'… rigorous, detailed and authoritative'. Church Times

The author of this lucid and interdisciplinary study of Mark's Gospel believes that - when applied to Gospel texts - sociological analysis and literary criticism may be far closer together in purpose and intent than is often supposed. Professor Camery-Hoggatt therefore begins his work with an exploration of the social functions of narrative in general, and of ironic narrative in particular. He then turns to the literary functions of the internal elements of the narrative, and draws the two discussions together into a single framework that can be used as a lens through which Mark's Gospel can be read. The author's claim is that irony - especially dramatic irony - thoroughly permeates the Gospel, and that this evinces a rhetorical strategy central to Mark's whole narrative. The second half of the book shows that the presence of irony is especially powerful when the deeper level of meaning is somehow hidden from the story's characters.

Preface
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction: the problem of irony in Mark
2. The social functions of irony
3. The literary functions of narrative
4. Text and subtext: toward a rhetoric of irony
5. Irony in the Gospel of Mark
6. By way of summary
Notes
Bibligraphy
Index.

Subject Areas: Biblical studies & exegesis [HRCG]