Do not be afraid! The Topic of Fear in the Synoptic Gospels

UNIVERZITA KARLOVA KATOLICKÁ TEOLOGICKÁ FAKULTA Katedra biblických věd Pavel Samec Nebojte se! Téma strachu v synoptických evangeliích Diplomová práce Vedoucí práce: doc. PhDr. Mireia Ryšková, Dr. theol. Praha 2019 2 Abstract The thesis deals with the topic of the fear in synoptic gospels. Fear is a phenomenon that affects every person and is subject of interest to several scientific disciplines. This thesis is focusing on fear as an emotion. The selection of gospel excerpts is narrowed to those containing call to overcome fear. The pericopes are categorized according to situations causing fear: fear of the future, fear of people, fear of tasks' difficulty, fear during miraculous apparitions, fear of death, and fear of apocalyptic dreads. The last topic of the thesis are general calls to overcome fear. The reactions of the biblical personalities are diverse and can be viewed as model attitudes inspiring modern society. In the introduction, the topic of fear is briefly characterized in perspective of psychology, philosophy and theology. The focus of the thesis is the exegesis of selected pericopes, thematically sorted into seven chapters ending with short recapitulations of the main ideas. After the generalizing conclusion, an overlap into spiritual life is suggested