Can a legion" of demons convey a message? As Michael Willett Newheart asserts, a study of the Gerasene (Mark5:1-20) and the demons Jesus cast from him can indeed carry an important message of faith. Although the Gerasene may have suffered from mental illness, he (like other minor characters with major significance) exercised faith in a way the disciples did not. Newheart interfaces narrative and psychological criticism with historical perspectives, cultural examination, and poetic reflection to create the first book-length treatment of the Gerasene demoniac. Chapter One, *The Gerasene's Story: Literary Criticism, - focuses on the narrative analysis, and discusses the story through the angle of Jesus as teacher, healer, and Gerasene the healed follower. Chapter Two, *The Gerasene's Soul: Psychological Criticism, - brings to light the psychoanalytic perspective of Mark 5:1-20. Ideal for students of the Bible, Gerasene's story demonstrates faith in a way that may help readers vicariously experience relief from their maladies. Michael Willett Newheart, PhD, is associate professor of New Testament language and literature at the Howard University School of Divinity. He is the author of Word and Soul, published by Liturgical Press. "

My Name is Legion: The Story and Soul of the Gerasene Demoniac (Interfaces series)

Religion & Spirituality

Barbara Green

Newheart, Michael Willett

Christian Books & Bibles

Liturgical Press

he Gospel of John is filled with poetry, imagery, symbolism, irony, rhythm . . . and soul. The gospel contains not concepts that speak to the mind, but poetry that speaks to the soul, the emotions, the imagination. In Word and Soul Michael Willett Newheart describes a way to read biblical literature "soulfully" and applies it to the Fourth Gospel.
Newheart approaches the Gospel of John as poetry and reads it poetically. He engages Johannine images and rhythms; and explores likenesses to those images and rhythms in the world of the reader. This "soul reading" of the gospel is influenced by three elements; analytical/archetypal psychology, which reorients psychology to "the study of the soul"; African-American cultural experience, which is often characterized as "soul"; and reader-response criticism, which emphasizes that the reading of a text is shaped by the reader's psychological and social location. After a brief discussion, selected portions of the Fourth Gospel are read from the perspective of "soul."
The biblical passages that are read include the conversations with Nicodemus and the Samaritan, disputes with the Judeans, the healing of the man born blind, and the raising of Lazarus, the first farewell discourse, Jesus' prayer to the Father, the trial before Pilate, and the resurrection appearances to Mary and to the disciples. With each passage, Newheart first translates a section from the gospel, then poetically engages the key images and rhythms of that section. He then considers the likenesses in twentieth-century African-American poetry, and finally, summarizes the likenesses of the Johannine images and rhythms in his own soul.
Chapters are "ForeWord: The Johannine Prologue (John 1:1-18)," "Word for Word: Jesus' Conversations (John 2-4)," "My Word Against Your Word: Jesus' Disputes with the Judeans (John 5-8)," "(More of) My Word Against Your Word: Further Disputes with the Judeans (John 9-12)," "ByeWord: Jesus' Farewell Discourses (John 14-17)," and "UpWord: Jesus' Return to the Father (John 18-21)."

Word and Soul: A Psychological, Literary, and Cultural Reading of the Fourth Gospel (Scripture)

We Are All Witnesses is a remarkable, sassy, creative, disruptive, and deeply personal textbook. It is like no other text on biblical interpretation. Smith and Newheart have produced a groundbreaking milestone book about how to do biblical interpretation that prioritizes justice and the reader’s context. It is both memoir and metatestimony! The layperson, college students, and seminary students will find this book accessible. It is indeed creative, witty, and wayward!

We Are All Witnesses: Toward Disruptive and Creative Biblical Interpretation

Smith, Mitzi J.

Cascade Books

We Are All Witnesses

Cascade

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Books by Newheart, Michael Willett