Weeping and tears in Luke’s Gospel narratives: between ancient and modern commentators

<p>Within the Synoptic Gospels, Luke’s Jesus is known to be the most self-restrained. However, Luke’s is the only Gospel that describes Jesus with the verb κλαίω (it is δακρύω in John 11:35) when he weeps over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). The Third Gospel also accounts for the greatest number of re...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mak, SA
Other Authors: Bockmuehl, M
Format: Thesis
Language:Greek, Ancient (to 1453)
Latin
English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
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author Mak, SA
author2 Bockmuehl, M
author_facet Bockmuehl, M
Mak, SA
author_sort Mak, SA
collection OXFORD
description <p>Within the Synoptic Gospels, Luke’s Jesus is known to be the most self-restrained. However, Luke’s is the only Gospel that describes Jesus with the verb κλαίω (it is δακρύω in John 11:35) when he weeps over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). The Third Gospel also accounts for the greatest number of references to weeping in the NT—11 out of 40. Apart from Jesus’ weeping, there are five stories with weeping narrative characters—the widow at Nain (7:13); the anointing woman (7:38, 44); Jairus (8:52); Peter (22:62); and the daughters of Jerusalem (23:28). Luke’s is also the only Gospel to use the word ‘tear’ (δάκρυον, 7:38, 44). Luke seems to display a special interest in weeping and tears—a topic seldom discussed in Lukan studies.</p> <p>In this study I seek to understand how we might interpret the Lukan motif of weeping through an analysis of the six weeping narratives (7:11-17; 7:36-50; 8:40-56; 19:41-44; 22:54-62; 23:27-31). I employ a reception historical approach to observe how early Christian authors read these weeping passages in Luke, to gain an understanding of what ancient interpreters thought about the significance of crying. Thereafter, I turn to modern Lukan scholars and their views on the same passages. I argue that by placing ancient comments in active dialogue with current interpretations, we broaden our appreciation for the range of reference and resonance in these Lukan weeping narratives, discovering fresh and different ways to interpret these texts.</p> <p>The questions that guide this project are: What is the significance of the slippage between what the ancients thought and how the moderns perceive these texts? How could an ancient reading enrich, contribute to, and offer insights to modern views, and vice versa? This study fills a scholarly lacuna, contributes to issues in Lukan studies, and, ultimately, offers insights with pastoral significance.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:f2b5a34a-4eb8-4ec2-a911-f64a77056da12024-09-23T11:39:29ZWeeping and tears in Luke’s Gospel narratives: between ancient and modern commentatorsThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:f2b5a34a-4eb8-4ec2-a911-f64a77056da1Bible. New Testament--Criticism, interpretation, etc.--HistoryGreek, Ancient (to 1453)LatinEnglishHyrax Deposit2024Mak, SABockmuehl, M<p>Within the Synoptic Gospels, Luke’s Jesus is known to be the most self-restrained. However, Luke’s is the only Gospel that describes Jesus with the verb κλαίω (it is δακρύω in John 11:35) when he weeps over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). The Third Gospel also accounts for the greatest number of references to weeping in the NT—11 out of 40. Apart from Jesus’ weeping, there are five stories with weeping narrative characters—the widow at Nain (7:13); the anointing woman (7:38, 44); Jairus (8:52); Peter (22:62); and the daughters of Jerusalem (23:28). Luke’s is also the only Gospel to use the word ‘tear’ (δάκρυον, 7:38, 44). Luke seems to display a special interest in weeping and tears—a topic seldom discussed in Lukan studies.</p> <p>In this study I seek to understand how we might interpret the Lukan motif of weeping through an analysis of the six weeping narratives (7:11-17; 7:36-50; 8:40-56; 19:41-44; 22:54-62; 23:27-31). I employ a reception historical approach to observe how early Christian authors read these weeping passages in Luke, to gain an understanding of what ancient interpreters thought about the significance of crying. Thereafter, I turn to modern Lukan scholars and their views on the same passages. I argue that by placing ancient comments in active dialogue with current interpretations, we broaden our appreciation for the range of reference and resonance in these Lukan weeping narratives, discovering fresh and different ways to interpret these texts.</p> <p>The questions that guide this project are: What is the significance of the slippage between what the ancients thought and how the moderns perceive these texts? How could an ancient reading enrich, contribute to, and offer insights to modern views, and vice versa? This study fills a scholarly lacuna, contributes to issues in Lukan studies, and, ultimately, offers insights with pastoral significance.</p>
spellingShingle Bible. New Testament--Criticism, interpretation, etc.--History
Mak, SA
Weeping and tears in Luke’s Gospel narratives: between ancient and modern commentators
title Weeping and tears in Luke’s Gospel narratives: between ancient and modern commentators
title_full Weeping and tears in Luke’s Gospel narratives: between ancient and modern commentators
title_fullStr Weeping and tears in Luke’s Gospel narratives: between ancient and modern commentators
title_full_unstemmed Weeping and tears in Luke’s Gospel narratives: between ancient and modern commentators
title_short Weeping and tears in Luke’s Gospel narratives: between ancient and modern commentators
title_sort weeping and tears in luke s gospel narratives between ancient and modern commentators
topic Bible. New Testament--Criticism, interpretation, etc.--History
work_keys_str_mv AT maksa weepingandtearsinlukesgospelnarrativesbetweenancientandmoderncommentators