The evidence that Mark is the oldest of the canonical gospels was not examined systematically until the 1830s, but the argument has by now gained general acceptance among non-fundamentalist scholars, and I have endorsed the principle of Markan priority here and here . There is a tradition that believers at Rome rejoiced to have Mark’s account [...]
Archive for the ‘Gospel of Mark’ Category
The Markan bombshell
Posted in Gospel of Mark, Priority of Mark, tagged Bible, New Testament, Synoptic Gospels, synoptic problem, theology on June 13, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Mark’s gospel: a Good-news/Bad-news day for God
Posted in Gospel of Mark, tagged Christ, Christianity, Gospel, Gospel of Mark, Jesus, Jesus of History, New Testament, Scripture, theology on September 4, 2010 | 1 Comment »
In my last post I quoted Dr. Vincent Taylor’s fine commentary on Mark, joining him in praise of the strokes by which the evangelist captured the complex and edgy person of the divine-human Son of God. But there are also difficulties in Mark. There are inadequacies in Mark, causes of perplexity, scandal and stumbling which engender [...]
Vincent Taylor (1952) – The Son of God in Mark
Posted in Gospel of Mark, tagged Christ, Christianity, christology, Gospel of Mark, Jesus, New Testament, Son of God, Synoptic Gospels, theology on September 2, 2010 | 1 Comment »
“The Markan Son of God is a Divine Being who appears in human form, whose dynamis is manifest in his bearing and speech and in his mighty works, and yet whose humanity is real so that he is deeply moved in the presence of human suffering (i. 43), angry with hypocrisy and grieved at the [...]
Priority of Mark (2) – What it means for the other Gospels
Posted in Gospel of Mark, Priority of Mark, tagged hermeneutics, New Testament, Scripture, source criticism, The Gospels on May 4, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Last week I called the principle of Markan priority a good place to start in NT criticism. That post probably sounded naïve to anyone not joined with one of the Christian inerrancy cults. Because the priority of Mark is a very well-established principle in mainstream Christian hermeneutics, and there would seem to be no need [...]
Priority of Mark – the foundation of a faithful literary criticism
Posted in Gospel of Mark, Priority of Mark, tagged New Testament, Synoptic Gospels, synoptic problem on April 24, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Markan Priority is the dominant critical theory used to explain the fact that Mark, Matthew and Luke exhibit a certain conformity of content and narrative superstructure – despite all their differences. The theory dominates for good reason – because it really does offer the best of all possible explanations for this conformity among the three gospels [...]
A soft version of the Messianic Secret – Part 1
Posted in Gospel of Mark, tagged Christ, Christianity, Gospel of Mark, Jesus, Mark Goodacre, messianic secret, New Testament, theology on March 26, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Two weeks ago I listened to a lecture podcast over at NTpod on the Messianic Secret in Mark, by Duke professor Mark Goodacre. The podcast (and the .pdf handout) were my first exposure to modern criticism of Wrede and showed me that I had been needlessly repelled by the theory (i.e., balked at reading the book) [...]
