theios aner

[perseusomega9]

I've been reading Wheeden's Mark Traditions in Conflict in which he argues that Mark was arguing against his opponents theios aner (divine man) concept of Jesus. It's a truly fascinating book but I've read hints that the presuppositions that Wheeden brought to it, and the concept of theios aner in Christianity in general, have been significantly challenged. Can anyone point me to any of those substantive critiques, whether against Wheeden's thesis itself or the theios aner concept? Are there significant challenges or is it the old conservative angle that anything new and riveting in NT studies is squashed by the conservative inertia in biblical studies? (edit: obviously last question second part tongue in cheek rhetorical )

[Secret Alias]

= ish-Elohim, or ish ha'Elohim. You know what I think.

[andrewcriddle]

See TA and the Markan Miracle Tradition by Blackburn.

Andrew Criddle

[perseusomega9]

thank you Andrew, not only did you provide a source but the whole package!

[perseusomega9]

also, before I read this, would you say the response in this book is the best and/or closely understood position on Wheedens' book or the theios aner understanding?

[DCHindley]

also, before I read this, would you say the response in this book is the best and/or closely understood position on W[h]eedens' book or the theios aner understanding.

It was discussed quite a bit on the old Crosstalk2 Yahoo Group (late 1980s to early 90s), which might still have searchable posts. What Yahoo did was delete the private file content, not threads or posts. The Wayback Machine might have archived the discussions.

Weeden (not Wheeden) was largely critical of Kenneth Bailey's theory of informal group control over the passing of oral tradition. But he was also interested in the "Divine Man" model for explaining the high Christology of the gospel of Mark. IIRC, he found some value in the Divine Man concept, drawing parallels with how Philostratus portrayed Apollonius of Tyana.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loeb_Clas ... ilostratus

L016) Life of Apollonius of Tyana: Volume I. Books 1–5
L017) Life of Apollonius of Tyana: Volume II. Books 6–8. Epistles of Apollonius. Eusebius: Treatise
L458) Life of Apollonius of Tyana: Volume III. Letters of Apollonius, Ancient Testimonia, Eusebius′s Reply to Hierocles
L134) Lives of the Sophists. Eunapius: Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists

Weeden's article is not free, but used copies of the book in which it is contained run around US $10-$20.

To see an analysis of Weeden's ideas, see:

https://vridar.org/tag/theodore-weeden/

DCH

[perseusomega9]

Weeden (not Wheeden)

lol, this is what happens when you're a scifi fan and Whedon/Wheaton are constant spellings in your head and you're not looking at the book as you type.