Description

Explores early Palestinian Judaic traditions.

Jesus' stilling of the storm on the Sea of Galilee in Mark (4:35-41) is one of the most vivid narratives in the Gospels. In the first chapter, Roger David Aus makes concrete proposals as to the major influences of Palestinian Judaic traditions on this narrative, namely the traditions concerning the prophet Jonah, who was also caught in a violent storm that was stilled. The pre-Markian Semitic account was also influenced by Julius Caesar's unsuccessful attempt to cross the Adriatic Sea in a severe storm in 48 B.C.E.

In the second chapter, Aus also addresses Palestinian Judaic influences regarding Elijah's calling Elisha as his disciple, on Jesus' calling his first four disciples. In a related excursus on fishing in the Sea of Galilee with nets and the expression "fishers of people," Aus calls attention to numerous metaphorical uses of the term "fisherman" in Palestinian Judaic sources.

The third chapter portrays how Palestinian Judaic traditions about the prophet Elijah influenced the creation of the Semitic form of the Emmaus narrative.