Browsing by Author "Hombana, Mphumezi"

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    The crucifixion and death of Jesus in Mark 15:21-41, from the perspective of its redaction history in the New Testament gospels
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-03-02) Hombana, Mphumezi; Nel, Marius Johannes; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation investigates how the passion narrative tradition (crucifixion and death) of Jesus is redacted in the four New Testament gospels. In other words, how Matthew, Luke, and John interpreted the Markan passion narrative for their unique contexts. To answer this research question adequately, the issue of the four gospels’ relationships has been researched extensively. This study accepts Markan priority as the credible position in the synoptic puzzle. It also assumes that the Fourth Gospel has some form of a relationship with Mark, unlike Matthew and Luke. In this regard the question is seen to be not if John used the Synoptic Gospels as a literary source but if he responded to them or the tradition that had arisen from them. Hence, this study first attempted to investigate how the passion narrative developed from tradition into the Markan narrative account. The goal of this exercise was to provide the background for the entire study. Since Mark was the first canonical gospel that was written, this study shows how Matthew, Luke, and John redacted Mark 15:21-41. The research methodology employed in this study is redaction criticism. It is guided by the notion that a redaction-critical examination of Matthew, Luke, and John (the first existing sources to interpret Mark) can provide key details about how Jesus’ disciples read Mark 15:21-41 in the first century. As a result, this in-depth examination of these events (i.e., Jesus’ crucifixion and death) may yield a plausible understanding of Mark 15:21-41. This project contributes to the ongoing debate about the relationship between John and the Synoptic Gospels that is central to the fourth quest for the historical Jesus. Even though the study largely reaffirms the findings of various studies that have worked on segments of the text analysed, the approached is novel in that it combines the analysis of three canonical Gospels as redactors of Mark 15:21-41. It is hoped that this study, which has been undertaken on African soil by an African scholar will encourage other African scholars to work on the Greek text itself.
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    The synoptic redaction of Mark 13:14-23
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-11) Hombana, Mphumezi; Nel, Marius Johannes; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research investigates the possible meaning of Mark 13:14-23 for its two synoptic interpreters, Matthew and Luke. There is consensus among Markan scholarship that Mark 13 is the most difficult passage in the entire Gospel of Mark. The focus of the study is not on what Mark intended with his discourse, but instead with how Matthew and Luke understood it. Hence, three related questions guide the research. Firstly, how was Mark 13:14-23 interpreted and utilised by Matthew? Secondly, how was Mark 13:14-23 interpreted and utilised by Luke? Thirdly, did Matthew and Luke interpret and utilise Mark 13:14-23 differently in terms of being anticipatory or descriptive regarding the events it refers to? This study proceeds from the hypothesis that a redaction-critical study of Matthew and Luke can provide an important insight into the interpretation of Mark 13:14-23. It is contextualised with a brief overview of what Markan scholars have noted as problematic in the text, but the main focus is on how Matthew and Luke understood and dealt with these problems from their own contexts, by adequately clarifying what is vague and unclear in Mark. I believe the study contributes an important insight for the understanding of Mark 13:14-23.