Paroxysmal Language in the Gospel of Mark

Richard A. Hughes

Lycoming College

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Hughes@lycoming.edu

Abstract

This essay considers and rejects the notion of the apostle Paul's epilepsy and instead reframes the issue as one of human paroxysmality, a unique psychology of which epilepsy is an extreme variant. The author finds that the Gospel of Mark contains decisive aspects of paroxysmality, beginning with the convulsive episode of the demon-possessed boy in 9:14 29 and continuing with such equivalents as crying out, falling down, and erupting with strong emotion in the manner of an attack. Paroxysmality is also present in the use of metaphors, such as fire and water, as well as in narrative techniques of sideshadowing and vortex time. The essay concludes with a suggestion that the Markan author portrayed Jesus as a paroxysmal non-epileptic person.

Paroxysmal Language in the Gospel of Mark

One of the enduring questions in New Testament studies is whether the apostle Paul were an epileptic. Among contemporary scholars Krister Stendahl suggested in his study of Romans that Paul was an epileptic, but he cited neither evidence nor diagnostic criteria to support his opinion (1995: 1). Paul's alleged temporal lobe epilepsy has also been reaffirmed recently in the field of clinical psychiatry (Devinsky 2003: 76 77; Dewhurst and Beard 2003: 78 87; Landsborough 1987: 663), as well as his possible post-traumatic epilepsy (Howard 2001: 240).

Among the older biblical scholars Joseph Klausner argued that Paul was an epileptic and that the apostle's complaint that "a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me" (2 Cor. 12:7) was symptomatic of his epileptic condition (Klausner 1943: 325). To justify his claim Klausner inferred epileptic traits from Paul's vision on the Damascus Road, specifically, that of a light suddenly shining around him from heaven, his falling to the ground, hearing the voice of Jesus speaking to him, and when "opening his eyes he saw (eblepen) nothing." (Acts 9:3-7) Paul remained without eyesight for three days and neither ate nor drank anything.

Klausner presented no evidence from psychiatry to define Paul's alleged epileptic symptoms. When he was writing his book, from the late 1920s into the 1930s, epileptics were under the medical management of psychiatrists, rather than neurologists, which typically occurs today; and personality changes were considered as one aspect of the diagnostic criteria. From the nineteenth century, psychiatrists had recognized that epileptics were susceptible to religious conversions, as well as visions, but that the epileptic attack would not result in a state of temporary blindness with a clear consciousness (Blumer and Benson 1982: 30 35). In contrast, a postictal epileptic twilight state caused a clouded consciousness without an impairment of a sensory organ. Paul's experience, as reported in Acts 9, involved a sudden startle, convulsion, recollection of personal conflict, and bodily impairment. Thus, from the standpoint of current clinical psychiatry, Paul's symptoms entailed a non-epileptic seizure or complex startle syndrome, formally called hysteria, instead of epilepsy (Blumer 2000b: 307 308). In a previous study I identified Paul's personal conflict as that of the Cain complex, namely, his struggle against the brothers on behalf of the patriarchal tradition (Hughes 1982: 13 16).

The issue of epilepsy in the New Testament is controversial, but in this essay I take a different approach than that of Klausner, Stendahl, and others. I contend that epilepsy manifests a unique mode of being, known as paroxysmal, and that human paroxysmality is more clearly evident in the Gospel of Mark rather than the Pauline epistles. I propose to analyze the language of Mark and discuss the relationships between epilepsy and distinctive psychological elements in the Markan narrative. In the following section I clarify my method in this essay.

The Paroxysmal Pattern

Paul's falling on the ground (Acts 9:4) is, as with religious experiences generally in the biblical world, basically a fear response. "Faced with the overpowering experience of the holy, man escapes into death. Regarded thus, falling down is equivalent to the death-feigning reflex well-known to behavioral research" (Keel 1985: 310). The death-feigning reflex (Totstellreflex) has been explored mainly by German-speaking depth psychologists and psychiatrists, and it belongs to the broader paroxysmal-startle pattern of shock experience. Paroxysmal behavior is that which confronts shocks by releasing affective energies that accelerate to a crescendo and then recede; and the purpose of the emotional discharge is to defend against overwhelming danger or death (Szondi 1972: 102). In epilepsy the paroxysmal defense functions as a protection against the internal danger of explosive affect, but in hysteria or the non-epileptic seizure as a response to an external danger or terror in the outside world (Blumer 2005: 18). Since epileptic and non-epileptic seizures are closely related, we may speak of paroxysmal-epileptoid and paroxysmal-hysteroid behavior, respectively.

The term paroxysmal derives from the Greek verb paroksuno, and it refers to the accumulation and discharge of affects along with neuronal disturbances. Paul refers to the paroxysmal state negatively as one of agitation and turbulence (1 Cor. 13:5). In its extreme form the paroxysmal-epileptoid pattern consists of (1) a tendency to build up hostile affects, such as anger or rage, against a real or imagined enemy; (2) discharge of these affects through an epileptic seizure; and (3) a movement toward restitution through anxiety, remorse, or dread of punishment (Szondi 1977: 105).

Typically, the paroxysmal-epileptoid person exhibits extreme emotional lability, namely, alternating between angry outbursts, on the one hand, and sincere ethical and religious concerns, on the other (Blumer 2000a: 15). The same polarity would appear in non-epileptic paroxysmal persons and relatives of epileptics. The polar emotions of the correlated hysteroid pattern would be those of honor and shame, or jubilation and shyness (Ringger 1986: 75).

At the same time, paroxysmal-epileptic states generate corresponding ego-phases, after or independently of attacks, in the forms of (1) running away; (2) alienation; (3) catastrophic premonitions; and/or (4) ego-loss in a twilight state (Szondi 1963: 333). Epileptics also exhibit a range of secondary behavioral characteristics, such as a redundant, "sing-song" speaking style; a round-about way of writing, including the use of indefinite terms; tendencies toward perseverance or clinging; gregarious sociability; and the inclination to travel or change places (Bleuler 1976: 449 452). In the realm of religious experience epileptics are attracted to unique imaginal forms and metaphors, especially those of fire and water, height and depth, vortex and wave-like motions (Szondi 1973: 64). Frequently, these forms may be combined into distinctive patterns, such as a swirling fire, ocean waves, and explosive eruptions from above or below the earth (Hughes 2004).

Mark's Epileptic

Unlike the Pauline epistles the Gospel of Mark contains a precise description of an epileptic seizure at the center of the narrative (Mk. 9:14 29). The passage begins with a man coming out of the crowd toward Jesus, saying: "Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak…." (9:17) The father goes on to say that "whenever it seizes (katalabe) him, it throws him down (ressei), and he foams at the mouth (aphrizei) and grinds his teeth (trizei tous adontous), and he becomes motionless or exhausted (xyraineti)…." (v. 18) When the spirit beheld Jesus, "immediately (euthus) it convulsed (sunesparazoo) the boy, and falling (peson) on the ground, he rolled around (ekulieto), foaming at the mouth." (v. 20)

Jesus asks the father how long his son had suffered seizures, and the father answers since childhood. The father reports that the spirit "frequently threw him into fire and into water in order to destroy him …." (v. 22a) With Jesus' exorcism, "the spirit cried out (kraksas) and convulsed him many times, so that the boy became as though dead; consequently, many said that he had died." (v. 26) Then Jesus lifted (egeiren) him up, and the boy stood up (aneste). (v. 27) The passage contains the two main Markan terms for death (nekros, apethanen) in verse 26, and those for resurrection (egeiren, aneste) in verse 27. This fact makes Jesus' exorcism central to Markan theology and grounds death and resurrection in the paroxysmal language of convulsive events.

The two other Synoptic Gospels retained only portions of the story. Matthew (17:19-20) identified the boy as "struck by the moon," and cited his falling into fire and water without using paroxysmal language. Matthew relied on a first century conception of the moon as influencing a wide range of illnesses, including but not specific to epilepsy (Ross 1978: 126). The biblical culture reflected the psalmist's blessing: "The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night" (Ps. 121:6).

Unlike Matthew Luke described the episode (9:37 43a) without designating the boy as "moonstruck," and in contrast to Mark he wrote a more simplified paroxysmal sequence of present, continuous action: "And behold a spirit seizes him, and suddenly cries out and convulses him with foam and will hardly separate from him, while bruising him" (v. 39). Luke clarifies that the boy is an only son and emphasizes Jesus' victorious return of the son to the father in the manner of a resurrection experience (Bovon 2002: 383 385).

While New Testament Greek lacked a term for epilepsy, Mark's passage presents symptoms that authorities of later centuries would recognize as epileptic (Temkin 1994: 91). Typically, epilepsy derived from epilambanomai. However, the term for seizure used by Mark was that of katalambano, which became the root of catalepsy, or catatonic-like attacks, which have been characteristic of pediatric epilepsy (Lennox 1960: 220, 296 297). As with the Markan boy, the seizure would be a brief tonic attack, followed by unconsciousness, and falling. The jerking or clonic phase, common to grand mal epilepsy, would be limited or absent.

The spirit made the boy deaf and dumb (vss. 17, 25). This has suggested diverse interpretations by two contemporary physicians. For one, the boy's unresponsiveness resulted from the aura as a premonition to the attack (Wilkinson 1980: 64).; and for the other, the impairment of speaking and hearing came from a conversion disorder rather than from epilepsy as such (Howard 2001: 114). My difficulty with the former is that the aura is a quick "lightning flash," during the primictal stage of consciousness; and my difficulty with the latter is that a conversion disorder would presuppose conflict or pain due to an earlier trauma, which are absent from the biblical story.

The phrases "foaming at the mouth" (vss. 18, 20) and "grinding the teech" are unique to Mark in the New Testament. In the Middle Ages foaming at the mouth was considered a sign of true epilepsy (Lennox 1941: 373, 381). Foaming at the mouth and teeth grinding have even been recognized as central epileptic symptoms in contemporary psychiatry (Lennox 1960: 289).

Acts of falling into fire and water, as reported by the boy's father in the biblical story, are common in epilepsy and have been observed to occur with epileptic shamans (Knoll-Greiling 1960: 88). At the same time, fire and water are prominent imaginal forms in the dreams and fantasies of epileptics. For example, a nineteenth century German scientist, who suffered epilepsy, described the imagery in a vertigo dream before his impending attack: "It came to me as an immense, swirling sea of fire, in which I would be turning evermore quickly, and struggle with all my powers, until I lost consciousness" (Vogel 1935: 229).

Similarly, a twentieth century British writer associated her epileptic attacks with images of ocean waves:

How very often, standing on the shore, have I seen that high line of water coming in, and wondered what tidal bird, what face, what being, tossed beyond it, moving always, and always hidden? This is the mystery of the stormy sea, and the mystery of consciousness …. (Evans 1953: 76)

Acts of falling into fire and water, on the one hand, and imaginal preferences for fire and water, on the other hand, indicate that epilepsy yields a rich range of motor and psychic equivalents. The term "psychomotor epilepsy," discovered in 1950, means that dreams, fantasies, and psychiatric aspects suddenly give way to the motor spasms of the seizures (Lennox 1960: 230). In the interictal phase, or that between repeated attacks, the psychomotor epileptic is usually impulsive, angry, and sometimes violent, as well as highly sociable, adhesive, and clinging to whomever is near (Gastaut 1955: 2, 17, 23). Psychomotor epilepsy also has an absence of sexual interest, arousal, or erotic dreams (Gastaut & Collomb 1954: 658, 683).

Mark's Epileptoid Equivalents

Just as epilepsy presents a rich range of motor and psychic equivalents, so does the Gospel of Mark. The equivalents may be understood as paroxysmal-epileptoid, that is, epileptic-like, and I discuss these below as elements of a narrative psychology.

1. The Cry. Mark's epileptic episode includes the cry (9:26), which is typically

emitted as a sudden, violent, inarticulate scream. As equivalents, the Markan author uses several terms for crying out in the narrative. One prominent term is boao, which appears at decisive points in the beginning and the end of the gospel, and it signifies a crying out with deep, intense emotion.

In the beginning John the Baptist quotes the Second Isaiah (40:3), proclaiming "a voice crying in the desert …." (1:3) The Greek term for voice (phoneo) is indefinite, lacking an article; and boao is in the present, active participle, suggesting an ongoing crying. Open-ended, indefinite grammatical forms exemplify epileptoid writing and are consistent with a paroxysmal mode of thought.

At the end of the gospel we read: "And in the ninth hour Jesus cried out (eboesen) with a loud voice … 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (15:34) The term for cried out is in the aorist, indicating a punctilier past event. Since Jesus cried out the first verse of lament Psalm 22, its "Why…me?" format discharged an angry complaint against God (Barr 1985: 8). The phrase "my God" entails a personal relationship in the manner of a clinging. Thus, Jesus' death cry was a paroxysmal event in the sense of an angry complaint in the context of an adhesive clinging to God.

The healing ministry of Jesus also features cry-terms. For example, a man in the synagogue, possessed by an unclean spirit "cried out" (anekraksen) to Jesus, "have you come to destroy us …?" (1:23-24) The Greek term for "cried out" expresses an inarticulate screaming at Jesus. When Jesus performed the exorcism, the unclean spirit convulsed (sparaksan) the possessed man, and "sounding with a loud voice," left the man (1:26). The term for "convulsed" is the same as that of the epileptic boy's seizure (9:20) and functions as a motor equivalent but with one important difference. Whereas the epileptic convulsion renders one unconscious and unable to speak, the demoniac retains consciousness and the ability to speak, according to ancient Greek authorities (Temkin: 87 89). The phrase "loud voice" (phone megale) amplifies the cry, as though through a "megaphone."

Further, Bartimaeus, on hearing of Jesus, began to cry out (kraksein) and then cried out all the more (10:47-48). In this episode verse 49 contains three instances of phone, as a loud "calling": "And when Jesus stood still, he said, call him. And they call the blind man saying to him, take courage, get up, he is calling you." Theologically, all of these situations of the sick and afflicted shouting at Jesus reflected a cry for help of marginalized people, which in the history of Israel inaugurated the deliverance tradition of the Exodus (Boyce 1988: 78).

2. Falling down. In the prophetic tradition the prophets fell down before God in shock and intercessory lament (Numb. 16:22; Josh. 7:6; Ez. 11:13). Similarly, in the apocalyptic texts the visionary falls down and becomes unconscious (Ez. 1:28; Dan. 8:17; 10:9; Rev. 1:17a). The prostrate visionary gives the appearance of being dead, as does the epileptic at the end of the seizure in the postictal phase. In the apocalyptic texts an angel intervenes and restores the visionary to consciousness or "sets him on his feet" (Ez. 2:1; Dan. 8:18; 10:10; Rev. 1:17b). Thus, falling down illustrates a two-stage paroxysmal scheme of apparent death and resurrection.

The Gospel of Mark has eleven instances of persons or entities falling to the ground for the purposes of healing, teaching, or apocalyptic restoration. Unlike the apocalyptic texts, however, the Markan episodes of falling are not those of unconsciousness; but rather they are conscious, intentional, and supplicatory. For example, the unclean spirits "fell prostrate before Jesus and cried out …." (3:11) The Gerasene demoniac ran toward Jesus, fell down before him in reverence, and yelled with a loud voice (5:16). Jairus fell down at Jesus' feet in supplication for his dying daughter (5:22), as did the Syrophoenician woman for her demon-possessed daughter (7:25). The rich man ran toward Jesus, fell down, and asked him a question (10:17).

While these examples of falling down are not convulsive, they are paroxysmal because they are attacks that result in healing. That the supplicants run toward Jesus before falling is also paroxysmal. In these situations the running would be one of the "psychiatric aspects" of epilepsy, known as epilepsia cursiva, or "running fits" (Lennox 1960: 252). The epileptic may run away, run toward, or run home; and when the running becomes an aimless, delusional wandering, it is called poriomania.

3. Grinding the teeth. Both ancient and modern physicians have observed teeth grinding to be a symptom of epilepsy, which may occur during seizures or sleep. Of the gospel writers, only Mark cited teeth grinding as an epileptic symptom (9:18). However, Matthew amplified the trait into an apocalyptic metaphor of judgment with his phrase "wailing and gnashing of teeth." (8:12; 13:42; 20:13; 24:51; 25:30) Theologically, grinding or gnashing the teeth expresses anger, as in the foe-laments of the Hebrew Bible (Pss. 12:10; 35:16; 37:12; Jb. 16:9; Lam. 2:16).(Perdue 1991: 171) The grinding or gnashing also discharges anger in epilepsy.

4. Paroxysmal affects. The paroxysmal-epileptoid personality vents strong emotions and, on occasion, may even suffer fits of rage, which are equivalents of epileptic seizures (Gazengal 1983: 18). Irritability and angry outbursts occur independently of epileptic seizures and may be called an "interictal dysphoric disorder" (Blumer, Montouris, and Davies 2004: 827).

The Gospel of Mark exhibits a variety of paroxysmal affects. In the healing of the leper Jesus is "moved with pity," according to the NRSV translation (1:41). However, the phrase is a weak translation of a striking Greek term (splagchnizomai), used here in the aorist passive, which I would render as "hit in the guts with an attack of compassion." After the healing, Jesus says to the leper, "sternly warning" him, that he should not speak to anyone (1:42). The phrase "sternly warning" is another weak NRSV translation of a strong term (embrimaomai), which conveys intense anger in the sense of a kicking, bucking, snorting horse. Thus, Jesus' explosive eruptions of both compassion and anger manifest his paroxysmality.

A similar paroxysmal duality erupts, when Jesus confronts the Pharisees over whether to save a life on the Sabbath: "And when he had looked at them with anger (orges), he grieved with them (sullupoumenas) the hardness of their heart." (3:5a) The former Greek term is that of wrath, which functions as divine judgment against human sin in the Bible (Tasker 1951: 24 29). However, in this passage Jesus' wrath does not impose judgment but reveals sorrow and shared grief. This duality expresses the fact that epileptoid discharges of anger lead toward restitution or promote justice within the community.

Another kind of paroxysmal affect is an eruption of fear or shock of terror with an impulse to run away. The Gospel of Mark has several references to these affects. For example, the disciples were terrified by the stormy sea, which Jesus calmed (4:41). The swineherds became afraid of the transformed Gerasene demoniac (5:15), and the people were astonished (5:20). The disciples were terrified at the Transfiguration (9:6) and when Jesus predicted his own death and resurrection (9:32). While on the road, when going up to Jerusalem, the disciples became shocked and terrified (10:32). After Jesus entered the Temple and criticized its sacrificial practices, the chief priests and scribes became afraid of him, because the crowd was startled by his teachings (11:18). The chief priests and scribes continued to be terrified by the crowd (11:32; 12:12).

In two passages the Markan author correlates paroxysmal affects in triads. The woman, who suffered a "flow of blood," for 12 years, was healed by Jesus. She "felt fear and trembling, realizing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him …." (5:33) This triad of fear, trembling, and falling down is paralleled by that at the end of the gospel, when the women ran away from the empty tomb in fear, trembling, and ecstasy, unable to say anything (16:8).

Paroxysmal Metaphors in Mark

A paroxysmal psychology includes a preference for specific metaphors; and one common type is that of movement, particularly going up and going down, or height and depth. Other forms are a swirling movement or vortex, wave-like flows of water, and flickering flames of fire. The "flowing of blood," cited above, would also be an example of a paroxysmal metaphor.

The Gospel of Mark begins the story of Jesus in the setting of water. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, "and immediately ascending from the water he beheld the heavens splitting and the spirit as a dove descending into him." (1:10) After the coming up and going down parallel, a voice from heaven sounded: "You are my beloved son, in you I delighted." (1:11) The "splitting of the heavens" is a common motif in apocalyptic texts, and it appears in the contexts of visions (Husser 1999: 131). Jesus' beholding the heavens and his hearing the voice demonstrate a vision with visual and auditory properties. His seeing and hearing take place in his "mind's eye and ear," as indicated by the Greek term (horao).

After the baptism, the Markan author uses the water metaphor in the context of the sea (thalassa) 19 times, by my count, in order to characterize Gennesaret as a large body of water. "As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea …." (1:16) Several references to the sea are combined with metaphors of moving or traveling. "Jesus went out again beside the sea …." (2:13a) "Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea." (3:7) In the first verse of chapter four sea is stated three times. Further in the story, Jesus rebukes the sea, during a storm of high winds hitting the boat (4:37, 39), thereby demonstrating a conquest of the elemental threats of death (Bolt 2003: 137). This event takes place following the opening statement of the passage: "And he says to them in that day, when evening had come, let us go across to the other side." (4:35)

The healing of the Gerasene demoniac begins as follows: "They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes." (5:1) Later, the unclean spirits "rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea." (5:13) When Jesus had transformed the Gerasene demoniac and "crossed again in a boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea." (5:21) Then in the following chapter we read: "When evening had come, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land." (6:47)

Toward the end of chapter nine, the Markan author employs paroxysmal images of fire and water in the context of Jesus' moral teaching. Jesus explains that if anyone were to offend children, then one should have a millstone hung around one's neck and be thrown into the sea (9:42). Similarly, if one's hand were to cause one to stumble, then it should be cut off; for it is better to have only one hand than two and "go to hell, the inextinguishable fire." (9:43) Here the paroxysmal images of water and fire function as forms of restitution for wrong-doing. The Greek term for hell (geennan) is that of Gehenna, or the Valley of Ge-Hinnon, the original mass grave for victims of child sacrifice and executed criminals (Bernstein 1993: 229). Jeremiah had turned the Valley of Gehinnon into a place of divine judgment (Jer. 7:31-32; 19:4-6); and Mark preserved the same motif as an epileptoid metaphor of judgment.

Mark's Paroxysmal Narrative Structure

The decisive events in the Markan narrative take place on a dark, foreboding background. In the beginning, after John the Baptist cries out in the desert (1:3), the story unfolds as Jesus, bearing the spirit, passes through the desert, beside the sea, and often at night. The story ends with the crucifixion of Jesus in the darkness, when he cries out in agony and abandonment. In the older Hebrew tradition the triad of the desert, the sea, and the darkness represents the zones of death, where Sheol appears at the surface of the earth (Keel: 62).

At the heart of the Markan narrative, therefore, is the mystery of darkness (Grayston 1952: 123 126). However, the darkness is not that of the Creation, where the spirit passes over the waters of the primal ocean (Gen. 1:2), because the gospel begins with an apocalyptic eschatology (Marcus 2000: 139). Instead, Jesus' bearing the spirit, his traveling through the desert beside the sea at night are signs of "the great crossing-over," which is a universal archetype in the history of religions and functions as an alternative to the doctrine of Creation. The "great cross-over" narratives juxtapose height and depth, fire and water, air and earth in their symbolic structures (Lauf 1980: 83). Since Jesus' "cross-over" largely responded to the cries of the sick and afflicted, when the sun had set (1:32,34), the darkness reenacted that of the Exodus (Ex. 12:29-32), when God passed over Egypt at night amid the cries of death.

Jesus' ministry continued to occur in the darkness. Early in the morning, while still dark, Jesus went into the desert and prayed (1:35). Later, he withdrew to the sea (3:7). These assertions reveal that the paroxysmal personality likes to dwell in darkness as a primal ground of being and prefers to be alone. To illustrate the foundational role of darkness in a paroxysmal mode of being I cite a subjective statement of an epileptic:

The epileptic is bound to be reminded that his roots are in darkness far more often and more acutely than the ordinary person. Also he is compelled, like the life of nature, to return and dwell in the root ….

The epileptic seems to be in a constant communion … with a general and dark source of being (Evans: 131).

In the paroxysmal narrative an inimical and ominous source of danger erupts from the darkness, threatening death, murder, or dismemberment. To illustrate I cite another subjective statement of an epileptic, who lay down in bed and

Unknown men appeared before my eyes, and they, too, disappeared into the darkness on my left. As I gazed after them, I had a feeling they were my enemies, who had first lain in wait in the darkness and then put a chain around my breast and heart. It seemed to me that they wanted to tear me to pieces with the chain, and I defended myself with all the strength of my body, clenching my teeth and clasping my hands together (Temkin and Temkin 1968: 567).

Afterward, he learned that he had had an epileptic attack, along with teeth grinding, foaming at the mouth, and uttering a cry.

By analogy in the Markan narrative, an impending sense of danger is revealed, when Jesus predicts his coming suffering, death, and resurrection three times. The first occurs before the Transfiguration, and it includes the assertion that (1) it is necessary ( dei; 8:31) to suffer, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, as the enemies; (2) be put to death; and (3) arise after three days. The second prediction happens, while traveling through Galilee, and it frightens the disciples (9:31). The third follows, when Jesus and the disciples ascend to Jerusalem, and once again the disciples become amazed and afraid (10: 32-34).

The impending threat of death accelerates the drama by speeding up events to a climactic peak. This dramatic acceleration comes out with Jesus' and his disciples' ascent to Jerusalem. The speeding up of events to a climax occurs within a few days and not a long span of time, and the climactic peak is condensed into short intense episodes, containing more detail. One is in chapter 13, where Jesus delivers an apocalyptic sermon on the Mount of Olives. The sermon corresponds psychologically to the fact that the paroxysmal personality gets catastrophic premonitions. Accordingly, Jesus foresees the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age. The sermon contains several paroxysmal images of an earthquake (v. 8), flight into the mountains (v. 14), winter (v. 18), darkening of the sun and the moon, falling of the stars, and the shaking of the powers (v. 24). While foretelling these catastrophic eruptions, Jesus counsels his disciples three times to be alert (v. 33) and vigilant (vss. 35, 37). This reflects the startle context of the paroxysmal pattern, namely the need to defend against the surprise of danger by vigilance.

Two nights later Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives and goes up to the Garden of Gethsemane, accompanied by Peter, James, and John, in another intense episode: "And he says to them, my soul is deeply grieved unto death; stay here and be vigilant. And going a little farther, he fell on the ground, and he began to pray that, if possible, the hour pass away from him." (14:34-35) Jesus' epileptoid falling down and crying out are a premonitory awareness of the hour of mortal danger looming ahead of him and a confrontation of God in shock (cf. Ez. 11:13). Three times he tells his disciples to stay awake and be alert (vss. 37-41).

The Markan "cross-over" in darkness, eruption of danger, acceleration and crescendo of time into an hour raise a question as to what kind of narrative the gospel might be. To answer this question I suggest a literary comparison with a nineteenth century author. In his original argument that Paul was an epileptic Klausner compared Paul's vision on the Damascus Road to the epileptic aura in The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Klausner: 327). Klausner's reference to Dostoevsky is suggestive, not in relation to Paul, but to the Gospel of Mark. There are two narrative techniques in Dostoevsky's writings which compare to those in Mark, and I discuss them below.

1. Sideshadowing. This method is a sketching of multiple possibilities of action through several pathways (Morson 1993: 20, 74 75, 83). The present is a field of freedom, in which are embedded various possibilities of action that may or may not occur. Time has an open-ended horizon but without a linear process or set of random contingencies. For example, in The Brothers Karamazov Dmitri wishes to kill his father and Ivan consents to the crime; but the actual murder is committed by the epileptic Smerdyakov (Dostoevsky 1880/1960: 419 420, 568 569).

Similarly, the Markan author presents a range of possible threats to Jesus, beginning with his temptation by the Devil in the desert (1:13), followed by the growing hostility of the Pharisees (3:6), and that of the chief priests and scribes, all of whom wish to kill Jesus (11:18), then by the delivering of Jesus to the chief priests by Judas (14:44). Other hostile forces include the crowds which, at the beginning of the story, accompany Jesus and often press against him. As his ministry progresses, Jesus feels compassion for the crowd (6:34: 8:2), but at the end the crowd screams for his death in dramatic irony. Even though all of these ominous forces appear in the story as those of mortal danger, at the end only Pontius Pilate, representing Roman power, comes forth and administers the brutal execution of Jesus, thus closing the field of action.

2. Vortex time. In contrast to sideshadowing vortex time means that an apparent diversity of causes converges upon a single catastrophic event (Morson: 94). The convergence functions by an acceleration and crescendo of action, in which time intensifies, typically in three-fold spirals, and then condenses into a short time period. In The Brothers Karamazov the action speeds up and contracts in the sense that the entire drama takes place in less than one week and the murder occurs in one night.

This contraction of time coexists with revelations of eternity (Catteau 1989: 360). Dostoevsky experienced a momentary revelation of eternity in his epileptic aura, when his consciousness accelerated in a flash of light up to a sublime peak of joy and hope, just before the crescendo of the seizure, when the light plunged into the darkness (Dostoevsky 1868/1952: 218). The "Dostoevsky aura" paralleled the novelist's actual experience of the ecstasy of light, when he faced the mock execution by the Tsar on December 22, 1849 (Frank 1983: 55 56).

In the gospel story events culminate in the Passion Narrative which, consisting of a seven-day format contracts time into a day or hour of the apocalyptic sermon (13:32), the hour in the Garden of Gethsemane (14:35), and the climactic three-fold period of darkness in the crucifixion (15:33). The catastrophe of the crucifixion fulfills Jesus' three-fold prediction of his suffering, death, and resurrection. The compression of time in the crucifixion is like "the last moments of a man condemned," as Dostoevsky knew in his experience and said in his writings.

Conclusion

The Gospel of Mark was written by a person with an intimate knowledge of human paroxysmality and its rich range of psychic and motor equivalents. The gospel contains 95 passages with explicit paroxysmal content, ranging from epileptoid shock suffering to metaphors of elemental forces Frequently, statements of action are introduced by the adverb "immediately" (euthus), 39 times by my count, to express an impulsive urgency in the narratives of Jesus' crossing-over (1:10 11:2), before becoming less frequent at the end. The Markan author tends to say things in twos, with the second point clarifying the first, as in the phrase "a Gentile of Syro-Phoenician origin." (7:26) This represents a round-about style of paroxysmal writing, which has been observed by modern medical authorities in epileptic usage (Bleuler: 449). As stated and illustrated above, Mark habitually presents ideas or events in patterns of three, and these three-fold rhythms demonstrate the repetitive, "sing-song" oral cadence of epileptic speech. Mark also shows a high frequency of the imperfect tense, except in chapter 13; and in, at least 20 passages imperfects are used two, three, or four times.

The Markan author portrays Jesus as a non-epileptic paroxysmal personality, or Anfallsmensch, who frequently erupts with convulsive attacks of anger, grief, and compassion, and as one who falls down crying. Jesus is always moving in the desert, at twilight or in the night, beside the sea, hearing the cries of the sick and afflicted. His traveling is both impulsive and continuous. Sometimes he withdraws to pray, to be alone; but he returns to serve the community, because paroxysmal affects carry a moral intentionality of seeking restitution or promoting justice.

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Author Note

Richard A Hughes is the M. B. Rich Professor of Religion at Lycoming College. He received the Ph.D. degree in systematic theology from Boston University and studied at the universities of Geneva and Paris. He has published numerous books and essays in the fields of depth psychology, biblical studies, theology, and law.