"Prepare the Way of the Lord" (book publication)

"Prepare the Way of the Lord:" Towards a Cognitive Poetic Analysis of Audience Involvement with Characters and Events in the Markan World. This study was primarily inspired by recent analyses of the Gospel of Mark which were conducted on the basis of nar rative criticism, orality criticism, and performance criticism. Even though these earlier studies focused on different aspects of the impact of performances on audience members, the abovementioned approaches were unable to account for cognitive processes which explain involvement with characters and events, emotional effects of such involvement, and the manner in which these processes maintain or shape the identity of those who hear the Gospel of Mark. In this study insights drawn primarily from cognitive poetics and psychonarratology were employed to illuminate these complex, mental processes in order to fill in this seeming gap in current scholarship on the Gospel of Mark. These theories combine insights from such fields as narratology, linguistics, and psychology. Cognitive poetics and psychonarratology have to my knowledge not been employed to illuminate an oral performance of the gospel previously. The goals of this study can be summarized in the following manner: (1) To provide a description of mech anisms which promote involvement with characters and events in the Markan narrative. (2) To study prospective emotional effects of this involvement. (3) To consider the potential of these mechanisms with regard to identity maintenance or formation through cultural memory. (4) To employ these insights to provide a cognitive poetic commentary on the entire Gospel of Mark.