Paul Ricoeur's Hermeneutics and the Discourse of Mark 13

Appropriating the Apocalyptic

Peter C. de Vries

The apocalyptic discourse of Mark 13 predicts that cataclysmic events will occur within the generation of Jesus’ contemporaries, but readers today know these events have not taken place. Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics enables a reader to understand this text as a presentation of truth rather than as a failed prediction. Ricoeur argues that the meaning of a text is not defined by the author’s intention nor by the reader’s reception, but by the text itself. Therefore, although Mark 13 was originally understood literally, today’s reader is able to read it as metaphor, and to discern latent meaning that is present in the text. As Ricoeur explains, metaphor associates previously unrelated concepts and creates new, multiple meanings. In doing, metaphor is able to present truth, not as a verifiable presentation of the world, but as a novel manifestation of the world. Mark 13 functions as metaphor because of a double dissonance: first between the configured world of the text and the lived world of the reader, and second between claim that Jesus is able to predict when the events will take place (v. 30) and the assertion that he is not able to do so (v. 32). One option for the metaphorical meaning that Mark 13 offers for today’s reader is the perception of the presence of forces that challenge and subvert powers which appear to be dominant, and which deceive, destroy, and persecute.

This book will appeal to two sets of readers. First, scholars who study New Testament apocalyptic texts and the eschatological expectations of the early church will appreciate a new approach to a challenging subject matter. Second, Ricoeur scholars who focus upon the religious aspects of his work will enjoy the employment of his interpretive approach on a Biblical genre that has heretofore receive only cursory attention.

Lexington Books

Pages: 204 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-1-4985-1228-2 • Hardback • December 2016 • $103.00 • (£79.00)

978-1-4985-1229-9 • eBook • December 2016 • $97.50 • (£75.00)

Series: Studies in the Thought of Paul Ricoeur

Subjects: Philosophy / Religious, Philosophy / Continental Philosophy

Paul Ricoeur's Hermeneutics and the Discourse of Mark 13

Appropriating the Apocalyptic

Hardback

eBook

Summary

The apocalyptic discourse of Mark 13 predicts that cataclysmic events will occur within the generation of Jesus’ contemporaries, but readers today know these events have not taken place. Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics enables a reader to understand this text as a presentation of truth rather than as a failed prediction. Ricoeur argues that the meaning of a text is not defined by the author’s intention nor by the reader’s reception, but by the text itself. Therefore, although Mark 13 was originally understood literally, today’s reader is able to read it as metaphor, and to discern latent meaning that is present in the text. As Ricoeur explains, metaphor associates previously unrelated concepts and creates new, multiple meanings. In doing, metaphor is able to present truth, not as a verifiable presentation of the world, but as a novel manifestation of the world. Mark 13 functions as metaphor because of a double dissonance: first between the configured world of the text and the lived world of the reader, and second between claim that Jesus is able to predict when the events will take place (v. 30) and the assertion that he is not able to do so (v. 32). One option for the metaphorical meaning that Mark 13 offers for today’s reader is the perception of the presence of forces that challenge and subvert powers which appear to be dominant, and which deceive, destroy, and persecute.

This book will appeal to two sets of readers. First, scholars who study New Testament apocalyptic texts and the eschatological expectations of the early church will appreciate a new approach to a challenging subject matter. Second, Ricoeur scholars who focus upon the religious aspects of his work will enjoy the employment of his interpretive approach on a Biblical genre that has heretofore receive only cursory attention.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 204 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-1-4985-1228-2 • Hardback • December 2016 • $103.00 • (£79.00)

978-1-4985-1229-9 • eBook • December 2016 • $97.50 • (£75.00)

Series: Studies in the Thought of Paul Ricoeur

Subjects: Philosophy / Religious, Philosophy / Continental Philosophy

Author

Peter C. de Vries earned his Ph.D in religious studies at the University of Pittsburgh and currently serves as a Presbyterian minister.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Resolution of a Hermeneutical Problem
Chapter 2. Appropriation
Chapter 3. The Issues of Mark 13
Chapter 4. Textual Autonomy
Chapter 5. Ricoeur’s Description of Metaphor
Chapter 6. Mark 13 as Metaphor
Chapter 7. The Appropriation of Mark 13

Reviews

A marvelous introduction to Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutics and an essential contribution to the interpretation of Mark 13 according to its latent metaphorical meaning. The demonstration is clear and highly convincing. No reading of Mark 13 may now ignore this de Vries breakthrough.
— André LaCocque, Chicago Theological Seminary

Peter de Vries makes in Paul Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics and the Discourse of Mark 13 a signal contribution both in Ricoeur studies and in biblical/theological studies, not an easy feat. Ricoeur is well-known for bringing out the illuminating character of various biblical genres for naming God. One genre he did not particularly treat, however, is apocalyptic, which has been a major topic for biblical and theological studies. De Vries deftly extends Ricoeur's work into the apocalyptic genre, focusing on “the little apocalypse” of Mark 13. In filling this lacuna in Ricoeur's thought, de Vries' book becomes a required point of reference for any treatment of Ricoeur, apocalyptic, and metaphor. At the same time, his immersion in biblical studies on apocalyptic, dealing with a wide range of scholars such as Rudolf Bultmann, Norman Perrin, and N. T. Wright, offers not only an introduction to these issues for biblical scholars and theologians but provides an accessible introduction to Ricoeur's thought and its fruitfulness for their arena. In a wide-ranging discussion of various approaches, de Vries develops on the basis of a critical use of Ricoeur's conceptuality a distinctive proposal for a positive interpretation of Mark 13, even in the face of failed predictions on a literal level. De Vries' book is a masterful combination of clear exposition and complex analysis.
— Dan R. Stiver, Hardin-Simmons University

In this important new work, Peter de Vries demonstrates how apocalyptic predictions in the New Testament book of Mark allow for the manifestation of metaphoric truths not evident at the time of the writing. Religious truth and metaphoric truth may be conjoined. The present volume is on the cutting edge of discussions of the interrelation between religious truth and the religious imagination, exemplified here in metaphoric understandings arising from the biblical text.
— George H. Taylor, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh