“Let Them Renounce Themselves and Take up Their Cross”

Abstract

Christians today, especially Christian women, often interpret Mark 8:34 as a call to sacrifice self—to be subservient and to endure suffering that could be alleviated—as a demand of Christian discipleship. This is a fundamental misreading of Mark. The argument is placed in the context of the development of feminist biblical criticism these last thirty years and then of Mark's social and narrative world. When read in the context of the first-century cultural world and the larger narrative of Mark, Mark 8:34 is not an exhortation to suffering in general. General human suffering-hunger, illness, etc.—is overcome with Jesus' inauguration of God's rule. Rather, to renounce self is to renounce one's kinship group and join the followers of Jesus. It is an exhortation to remain faithful to Jesus and the rule of God in the face of persecution by political authorities.

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