Kata Markon

[Steve Black <sdblack AT telus.net>]

Prof. Dr. Gudrun Guttenberger wrote...
> Someone recommended Mack, Myth of innocence last week as very 
> interesting. What is the thesis of the book?

I hope I do Mack justice...

Mack has a few points I think he wants to make.
1. The early church totally misunderstood Jesus. Mack does a 
fascinating historical reconstruction of early Xnty. Jesus was 
something like a cynic and nothing like the picture we have of him in 
Mark. (This is of course a huge simplification of his argument.)

2. If there is a "Christ event" it is not to be found with Jesus  or 
even with Paul, but with Mark. This is part of what I find most 
interesting. Mark crafted a narrative that brought together the 
"Jesus people" (Q, and others) and the "Christ cult (Paul and 
others). In this new synthesis Xnty was born.

Mack makes other more polemical assertions about Xnty at the end of 
his book that I think are not as significant to the general 
discussion, and this is where I see a greater weakness in his book. I 
have obviously left out a great deal. These are the highlights as I 
see them

--
Steve Black
Vancouver School of Theology
Vancouver, BC
---

Strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hand...

-Robert Hunter From SCARLET BEGONIAS