Kata Markon

["George W. Young" <gwyoung AT morgan.ucs.mun.ca>]

> I'm still weighing MacDonald, though I need to go back and read him more
> carefully.  Interesting to be sure; though I'm not entirely convinced of a
> number of the parallels.  More of a problem though: "Granted, the work is
in
> German, but he begins with direct quotes from Shakespeare, his prologue is
> full of allusions to Shakespeare, and the only author he ever quotes from,
> and frequently, is Shakespeare.  And yet you tell me that his paradigm is
> really Goethe, whom he never once quotes or even mentions?"

The edition I'm aware of is in English: _The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of
Mark_
by Dennis R. MacDonald (2000).  Unfortunately, I have not yet read this book
(though I have read several reviews).  Some of what I've read/heard, though,
is that it is indeed groundbreaking.  However, when I initially made the
point that Mark is equal to the Homeric epics, given the gravity of its
subject matter and the way it is told, it was not my intent to suggest that
Mark is anything like the epics on a linguistic level (as you know, the
Homer writes in 'high-flung' verse,  Mark in Koine prose).  But just as the
epics narrate a story sacred to the Greeks, so Mark narrates a story sacred
to Christians, and it is very well told.  In fact, 2000 years after its
composition, I venture to say that more people read, study, and actually
believe! Mark than the Homeric epics.

> (On the patristic evidence re Mark's provenance, granted that they are
> varied and sometimes contradictory, I think "useless" is a bit strong, :-)

Perhaps 'useless' is a bit strong, though Mark's provenance is still without
consensus, despite the patristic witnesses.  Indeed, we can only guess at
its origin and author.  The patristic witnesses suggest to me that not even
they knew where the gospel came from, only that it somehow made it into the
Christian canon.

Regards,

George W. Young, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies
Queen's College
St. John's, NF
A1B 3R6
Tel.  709/753/0116
Fax. 709/753/1214
email: gwyoung AT morgan.ucs.mun.ca