Kata Markon

["Ron Price" <ron.price AT virgin.net>]

  Of the three synoptic gospels, Mark's was the most critical of the
original disciples, and also the most critical of the sayings which they
passed on.
  Some sayings were so alien to the Gentile mission ca. 80-95 CE that
neither Matthew nor Luke were prepared to retain them when they made use
of the sayings source (see my Web site for a reconstruction which
differs from Q). Mark retained them, but by cleverly composing their
contexts he transformed their meaning. So effective was Mark's redaction
that both Matthew and Luke were happy to retain the sayings now that
their offensiveness was masked by their Markan contexts.

  Mk 9:1 "There are some standing here who will not taste death before
they see the kingdom of God come with power."  By the time the synoptic
gospels were written, this was seen as a failed prophecy. In Mark the
saying is followed by the story of the transfiguration, the "after six
days" implying a close connection, and so hinting at a fulfilment in the
transfiguration.

  Mk 10:25 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." This dig at the rich
fits well with the original disciples who had a special concern for the
poor (Lk 6:20b, Gal 2:9-10). But Mark wanted his gospel to appeal to
"many" (10:45), so he added the conversation "Then who can be saved?"
"With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are
possible with God".

  Mk 12:17 "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the
things that are God's."
  To a pious first century Jew the implication would probably have been
clear: taxes are not to be paid, for everything is God's. But Mark was
at pains to cover up any relic of anti-Roman feeling, so he created a
dramatic encounter in which Jesus' opponents were to bring him a coin
and look at the portrait of Caesar. The new meaning is clear. The coin
obviously belongs to the realm of Caesar, so paying taxes is an
acceptable duty. 

Ron Price

Derbyshire, UK

e-mail:  ron.price AT virgin.net

Web site:  http://homepage.virgin.net/ron.price/index.htm
 
>From cwconrad AT artsci.wustl.edu  Tue Mar 11 06:40:15 2003
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Subject: [GMark] "Brief Commentary/Mark"
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For what it's worth, and despite the fact that it's no farther along than
it is,I'm announcing that the first four chapters of my "Brief Commentary
on the Gospel of Mark" are now accessible at my own web-site:

        http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/Mark/

For any interested Francophiles, a French version of it is being prepared
and made available by Mme. Chabert at her Codex Bezae site
(http://www.ifrance.com/bezae/):

        http://www.ifrance.com/bezae/m1/link.html

It appears that many people are getting into this "game" (by calling it
that I mean only that I consider such an effort to be a sort of adventure,
in my case an effort to say some of the things I've been thinking about
Mark for many years. I don't mean to pit my work against others so much as
to give expression to some firm convictions and conclusions I've reached
personally in my own fascinated attention to this distinct document. My
commentary is idiosyncratic in that I don't even claim to attempt an answer
to all the questions about the text of Mark that readers of the Greek
original or of a translation may raise; my focus is fundamentally on the
distinctive literary features of Mark's gospel, i.e., on the HOW of Mark's
story-telling AS proclamation. I have formulated it as footnotes to my own
attempt at an idiomatic translation into contemporary English--an attempt,
that is, to express what I think the evangelist would say if he were
writing it in English today (and I'm well aware that this is to a
considerable degree a matter of personal judgment); it is certainly not a
version intended to compete with other versions, but rather to to be a
vehicle upon which to pin my comments on how the evangelist seems to me to
be addressing the reader/listener who is directly confronted with Mark's
story.

I intend this as an announcement only, not to evoke any on-list discussion
of what a commentary should be; on the other hand, while I don't want to
become involved in any defense of my perspective, I would welcome off-list
feedback and particularly information about errors in my pages.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad AT artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
>From jgibson000 AT attbi.com  Thu Mar 20 15:29:53 2003
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Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 14:37:47 -0600
From: "Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 AT attbi.com>
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Subject: [GMark] On Line Seminar with Dale Allison
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With apologies for cross posting and duplications:

Just a reminder that the XTalk sponsored online Seminar with Dale
Allison, author of _Jesus: Millennial Prophet_  and other works on the
historical Jesus,  begins Monday, March 24th

Participation in the Seminar is on a subscription only basis.

Details on subscribing to the Seminar, as well its purpose and scope,
may be found here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crosstalk2/message/12924

Yours,

Jeffrey Gibson
--

Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon.)

1500 W. Pratt Blvd. #1
Chicago, IL 60626

jgibson000 AT attbi.com