‘From Childhood’: A Markan Soteriology for Victims of Childhood Abuse
In this article I bring an analysis of the boy possessed ‘from childhood’ in Mark 9:14–29 to bear on the contemporary situation of victims abused as children. I suggest that at least some of the discomfort we may feel in comparing an abused child to a possessed child in the Gospels stems from a resi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2022
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| In: |
Irish theological quarterly
Year: 2022, Volume: 87, Issue: 3, Pages: 181-191 |
| Further subjects: | B
Salvation
B Atonement B Abuse B Victims B Possession B Exorcism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In this article I bring an analysis of the boy possessed ‘from childhood’ in Mark 9:14–29 to bear on the contemporary situation of victims abused as children. I suggest that at least some of the discomfort we may feel in comparing an abused child to a possessed child in the Gospels stems from a residual feeling that demoniacs are guilty. But the Gospel witness is that possessed people are innocent and unwillingly ‘colonized.’ I then note the literary echoes between Mark 9:14–29 and Mark 14:32–42 which highlight Jesus’ identification with victims in Gethsemane. I conclude by suggesting that the possessed boy of Mark 9 is representative of innocent childhood victims in his unwilling bondage, and that Jesus’ salvific solidarity with him in Gethsemane offers to all victims of childhood abuse a healing space from which to identify with Christ on his healing journey toward resurrection. |
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| ISSN: | 1752-4989 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Irish theological quarterly
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/00211400221098012 |
