The Sovereign('s) Support: an Exegetical Study of the Spirit in Mark and His Connections to the Kingdom

Abstract

<p>There are very few treatments of the Spirit in Mark, and those are often dismissive or too eager to find a larger pattern of pneumatology than the relative dearth of material in the Gospel justifies. It has become necessary to approach the text of Mark carefully and exegetically in order to discover any Markan emphasis on the Spirit. As such, this study will examine each passage pertaining to the Spirit with the theological development of Mark in <br />mind, after examining the Gospels and Pauline Epistles for their emphasis on the Spirit. This will reveal a marked pattern of association between the Spirit and the Kingdom of God in Mark's Gospel which, though not representative of a carefully formed Markan pneu1l1atology, distinguishes the Markan emphasis on the Spirit from the rest of the New Testament's.</p>