The Library of New Testament Studies
1 total work
Miller examines the accounts of women in Mark's gospel and interprets them in relation to Mark's definition of discipleship and his understanding of new creation. Mark associates women with service, anointing, and the role of witness. As the last remaining disciples of Jesus, and the only witnesses to his death, burial and resurrection, women are thus aligned with Jesus' suffering and death. At the end of the gospel, however, the women run away from the tomb, terrified to say anything to anyone. In Mark's apocalyptic worldview, this fear represents the eschatological struggle between the old and the new age. Mark ends with the silence of the women, but also with the knowledge that the renewal of the discipleship group is dependent upon their witness and discipleship. This is volume 259 in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement series.