Mimesis der Verachteten

The narrative art of the Gospel of Mark has become a focus of biblical research within the last decades. This study chooses the concept of “mimesis” introduced in Aristotle’s Poetics as entrance into the world of Markan narrative.

Mimesis — this is the notion Aristotle uses for the production of tragedy and epos. He understands it as a creative process by which poets create the world of human praxis according to poetic rules and — by doing so — open new insights into the antagonisms of real life.

The analysis of Mark 14:1–11 demonstrates the narrative techniques which Mark uses to operate his mimesis. It shows how the construction of his story opens insights into a new world. In theological terms it is the world of the crucified Messiah, in social terms the world of the nameless, illiterate and marginalised Jesus meets on his way.