Page 133 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy
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Bultmann notices that controversy dialogues happened when Jesus’ opponents attack or confront
his actions or statements; and scholastic dialogues happened when his follower or admirer made
a sincere inquiry. 123 The rhetorical device of dialog represents the most striking similarity
between Jesus and his contemporary teachers. 124 Jesus naturally utilized familiar forms of
instructing in his preaching.
Use of Rhetorical Questions
The frequent use of question in Jesus’ preaching is phenomenal. Zuck counts an impressive
“225 different questions” that appear in the Gospel. If one numbers them regardless of parallel
citations between the Gospels, the number escalates to over three hundreds. 125 By asking keen
questions, Jesus “aroused interests, provoked thought, requested information, elicited response,
clarified issues, applied truth, and silenced critics.” 126
Out of the many types of questions, Jesus employed the rhetorical questions most frequently, in
that he “sought not to so much to draw a verbal response from his audience as to produce an
effect.” 127 In the Sermon on the Mount alone, Jesus made thirteen rhetorical questions. 128 There
123 Rudolf Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 2nd. ed., trans. John Marsh
(New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1968), 39-55.
124
Osborn, Folly of God, 216.
125
Zuck, Teaching As Jesus, 237-38. He furnishes a table of the number of Jesus’
questions: 90 in Matthew, 67 in Mark, 96 in Luke, and 51 in John.
126 Ibid., 236. For impressiveness of the truth, he asked question (Matt. 16:15, 17:25,
21:31, Mark 8:19-20, 8:27, 10:38. Luke 10:36, 22:35). For a more polemical use of question like
counter question, see Matt. 12:11-12, 12:27-29, Mark 2:6-9, 2:19, 2:25-26, 3:1-4, 3:23-24, 10:3,
10:37-39, 12:14-16, Luke 7:39-42, 10:26, 13:15-16, 14:1-5.
127 Stein, Method and Message, 24. David R. Piper, How Would Jesus Teach? (Elgin, IL:
David C. Cook Publishing Company, 1931), 64-75. He lists nine effects of Jesus’ question. 1)
