Thaumaturgic Prowess: Autonomous and Dependent Miracle-Working in Mark’s Gospel and the Second Temple Period

Andrew J. Kelley argues that Mark undergirds his high view of Jesus by characterizing him as a miracle-worker who does not defer to a deity in order to perform miracles. Survey work in the first half of this monograph shows that this is distinct from the many miracle-workers depicted in sources contemporary to the Gospel of Mark. Further emphasizing this distinction is the fact that all other miracle-workers in Mark either defer to the Jewish God or to Jesus to perform miracles. The author shows that these two characteristics of Mark’s depiction of miracle working in contrast to other depictions of miracle working in the time period make it likely that Mark is using Jesus’ autonomous miracle working to undergird his high, perhaps divine, view of Jesus.