Kata Markon

["Professor L.W. Hurtado" <hurtadol AT div.ed.ac.uk>]

Steve Black wrote:
> It seems a forced interpretation of "ALL these things" to refer 
> exclusively to the temple. I made bold the "all" because on a purely
> literary level it does seem to suggest every thing that has previously
> been mentioned in this discourse.
Well, it may be incorrect, but it's precisely a close "literary" 
reading of Mark 13 that leads to the suggestion that the "all these 
things" of 13:30 refers back to the previous occurrence of the 
expression in 13:4, where it refers to Jesus' prediction of the 
destruction of the temple etc.  
Then too, the author of Mark certainly knew that the Son of Man 
had not come apocalyptically by the time when he wrote. And I 
take Mark to have been written after the destruction of the temple, 
which explains why it plays such a crucial role in the account here. 

> So I still hold with the idea (and this isn't anything new or 
> particularly revolutionary) that Mark's Jesus is here making a 
> mistake  regarding the timing surrounding the end of the world. It 
> seems to me to be the most honest and straight forward reading. (A 
> reading Albert Schweitzer would be happy with)
Well, it does seem likely that the author of Mark expected/hoped 
for the coming of the Son of Man sooner than has proven to be the 
case!!  But, on the other hand, the dominant thrust of chap 13 is to 
REFUTE and DISCOURAGE any notion that the end is immediate 
(13:5-8, 10, 13b, 21-23), but must be preceded by (1) all sorts of 
traumas that are merely what characterizes an indefinite time 
period (the single most repeated theme is warning against being 
led astray and alarmed at the distasters), and (2) by the preaching 
of the gospel to all nations (13:10, the only thing that functions as 
the essential condition for the "end", viz. the "dei").
I quite agree that theological concerns must not be allowed to 
govern what one is or is not prepared to see in a text.  But I also 
hold that patient and careful close reading of a text is essential.

L. W. Hurtado
University of Edinburgh,
New College
Mound Place 
Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2LX
Phone: 0131-650-8920
Fax: 0131-650-6579
E-mail:  L.Hurtado AT ed.ac.uk