Jesus, the Divine Exorcist: Markan Demonology and Christology in Dialogue

Abstract

This thesis argues that the demonological material in the Gospel of Mark contributes to a divine Christology. Scholarly discourses concerning Markan Christology and demonology have largely remained separate, with christological exploration rarely taking into consideration the Markan exorcism pericopae and Jesus’s encounters with Satan. This thesis, then, brings Markan Christology and demonology into dialogue. Chapter one offers an introductory overview of previous work on Markan demonology and Christology. The second chapter provides a typology of demon possession and exorcism in the ancient world, setting a social context within which the Markan demonological material will be read. Chapter three provides a profile of divine messianic figures in Second Temple Jewish literature–most notably the Enochic Son of Man and
11QMelchizedek’s Melchizedek–who act as the eschatological judge of the demons, and whom the author brings into dialogue with Mark’s portrait of Jesus. Chapter four examines the exorcisms in Mark, arguing, in light of the previous two chapters, that the Markan exorcisms present Jesus as an eschatological embodiment of Israel’s God. The fifth and final chapter shifts toward the material in Mark concerning Satan, which presents Jesus as a divine messianic figure who has
come to bring an end to Satan’s reign. Special attention is given to the Beelzeboul controversy (3:22-27) and ransom logion (10:45), arguing that scholars have failed to take seriously the ransom saying within Mark’s broader narrative world. The ransom logion presents a framework within which Jesus offers his life as an acceptable ransom payment to Satan, who then relinquishes control over humans. This ransom payment to Satan, the thesis argues, is the dominant soteriological motif in Mark’s Gospel. These themes work together to provide a coherent reading of the Gospel of Mark which depicts a divine Jesus who acts as the eschatological judge of the demonic realm via his exorcisms, and who frees people from Satan’s reign by giving his life to Satan as a satisfactory ransom payment.