the author argues, the Resurrection is Geschichte (it really happened in this world, and the grave was empty), it falls outside the scope of Historie (it cannot be ascertained by the methods of strict historiography). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than simply a speech crafted to fit the specific situation that Jesus' miracle creates, John 5:19-47 resonates with the larger themes of the Gospel and its characterization of Jesus. This article utilizes rhetorical categories present in the Gospel's milieu to analyze Jesus' speech. There are noticeable points of connection with rhetorical conventions mentioned in handbooks, progymnasmata, and found in rhetorical practice. These similarities include (1) prosopopoiia, or the manner in which authors created believable speeches in their narratives; (2) ethos, or the orator's construction of his/her own character as a part of the method of persuasion; (3) instructions concerning the use of testimony in the ancient world; and (4) methods of refutation. There are, however, also significant points of contrast with these same categories, which serve to highlight the specific rhetorical goals of the Fourth Gospel. By employing rhetorical conventions, the evangelist makes use of common expectations regarding speech, even while undermining them, in order to emphasize the unique character of his subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The healing of the blind man in the 9th chapter of the Gospel according to John is the object of these exegetical remarks. The miracle, as a literary unit, can be divided into seven scenes and has a symmetrical structure. Jesus plays the part of the main character in the first and the last scene of the account, whereas the blind man, in the other five. Verses 4 and 5 will be subjected to a detailed critical analysis which will point out that they come under various text families: Alexandrine, Western, Caesarean or Byzantine. The miracle's time and place are also under scrutiny. Finally, the interesting similarities between Mark 8,22-26 and John 9,1-7 are presented by the means of the comparative exegetical method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In dem Bericht von der Auferweckung des Lazarus findet sich ein Missverständnis (Joh 11:11-14), das von den typischen johanneischen Missverständnissen abzuweichen scheint. Die Antwort der Jünger wirkt thematisch verfehlt. Eine Untersuchung dieser Passage wirft die Frage auf, ob die Antwort der Jünger auch so verstanden werden kann, dass durch das an dieser Stelle zu findende Passiv des Futurs ohne Angabe eines Agens von den Jüngern die Erwartung eines Heilungswunders zum Ausdruck gebracht wird. In diesem Fall wäre Jesus das implizit vorauszusetzende Agens in der Apodosis des Konditionalsatzes in Joh 11:12, das Missverständnis wäre dann ein typisch johanneisches Missverständnis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

İn this article, 112-115. verses of Maide Surah have been named as the "Verses of Maide". And these verses have been analysed from the point of beliefs and social ways. The miracle of Jesus, taking place in the verses, is related with bringing down the dining table from the sky. It isn't connected with his divine strength but especially ıt's shown as a proof of his devotion. And it has been defended that the permanent signs have been left on his society and next generations by means of Maide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The narratives of the miracles of Jesus Christ play an important role in all four canonical Gospels. The Gospel of Mark narrates eighteen miracles and mentions many others that the Son of God performed during his earthly life. In the narrative descriptions of miracles the Evangelist Mark incorporated a Christological MESSAGE, cleverly making a synthesis of the teaching of Jesus Christ (what he says: the moral teaching) and his authority and power (what he does: the liberation). This theological strategy of the second Evangelist can be seen clearly through the exegesis of Mark 1,21-28 and its message in the whole Gospel's narrative: Jesus Christ, by word and deed, frees man from enslaving forces which destroy human dignity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an examination into the scholastic interpretation of the New Testament Gospel story of Jesus Christ healing the man with a crippled hand on the Sabbath as depicted in Mark 3:1-6. The author focuses on the rhetorical elements of Mark's account, suggesting that the literary devices of echo and metalepsis are utilized by the writer for effect.

The paper proposes a survey of the Gospels in search for information on the attitude that our Lord Jesus Christ had regarding the Shabbat. The starting point is the call to rest familiar to us from the Old Testament (Exodus 33:14) and renewed by Christ in a slightly different manner, which emphasizes His identity to true rest (Matthew 11:28-30). All of His works accomplished on the Shabbat, such as preaching in the Synagogue (Mark 1:21; 6; 2-5; Luke 4:16-21), achieving miraculous healings (Matthew 12:9-14; Luke 14: 1-6; 13:10-17; Mark 1:23-28; 1:29-31; John 5:1-18; 9:1-41), or allowing His disciples to trespass the sanctity of the Shabbat in the episode of plucking grain (Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6: 1-5), are all means of revealing a new and spiritual understanding of this blessed and sanctified day (cf. Genesis 2:3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an analysis of the New Testament Gospel passage of Mark 5:25-34, relaying the healing story of the woman with the issue of blood. Details are given highlighting the parallels between Jesus Christ and the woman in the narrative, suggesting both are "porous" or leaking, though that of Christ is one of power. The subversive implications of such a reading on the contemporary Greco-Roman medical models of wholeness are then discussed in turn.

The study commences with the five major ways of dividing the gospels in Christian history, after which the focus falls on the hermeneutical significance of the Old Greek Divisions. The most defining characteristic of the Divisions is their tendency to demarcate chapters on the basis of the miracles and parables of Jesus. In lieu of miracles or parables, major units of Jesus' teaching also determine Old Greek Divisions. The Synoptic passion narratives, and particularly Matthew's, display the greatest precision and organization among the Divisions. Titles of divisions aided in locating specific passages, identified corresponding material in the gospels by the same title, and when read or memorized in sequence offered an overview of the gospel narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the biblical story of Haemorrhoïssa. It states that the story is of a woman who was suffering from haemorrhages for 12 years. It discusses how woman's sufferings were healed when she touched the clothes of the Jesus Christ. It also discusses the text, narration and iconography of the story in detail. It further states that the story is an economical and concise representation of the well-known Christian visual force fields of touching, seeing and corporeal interaction.

Scholars continue to debate the historicity of Jesus' predictions pertaining to his violent death and subsequent vindication by God via resurrection. No consensus position has emerged to date. In this essay I continue the discussion by presenting six arguments that constitute a rather strong cumulative case for the historicity of Jesus' predictions pertaining not only to his violent death but also his subsequent resurrection: they are early, multiply attested, fulfil the criteria of embarrassment, dissimilarity and plausibility, and lack theologizing. I then consider three general arguments against affirming the historicity of the predictions: supernatural knowledge is beyond the purview of historians, the predictions are inventions of the early Church, and Jesus' disciples act as though he never made the passion predictions. Upon examination, I conclude that only the third carries weight. I then consider six explanations for the strange behaviour of the disciples if Jesus had made the predictions and conclude that the verdict that Jesus predicted his violent death and resurrection stands, since the only cogent argument to the contrary can be answered without strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The poem "The Seven I Am Sayings" is presented. First Line: Where to get bread? An ever-pressing question; and clear? Last Line: And by your life laid down, redeem our shame.

The author criticizes the play "Entry Into Jerusalem" and discusses commentaries on rhetoric and miracles which are seen by the people as a means to affirm their Christian faith. The author, not wishing to belittle the belief held by many people, sees Jesus Christ's miracles and forgiving sins difficult to adapt with the ordinary world. He comments on the responses of the characters to the presence of Jesus Christ at the end of the play.

The memory of the therapeutic praxis of Jesus Christ, narrated and celebrated in the heart of communities of believers, configures the personal and collective identity and recreates it in each social-historical situation. This memory has the power of questioning discourses and practices that move away from the message of life in fullness that they invoke; it invites change and encourages ways of life in harmony with the path of a great community of memory which, in its diversity, has sought to walk in the steps of the Resurrected. The healing encounters are therefore a manifestation of the love and mercy of God and they aim to make men and women open themselves up to this reality and allow themselves to be transformed by it, putting it at the centre of their lives and with the possibility of transforming all dimensions, of life. Then, communities and every person become mediators of healing and salvation. In this article I aim to reflect the most significant dimensions of the therapeutic praxis of Christ in order to illuminate mission and transformative spirituality as healing and reconciliation (mercy, proximity, living touch, compassionate gaze, listening, dialogue and liberating word, forgiveness). The summons to heal and reconcile gradually intertwines with a way and style of life and a way of committing to history by welcoming the Spirit of God that acts and reveals itself therein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Jesus' use of Aramaic reconstruction approach for his teaching to enable the crowd to acknowledge him as the Messiah. It explores the miraculous acts of Jesus stated in the book of Matthew, wherein Jesus claims that such acts are just part of his fulfillment to the messianic prophecy similar to what the 4Q521 dead sea scroll is saying. It says that Jesus does not provide direct answers to a question, instead, he uses figurative expressions or rhetorical questions that will lead into a conclusion for an obvious answer. Meanwhile, it mentions how Jesus has used the term reeds to describe his prophet John the Baptists as wells as to indirectly reference and force his detractors and the crowds to have no options to accept him as the Messiah.

The article reflects on the unrelatedness notion of the discourse at Capernaum to the feeding miracle. It contends that the miracle and the discourse involves in a single narrative in which apostle John develops the themes of the Old Testament. These themes were developed to reveal Jesus Christ as the rejected divine King who is expected to die and be eaten by his disciples. It notes that his additions to the Synoptic versions and his omissions from them has a theological purpose.

The article offers information on the Biblical lectures offered in celebration of the Easter. It presents the scriptures from the gospel which notes Jesus assurance to his disciples that he is alive and eats with them. It explores the difficulties faced by man and states that it can be solved by seeking God through prayer and scripture. It also reflects on the miracles done by Jesus Christ and suggests to proclaim his work through witnessing.

The article presents biblical reflections in accordance with the Christian Church's celebration of the Epiphany which is based on the passages from the February 8, 2009 scriptural readings. It explores the divine revelations of Jesus as He heals a multitude of people with diseases and casts demons away. It relates the works of Jesus to the liturgy, pastoral ministry, the mission of the Church, and to a Christian's life and obligation to help, serve, and care for others.

The article presents biblical reflections in accordance with the Christian Church's celebration of the Epiphany which is based on the passages from the February 15, 2009 scriptural readings. It accounts on the divine revelation of Jesus as He heals a man who begged Him to cure his leprosy. It relates the work of Jesus to people who reach out and their supplications for God's help in times of illness. It explores the necessity of God's healing and the worth of every individual for such healing.

The article discusses the problems for preacher and biblical scholars posed by the miracle at Cana. It explores the various symbolic representation of wine reflected in several passages in the bible. It also explores the interpretation of wine in the miracle at Cana. Moreover, the author comments that Cana is a sign pointing to eschatological happiness and to punishment.