Kata Markon

[Steve Black <sblack AT axionet.com>]

I was having a discussion recently with someone regarding the theory 
that the last seven days of Jesus' life in GMark is a condensed 
version of what originally took much longer than seven days. This was 
accomplished to harmonize it with the ancient practise of celebrating 
holy week in the early church. In other words, Mark changed the story 
of Jesus' last days from a longer time period to a week to support 
the celebration of holy week in his community.

I am not sure where I heard this theory, but it seems plausible 
enough to me. It seems to me to be like most such theories - not 
something that will likely ever pass out of the realm of mere 
possibility, but still, it is attractive. In any event, my friend 
assured me that this theory has been thoroughly "discredited". This 
puzzled me at the time, but I didn't explore what he meant. How would 
such a theory be "discredited" (or proven for that matter) without 
the discovery of some new relevant manuscript or something. I am 
curious as to the nature of the scholarly discussion surrounding this 
issue, and was wondering if any one in this list might shed some 
light on the matter.
--
Steve Black
Vancouver School of Theology
Vancouver, BC
---

Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places in you look at it right...

-Robert Hunter From SCARLET BEGONIAS