The Power of the Christian: Discerning an Improvisatory Ethic of Power from the Gospel of Mark

The presence of power, operating in both obvious and subtle ways in public life, necessitates the development of a Christian ethic of power with which to guide the church and her members in all relational discourse—both with those inside and outside of Christian communities. The core question to be considered in this study is: how are Christians to hold and exercise power? In order to gain an understanding of Jesus’ own conception and use of power, this study focuses on a narrative analysis of the Gospel of Mark, emphasizing the pericope of 10:42-45. Here we find the self-subordinating, atoning action of Jesus in the cross as the primary Scriptural image of a Christian’s own expression of power. In order to address the process of forming a normative ethic from our exegesis, this survey will make use of a critical integration of the ethical methodologies of Richard Hays and Samuel Wells, making use of the narrative’s own imagery of Servant, Sacrifice, Shalom as the Bible’s own formational pattern for Christian ethical formation