This Festschrift is offered to C. Focant on the occasion of his
sixty-fifth birthday and his retirement as Professor of New Testament
Studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Université catholique de Louvain
(Louvain-la-Neuve). Camille Focant has dedicated much of his scholarly
career to the narratological approach of the New Testament, especially to
the Gospel of Mark. In the present volume, twenty-seven friends,
colleagues and former students agreed on writing innovative studies,
mostly in French, on the theme of surprise in the Bible. The editors thus
choose to focus on a literary technique or theme that had remained
unexplored until now. The reader will find contributions on Old Testament
books or passages (Genesis, 1 Samuel, Jeremiah, Judith) and on the four
canonical Gospels, the Pauline Letters and 1 Peter. The volume is closed
by two articles on Joseph and Aseneth and on Chérubin de
Saint-Joseph.