Mark is known for the understated irony of his gospel, but there is a large-scale irony overarching the book that is worthy of Sophocles. Readers know from the first verse of the gospel that Jesus is Son of God, and that title is used periodically through the gospel by the Father and by demons. But no human beings recognize Jesus as Son until the centurion at the cross. There is the ironic distance between our knowledge and the knowledge of... Read more
Mark is known for the understated irony of his gospel, but there is a large-scale irony overarching the book that is worthy of Sophocles. Readers know from the first verse of the gospel that Jesus is Son of God, and that title is used periodically through the gospel by the Father and by demons. But no human beings recognize Jesus as Son until the centurion at the cross. There is the ironic distance between our knowledge and the knowledge of... Read more
What characterizes the Renaissance sensibility of the self? Two things, perhaps: First: not the playing of roles, but the consciousness of playing roles, the consciousness that creates an ironic distance between role and role-player. Richard II is entirely expressed in his assigned role; Henry V seems conscious that he is taking up a role. (Hardly surprising for the son of a usurper.) Second: not the playing of roles, but the tendency to stand to the side to evaluate one’s own... Read more
New Critics, Feminists Phenomenology; Reader-Response critics Need no apology. There are Formalists of Russia, Structuralists of France. Give Archetypal Critics More than a glance. Marxists are strange birds, Like Speech-Act Theorists. And yet there’s no doubt Which theory is Queerest. Diaologic critics And Deconstruction Both in their own way Love textual combustion. There are some books – Aristotle’s Poetics Horace and others – That privilege rhetorics. Samuel Johnson, Cleanth Brooks, Robert Penn Warren, All wrote books T. S. Eliot And... Read more
INTRODUCTION Joash’s story is an ironic tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions. His reign begins well, with a dramatic and surprising renewal of the Davidic line, and he pays his dues by repairing the temple. Before the end of his life, he loots the very temple he has repaired. THE TEXT “In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba . . . . ” (2 Kings 12:1-21).... Read more
2 Kings 11:1: When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal seed. At the beginning, the story of Athaliah appears to be the story of the destruction of the house of David. Athaliah kills all the royal seed, and it appears that the house of David is going to end. This looks like the first chapter in the story of the destruction of the Davidic dynasty. (more…) Read more
2 Kings 11:3: So Joash was hidden with her in the house of Yahweh six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land. The story in the sermon today is the story of two kingdoms, two rulers, two reigns. One is open, public, evident to everyone who reads the newspapers. It is a kingdom of blood, founded by murder and sustained by idolatry. The ruler of this kingdom lives in the palace and wears the crown; she presides over the... Read more
Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, knew she had to protect herself. She was related to the Davidic line only by marriage, and knew that many in Judah would be suspicious of her. A live Davidic prince could become the focal point for a revolt that would topple her from power. So she made sure that no Davidic princes were alive to revolt, and she did it in a way that would be sure to spread fear. She protected herself... Read more
Jeffrey Knapp suggests that, though Shakespeare was probably raised a Catholic, he chose to conform to the established religion but without taking a high profile at church. In a comment that rings true, Knapp suggests that above all Shakespeare “deplored sectarianism. Shakespeare’s puritanical characters are typically divisive figures, longing for a separation from their moral inferiors.” Still, his critique of Puritanism was muted, and he even hedges on calling them Puritans outright. Malvolio is only a “kind of puritan, and... Read more
Athaliah the murderous mother is undone by Jehosheba the protective mother. To be specific: Athaliah renounces her blood ties with her grandchildren and slaughters the royal seed (2 Kings 11). Jehosheba renounces her blood ties with her own mother, Athaliah, and saves the royal seed. Wicked family disloyalty is undone by righteous family disloyalty. Read more
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