Ancient and High-Medieval Interpretations of Jesus in Gethsemane: Some Reflections on Tradition and Continuity in Christian Thought

Abstract

Although Jesus' agony in the garden (Matt 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42; Luke 22:40–46) may be powerful and even inexpressibly poignant to modern readers, it was a plague and embarrassment to patristic and medieval interpreters. Few narratives in the New Testament were so inimical to received christological assumptions. Ancient and medieval interpreters, at least those ultimately judged to be orthodox, ascribed to the Incarnate Word the qualities of divine consubstantiality, omnipotence, omniscience, obedience, and impassibility. The pericope, at least in its Markan and Matthean versions, however, presents a figure who appears in utterly human form—powerless, ignorant, recalcitrant, and passible.

Equipping the Members to Lead Cell Groups into Emotional Health in the Nonsan Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Korea

“…Earlier generations of Christians, particularly in the patristic and medieval periods, often viewed the naked vulnerability of Jesus in Gethsemane as offensive (Madigan, 1995). But, as Bruner (2004, p. 649) argues, "attempts to say that Jesus was definitely not depressed for himself or from any fear of death but only for his disciples and fear of their failure seem to undervalue Jesus' true humanity."…”