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STEPHEN P. AHEARNE-KROLL, The Psalms of Lament in Mark's Passion: Jesus 'Davidic Suffering (SNTSMS 142; Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007). Pp. xiv + 239. $95.
Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll's work, based on his University of Chicago Divinity School doctoral dissertation (2005), seeks "to foreground the voice of the suffering David in the four [Psalms of Lamentation (= PssLam)] evoked in Mark's passion narrative and read it through the lens of these four psalms" (p. 1). A.-K. specifies that he is not searching for Marcan "source material" but demonstrating that these psalms are "an integral part of the multifaceted characterization of Jesus and Markan theological concerns" (p. 1).
In the introduction, A.-K. adduces his "key issues" for approaching the use of Scripture in the NT: exegesis, technique, and biblical interpretation in Second Temple Judaism, the motif of the suffering righteous one, and trajectories of interpretation (p. 9). He explains that his methodology includes issues in the study of the PssLam as a sub-genre of the Psalms.
Examining possible references to the PssLam in Mark's passion narrative, A.-K. provides a close reading for literary structure and rhetorical dynamics to determine the authorial intent behind the LXX of Psalms 21; 40; 41-42; and 68. He then discusses the depiction of Jesus in relation to David in the chapters preceding Mark's passion narrative; the overall...