{"product_id":"the-phantom-messiah-george-aichele-9780567025814","title":"The Phantom Messiah: Postmodern Fantasy and the Gospel of Mark","description":"\u003cp\u003e[W]hen they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost (\u003ci\u003ephantasma\u003c\/i\u003e), and cried out; for they all saw him, and were terrified (Mark 6:49, RSV) \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e There\u003cbr\u003eis a growing awareness among biblical scholars and others of the\u003cbr\u003epotential value of modern and postmodern fantasy theory for the study\u003cbr\u003eof biblical texts. Following\u003cbr\u003etheorists such as Roland Barthes, Tzvetan Todorov, and Gilles Deleuze\u003cbr\u003e(among others), we understand the fantastic as the deconstruction of\u003cbr\u003eliterary realism. The fantastic arises from the text's resistance to\u003cbr\u003eunderstanding; the \"meaning\" of the fantastic text is not its reference\u003cbr\u003eto the primary world of consensus reality but rather a fundamental\u003cbr\u003eundecidability of reference. The fantastic is also a point at which\u003cbr\u003eancient and contemporary texts (including books, movies, and TV shows)\u003cbr\u003eresonate with one another, sometimes in surprising ways, and this\u003cbr\u003eresonance plays a large part in my argument. Mark and its afterlives\u003cbr\u003e\"translate\" one another, in the sense that Walter Benjamin speaks of\u003cbr\u003ethe tangential point at which the original text and its translation\u003cbr\u003etouch one another, not a transfer of understood meaning but rather a\u003cbr\u003epoint at which what Benjamin called \"pure language\" becomes apparent. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMark has always\u003cbr\u003ebeen the most \"difficult\" of the canonical gospels, the one that\u003cbr\u003erequires the greatest amount of hermeneutical gymnastics from its\u003cbr\u003ecommentators. Its beginning \u003ci\u003ein media res\u003c\/i\u003e, its disconcerting\u003cbr\u003eending at 16:8, its multiple endings, the \"messianic secret,\" Jesus's\u003cbr\u003etensions with his disciples and family - these are just some of the\u003cbr\u003emore obvious of the and many troublesome features that distinguish Mark\u003cbr\u003efrom the other biblical gospels. If there had not been two other\u003cbr\u003egospels (Matthew and Luke) that were clearly similar to Mark but also\u003cbr\u003emuch more attractive to Christian belief, it seems likely that Mark, \u003cbr\u003elike the gospels of Thomas and Peter, would not have been accepted into\u003cbr\u003ethe canon. Reading Mark as fantasy does not \"solve\" any of these\u003cbr\u003eproblems, but it does place them in a very different context, one in\u003cbr\u003ewhich they are no longer \"problems,\" but in which there are different\u003cbr\u003eproblems. A fantastical reading of the gospel of\u003cbr\u003eMark is not the only correct understanding of this text, but rather one\u003cbr\u003epossibility that may have considerable appeal and value in the\u003cbr\u003econtemporary world. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis fantastic\u003cbr\u003ereading is a \"reading from the outside,\" inspired by the parable\u003cbr\u003e\"theory\" of Isaiah 6:9-10 and Mark 4:11-12: \"for those outside\u003cbr\u003eeverything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not\u003cbr\u003eperceive, and may indeed hear but not understand.\" Reading\u003cbr\u003efrom the outside counters a widespread belief that only those within\u003cbr\u003ethe faith community can properly understand the scriptures. It is the\u003cbr\u003e\"stupid\" reading of those who do not share institutionalized\u003cbr\u003eunderstandings passed down through catechisms and creeds, i.e., through\u003cbr\u003ethe dominant ideology of the churches.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e George Aichele\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0567025810\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780567025814\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e T\u0026amp;T Clark\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/15\/2006\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.16lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.63d","brand":"George Aichele","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46721264681215,"sku":"9780567025814","price":200.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_7f469449-be93-4ef1-a54a-aede0e4a7476.jpg?v=1742752343","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-phantom-messiah-george-aichele-9780567025814","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}