In Mark 8:34 and parallels Jesus challenges his disciples to "deny themselves." The concept of "denying the self" seems to be unique to Jesus, for this saying is never quoted or referred to in the New Testament outside the Gospels. What did Jesus mean? What is the "self" or the aspects of the self that must be denied? What would such a denial entail? Can we find similar concepts in Paul's letters? This book examines the self-denial passages in the Gospels and then investigates how this theme is expressed in many other books of the New Testament.
Stuart T. Rochester is an Extraordinary Senior Lecturer in the Unit for Reformed Theology at North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa, and a tutor for Greenwich School of Theology, UK. He regularly teaches intensive courses in New Testament at several theological schools in Asia, Africa, and Europe. He has degrees in New Testament from Regent College, Vancouver, and Durham University, UK. He is the author of Good News at Gerasa: Transformative Discourse and Theological Anthropology in Mark’s Gospel (2011).
“Although transparently central to the teaching of Jesus, his contemporary disciples widely ignore his call to self-denial. This may be because of their willful ignorance of their Master’s teaching, or because it runs so deeply counter to the culture of our day, or because they don't know what to make of it. . . . This is a vital message if we are to rediscover authentic discipleship in the age of the selfie that encourages above all the idea of ‘self-affirmation.’”
—Derek Tidball, Past Principal, London School of Theology
“Christianity is sometimes promoted as the ultimate means of self-actualization. Such an approach is not all wrong, but given that we are dealing with a religion whose central symbol is an instrument of execution and which promises persecution to its adherents, Stuart Rochester’s focus on self-denial engages us much more profoundly with the heart of Christian discipleship.”
—John Nolland, Tutor in New Testament, Trinity College, Bristol
“A timely reminder to a generation brought up on sermons about self-fulfillment and claiming goodness from God as a right. This survey of the rich theme of self-denial reminds us that early Christians approached life and God differently—they had little, and they were willing to offer up what they had in service to God. Stuart Rochester spends his life teaching the New Testament in some of the most deprived areas of the world, which no doubt opened his eyes to the amnesia we have in the West about this teaching.”
—David Instone-Brewer, Senior Research Fellow in New Testament & Rabbinics and Technical Director for STEPBible.org