This thesis will examine the Markan sea-miracles and exorcisms. The justification for treating these two sets of texts together is that these categories are linked literarily in the Markan narrative, as I intend to demonstrate in due course (cf. Chapter 4, pp. 166-167). These Markan stories will be studied in relation to Hebrew Divine Warrior Traditions (HDWT), that is, the Hebrew version of the Combat Myth in which God portrayed as Divine Warrior (DW) battles and subjugates evil personified as the chaotic waters/sea or chaos sea monsters/dragons.

The decision to study specifically the Markan sea-miracles and exorcisms in connection with these traditions rests on the fact that although some scholars have noticed links between these stories and the traditions, to my knowledge no thoroughgoing investigation of the possible links between these Markan texts and the Hebrew Divine Warrior Traditions has been attempted.26 That is not to preclude the possibility that these traditions may have influenced other Markan texts, however, given the essential surface meaning of the sea-miracles i.e. Jesus has power over the sea and elements, and the exorcisms i.e. Jesus overcomes evil otherworldly beings, it was judged appropriate to explore these texts in relation to the HDWT wherein God is depicted overcoming the sea and otherworldly evil forces. Therefore, this thesis sets out to fully treat the possible connections between the Markan sea-miracles and these traditions which will be explained below in Chapter 2. Ultimately, it will test the hypothesis that Mark draws on the HDWT in order to bolster his “high” Christology and to represent Jesus as a powerful divine being.

A limited few studies have recognised the programmatic significance in Mark of the portrayal of Jesus as a warrior figure who wrests and overcomes demonic forces. Some have already drawn attention to the Markan sea-miracles and exorcisms in this connection, finding that Jesus is depicted in a manner reminiscent of Yahweh the DW in the OT. Nevertheless, the full extent to which Mark draws on particular traditions live in the Second Temple period in order to make a bold christological comparison between Jesus and Yahweh the DW is underappreciated, and merits more comprehensive study and statement.

As a narrative, final form study, this thesis takes its place alongside narrative focused studies (cf. n. 12), where within the wider context of Mark, the principal concern is to examine aspects of Mark’s Christology in relation to the sea-miracles and exorcisms. While the approach of this thesis is broadly speaking narrative and literary, drawing at times on narrative critical tools e.g. “point of view”, “characterisation”, it is not strictly speaking a narrative critical study, insofar as typical distinctions i.e. “author/implied author,” “audience/implied audience” and similar narrative critical constructs will not be taken up in a thoroughgoing manner. Conversely, a traditional (historical) view of Markan authorship and audience (i.e. Roman) will be assumed throughout, though the argument in no way depends on this. Since this thesis will consider Markan Christology within the matrix of debates on primitive Christology, key players in these debates will become dialogue partners. In particular, the results of this study may confirm or challenge Collins’ conclusions, sketched above. In the interests of clarity and on the basis of the internal textual evidence, this thesis assumes that Mark’s Jesus is authentically human. Nevertheless, it also seeks to demonstrate that Mark’s Christology is predominantly “high,” possibly indicating, albeit paradoxically, that Jesus is ultimately a divine being.

Clearly, the portrait of Jesus in the Markan sea-miracles and exorcisms, comprises one facet of his polyvalent Christology, which incorporates several significant aspects such as “king,” “shepherd,” “teacher,” “servant,” “prophet” as mentioned above. Indeed, a cursory glance at the overall structure of the gospel reveals that with one exception (9.14-29), the sea-miracles and exorcisms are confined to the first half (chapters 1-8), which fact tends to confirm that these are components of a more comprehensive Markan schema. It will be important to locate what may be termed as Mark’s “Divine Warrior Christology” within that schema, particularly since there is a well-known mismatch between the portrayal of Jesus as a mighty exorcist, capable of stilling the sea and walking on the water in chapters 1-8, and the later depiction of Jesus as the suffering, crucified Son of Man/Servant figure who dies in apparent ignominy in the latter half of the gospel (chapter 8-16).

. . .

(b) Overall statement of conclusion in summary form

This study has examined the Markan sea-miracles and exorcisms in order to test the hypothesis that Mark draws on the HDWT to bolster his “high” Christology. The general conclusion is that Mark does indeed draw on aspects of the HDWT in these stories and other related pericopes. It has been established that in these stories, Mark consistently identifies Jesus with Yahweh the DW, which identification points to a very “high” Christology. This Christology may be brought into contact with wider debates on early high Christology with reference to the question matrix outlined in Chapter 1. The questions set out there may now be answered, at least provisionally on the basis of the findings of this work:

(Q1), “Is there evidence in Mark that Jesus was venerated/worshipped as a transcendent or divine being?” was answered “no.” (Q2), “Is there evidence in Mark that Jesus was regarded as preexistent?” was answered “probably.” (Q3), “Is there evidence in Mark that divine operations and attributes were transferred to Jesus and if so, what might this imply?” was answered “yes,” with implications of some form of divine identity for Jesus. (Q4), “Is there evidence in Mark that particular OT texts are reprogrammed in such a way that Jesus becomes the referent in place of God?” was answered “yes.” (Q5), “Is there evidence in Mark that particular titles or the combination of titles attributed to Jesus in Mark imply Jesus’ divinity?” was answered “yes.”

In connection with these findings, this study understands the high Christology expressed in the sea-miracles and exorcisms as tantamount to a Markan claim about Jesus’ identity. Since, in Mark, Jesus as “son” is clearly distinguished from God as “father,” (e.g. 1.11; 9.7; 13.32), in terms of scholarly debates on early Christology, Hurtado’s notion of “binitarian monotheism” might be one viable way of understanding Jesus’ divine identity as expressed in his Divine Warrior Christology. While on the limited scope of this enquiry more comprehensive statements about Markan Christology cannot be ventured, it would appear, at least in his Divine Warrior Christology, that Mark claims some form of divine identity for Jesus.