The Kinship of Jesus: Christology and Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark

Christology and discipleship have largely remained separate categories in Markan scholarship. This study provides a commentary on the Gospel of Mark that underlines kinship as the nexus between Christology (Jesus and his kinship with God) and discipleship (Jesus and his kinship with disciples). Jesus designated as the Son of God (1:1) establishes a kinship group of disciples and followers by providing them hospitality welcoming them into his household and addressing them in kinship terms as his family. The kinship between Jesus and God and that between Jesus and the disciples are imitative and contestive means for Mark to negotiate the Roman imperial context. In the church today Christians still refer to their church family and to each other as brothers and sisters because of their relationship to Jesus. In a world that finds people increasingly separated from one another this study demonstrates Jesuss formation of his own family and its continued impact on Christian identity and community. Kathleen Mills book is a welcome complement to the diversity of approaches to the title Son of God in Mark few of which have taken seriously the social context of the Gospel and its first readers. This excellent study brings us considerably closer. --Carolyn Osiek Charles Fischer Professor of New Testament emerita Brite Divinity School Kathleen Elizabeth Mills is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Trumbull Connecticut. She received her PhD in Biblical Interpretation from Brite Divinity School Texas Christian University. She lives with her family in New Haven Connecticut.