Kata Markon

["Ralph Cox" <rmiltonc AT hotmail.com>]

To Steve and the community:

There hasn't been a single issue against conservative views of the Gosples that hasn't been "discredited" by some old school devine.  I can't recommend any particular commentary.  But one doesn't have to go far to find an explanation for the events of Easter Week, or what is usually referred to as the Passion narrative.  Keep in mind that all the Gospels have the Apostolic tradition behind them.  Mark is said to have Peter's stories as part of it's source, but something already existed that provided a framework for the narrative.  Matthew copies Mark's account, and should not be considered a second affirmation of Mark's account, but only as a testimony to the authority that Mark's gospel had for the compiler of Matthew (the material belonging to the named Super-apostle would be the non-Markan sermons and parables, not excluding shared material).  Luke has tried to fix part of the account by moving the "Woman with the ointment" out of the passion narrative to its earlier,  more correct historical setting.  The woman was, of course, Mary Magdalene, and that event got combined with her having the charge of anointing the dead body, and a tradition moved it into the passion narrative.  John's gospel has placed the "Woman with the ointment" six days before passion week, which is not nearly as early as Luke's account, but clearly placing it before the triumphal entry.  Likewise, John's gospel reports the "expulsion of the money-changers" as a very early event preceding the arrest of John the Baptist,  where Jesus says "destroy this temple and I will raise it three days".  Here the obvious reference to his eminent execution has caused the "money-changers" conflict to be moved into passion week.  Note that John's gospel has the very large sermon materials (certainly coming from the named Super-apostle), showing that the passion narrative was the appropriate place to put the most important theology of the Church; so the passion week tended to become a microcosm of the whole gospel, complete with apocolyptic material in the cases of Mark & Matthew. The form in Mark is this microcosm tradition that helped spread the Gospel.

Ralph Cox - rmiltonc AT hotmail.com

>From: Steve Black

>Reply-To: "Kata Markon"

>To: "Kata Markon"

>Subject: [gmark] Holy Week

>Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 06:57:10 -0700

>

>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

>

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