Specters of Mark: The Second Gospel’s Ending and Derrida’s Messianicity


This article engages Mark 16:1–8 with Jacques Derrida’s concept of the messianic as elaborated, primarily, in his 1993 volume Specters of Marx. Working with the concept of a circular Markan narrative, the tomb is explored as a haunted space in which readers are invited to return to the beginning of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McLellan, Peter N. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2016
In: Biblical interpretation
Year: 2016, Volume: 24, Issue: 3, Pages: 357-381
IxTheo Classification:HC New Testament
VA Philosophy
Further subjects:B Gospel of Mark
 hauntology
 Jacques Derrida

Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:This article engages Mark 16:1–8 with Jacques Derrida’s concept of the messianic as elaborated, primarily, in his 1993 volume Specters of Marx. Working with the concept of a circular Markan narrative, the tomb is explored as a haunted space in which readers are invited to return to the beginning of the story with an eye toward its spectral bodies. Indeed, the absence of a raised body in the sepulcher, coupled with an injunction to return to Galilee introduces a temporal disjunction by invoking the narrative past and exploring the incalculability of a future. While the other three canonical Gospels privilege the presence of a material body in their resurrection scenes, a Derridean analysis of this passage allows for an even more expanded notion of what a body might look like and opens the possibility for the immanence of justice to-come: justice that comes for the marginalized in the Second Gospel.

ISSN:1568-5152
Contains:In: Biblical interpretation
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685152-00243p04