Socio-Rhetorical Examples
Definition of repetitive texture.
Repetition that exhibits major characters and major topics in the discourse in Mark 15:1-16:8 creates the following pattern:
1: | Jesus | Pilate | ||||||||
2: | Pilate | king | ||||||||
4: | Pilate | |||||||||
5: | Jesus | Pilate | ||||||||
8: | Pilate | |||||||||
9: | king | |||||||||
12: | Pilate | king | ||||||||
13: | crucify | |||||||||
14: | crucify | |||||||||
15: | Jesus | Pilate | crucified | |||||||
18: | king | |||||||||
20: | crucify | |||||||||
21: | cross | |||||||||
24: | crucified | |||||||||
25: | crucified | |||||||||
26: | king | |||||||||
27: | crucified | |||||||||
30: | cross | |||||||||
32: | king | crucified | cross | |||||||
34: | Jesus | |||||||||
40: | Mary M.; | Mary; | Salome | |||||||
43: | Jesus | Pilate | kingdom | Joseph | ||||||
44: | Pilate | |||||||||
45: | Joseph | |||||||||
46: | tomb | |||||||||
tomb | ||||||||||
47: | Mary M.; | Mary | ||||||||
16:1 | Mary M.; | Mary; | Salome | |||||||
16:2 | tomb | |||||||||
16:3 | tomb | |||||||||
16:5 | tomb | |||||||||
16:6 | Jesus | crucified | ||||||||
16:8 | tomb |
This diagram shows that Jesus is a subject of central interest throughout Mark 15:1-16:8. In this context, nine references to Pilate and seven references to king or kingdom occur in 15:1-44. Eight references to crucifixion occur in 15:13-32, then an additional reference occurs in 16:6. Three references to women begin in 15:40 and extend through 16:1. Six references to a tomb begin in 15:45 and continue to the very end in 16:8. This clustering of repetitive data creates three major sets of rhetorical topics. First, there is repetition that features Jesus, Pilate, and kingship. Second, there is repetition that features crucifixion. Third, there is repetition of references to three women, Joseph of Arimathea, and Pilate that shifts the focus to a tomb which is empty in the final scene.
From V. K. Robbins, Exploring the Texture of Texts, (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1996), pp. 8-9.
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