Kata Markon

[JFAlward AT aol.com]

Steve Black writes:

What evidential reasons are there (if any) to suppose Judas (and the 
whole Mount of Olives episode, for that matter) was or was not part 
of the tradition that Mark inherited, and which he "creatively" 
enhanced.

I may be misunderstanding the thoughts represented on the list, but 
it seems assumed that Judas was "created" by Mark, and was not in his 
received tradition. Mark's redactional role seems to me to be of 
crucial significance in understanding the gospel and Mark's thinking.

<snip> 

How do we is separate "tradition" from Mark's creativity? How can we 
verify our results?
================
Joe Alward:


Whether the Mark who wrote the gospel created Judas, or someone else did, 
doesn't really matter, I think. What matters most is whether the stories are 
true, or made up.
Evidence of someone's "creativity" is abundant, whether the creativity is 
Mark's, or that of the persons from whom he received the tradition. 

The connections between the Old Testament, especially 2 Samuel and Psalms, 
and to a lesser extent, 1 Samuel and Zechariah, are numerous.  Virtually 
every one of the events in Mark's Chapter 14 has an Old Testament 
antecedent--a convincing one. Perhaps to sell Jesus to the Hebrews as the 
rightful heir to the throne of the house of David, thereby convincing Hebrews 
that Jesus was the messiah they've been waiting for, Mark may have decided to 
show them that events in the life of David prefigured those in Jesus' life.  
He thus used the holy scripture as a blueprint in constructing the story of 
Jesus' betrayal and arrest.  

I think there is strong evidence that almost all of the betrayal and arrest 
story was taken from the Old Testament.  Consider this one example:  Jesus 
went off alone to pray at Gethsemane, leaving the others behind to keep 
watch.  How did Mark know what Jesus said to the Lord? Mark doesn't tell us 
that God told him, nor does he tell us that Jesus told him later what his 
private prayers to God were.  Is it not fair to assume that Mark "knew" what 
Jesus said because he took David's prayer and put in the mouth of Jesus 
himself?  

Readers who are interested in seeing what I think are all of the other 
connections between Mark 14 and the Old Testament will find them at

http://sol.sci.uop.edu/~jfalward/David_and_Jesus.htm

In that article, I also discuss Dennis MacDonald's suggestion that Mark may 
have had his Judas imitate Homer's Melanthius.



Regards,

Joe Alward
===================
Joseph F. Alward, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
University of the Pacific
Stockton CA  95211
email:  JFAlward AT aol.com