Kata Markon

["Ron Price" <ron.price AT virgin.net>]

Ted Weeden wrote:

>I would like to propose a systematic way for deciphering the location of 
>the Markan community from the Markan text .......

  A good idea in principle.

> ....... by using the following seven methodological guidelines.

  But the guidelines presented are hardly "methodological", a term which
usually has the connotation of a neutral technique. 

Ted added:

>The First Guideline
>
>Markan allusions to his community's location in all likelihood are to be
>found where Mark exhibits accurate representation of geography .......

  Hang on a bit. This assumes that Au_Mark was writing in one of the
places mentioned in his gospel. As his knowledge of Palestinian
geography appears to have been rather inaccurate, the assumption is
dubious, to say the least.



>The Second Guideline
>
>Wherever the community is located, it must be at significant distance from
>the Mediterranean Sea .......  If Mark, as Theissen has argued, were
>aware of the size of the Mediterranean Sea, he would not have made the
>mistake of calling Lake Gennesaret a "sea."

  According to M.D.Hooker (_The Gospel According to St Mark_, London,
A&C Black, 1991), Aristotle once used QALASSA for a lake. Anyway
Au_Mark's use of language is notorious for its lack of literary finesse
so his use of "sea" is a weak foundation for a hypothesis. Didn't even
Au_Matt similarly misuse a common word when he described Nazareth as a
city (POLIS, Matt 2:23)?

>The Third Guideline
>
>Wherever the community is, it is likely located in a rural village
setting .......

  You seem to be saying that a story whose primary setting is in the
countryside is unlikely to have been written by someone who resides in a
city. But many people must have left their home village to live in a
city. In any case, a city dweller would not necessarily have been
ignorant of country life.

>The Fourth Guideline
>
>It is most likely that the site of Mark's community is among those narrative
>places where Mark presents Jesus as actively engaged in critical theological
>issues .......

  See comment on the first guideline.

>The Fifth Guideline
>
>Wherever the Markan community is located, it is likely in fairly close
>proximity to Galilee, if not in Galilee itself.    I state this for the
>following reason.  It is clear that Galilee for Mark is the center of his
>eschatological universe.  It is the Markan Mecca. .......

  But equally he could have focussed on Galilee because of his dislike
of Jerusalem and all it stood for as the capital of the Jews.

>The Sixth Guideline
>
>The narrative places which meet the first five criteria and are not those
>that the historical Jesus is likely to have frequented are more likely to be
>the site of the Markan community.

  See comment on first guideline.

>The Seventh Guideline
>
> ....... a likely geographical site of the Markan community should be in
> relatively near proximity of the place of origin or a probable place of
> circulation of Mark's sources in order to account for how he would have
> gained access to those sources. 

  This argument only holds water if Au_Mark presented an accurate
account of the historical Jesus. If he did not, and if the gospel
contains many inaccuracies and invented stories, then these could in
part have been a consequence of the geographical and temporal remoteness
of his community from the scenes it purports to describe.


Ron Price

Weston-on-Trent, Derby, UK

e-mail:  ron.price AT virgin.net

Web site:  http://homepage.virgin.net/ron.price/index.htm