1 What is a Gospel? Gospel = English translation of (good news) - - PDF document

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THE GOSPEL OF MARK

Class 2

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Outline

§ What Is a “Gospel”? § The Lives of Mark § Academic Approaches to (Sacred) Texts § Literary Criticism, & its Subset, Narrative Criticism

ú Literary criticism in general ú Narrative criticism applied to Mark

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WHAT IS A “GOSPEL”?

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2 What is a Gospel?

§ “Gospel” = English translation of ευαγγελιον (good news) § It’s a political term

Priene Calendar Inscription 9 BCE

Octavian, later “Caesar Augustus” Roman Emperor 37 BCE –14 CE

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ευαγγελιον

Priene Calendar Inscription 9 BCE

since [the birthday] of the god was the beginning of the good new[s] for the world that came by reason of him The Greeks of Asia resolve to reset their calendar from a lunar calendar to a solar one, beginning on the birthday of Augustus Caesar

This word “good news,” ευαγγελιον,is our word “gospel”

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What is the/a Gospel?

§ “Gospel” = English translation of ευαγγελιον (good news) § It’s a political term § There are four in the Bible, but over 50 known texts:

¨ Biographies ¨ Sayings of Jesus (no stories) ¨ Special revelations ¨ Infancy stories ¨ Passion accounts

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John Thomas Mary, Philip [John] James, Thomas Peter

§ Not just “histories,” but calls to us to believe and act

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3 What is the/a Gospel?

More like ancient biographies (bioi) than history

ú little interest in character development, “essence” is thought to be somewhat static throughout life ú unlike history, it is often anecdotal, and less concerned with cause and effect ú variety of social functions

• literary artistry
• propaganda
• teaching
• apologia (defense of the person against criticism or

misunderstanding)

• encomium (praise of the worthy person to foster emulation)
• establishment of a line of tradition to authorize certain persons in

the author's present

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Mark Matthew Luke

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Tetramorph Church of St. Trophime Arles, France

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Tetramorph Book of Kells, folio 27v Dublin, Ireland

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THE LIVES OF MARK

11 12

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Codex Sinaiticus Mark 1:1-4

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The Lives of Mark

c.30 CE Jesus dies 65–75 Gospel composed c.130 Papias 75-90 Matt & Lk copy Mk Peter’s scribe TODAY 400 Augustine Matthew’s summarizer 200 Origen Spirit’s pen 1555 John Calvin 1863 Heinrich Holtzmann reporter 1901 William Wrede 1919-1945

• M. Dibelius
• R. Bultmann

1956 Willi Marxsen theologian scissors & paste man redactor & author 1970s-80s Rhoads & Michie Tolbert Donahue narrator Mark

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ACADEMIC APPROACHES TO (SACRED) TEXTS

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Text

Author Audience

Your reading posture = “critical distance” What question do you want to ask?

(Workbook pp. 40-42)

Three Parts of Communication Acts

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Text

Author Audience

What question do you want to ask?

Sayings Clusters Passion Narrative Miracle Cycle Birth Story

Source Criticism

World before the text

Miracle Parable Controversy Chreia

Form Criticism

Genealogy

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Text

Author Audience

What question do you want to ask?

World OF the text

Text Criticism

(if you know Greek)

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Text

Author Audience

What question do you want to ask?

World OF the text

Redaction Criticism

(if you have the sources he edited)

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Text

Author Audience

What question do you want to ask?

World OF the text

Rhetorical Criticism Social-scientific Criticism

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Text

Author Audience

What question do you want to ask?

World after the text

Contextual Criticisms

Postcolonial Criticism Feminist Criticism Cultural Studies

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LITERARY CRITICISM, & ITS SUBSET, NARRATIVE CRITICISM

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Literary Criticism in General

§ encompasses many approaches § initially meant any close reading

¨ including form and source criticism

§ but since 1960s, it has shifted to methods

practiced by English literature scholars

¨ focus on final text, not sources ¨ author worked with sources, but his new creation

has its own literary integrity

¨ increasing attention has been paid to readers’ response

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Narrative Criticism

A branch of literary criticism that examines narratives or stories. The term has been largely coined by biblical scholars who have sought to apply the insights of literary critics to the gospel narratives.

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9 Narrative Criticism:

Authors & Audience IN the Narrative

Real Author Real Audience Implied Author Implied Audience Narrator Narratee Text or Narrative

≅ ≅

⦚ ⦚

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Narrative Criticism:

The Story-Discourse Distinction Story Discourse

Seymour Chatman, Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1978).

• the content of the narrative; WHAT it tells
• includes characters, setting and plot
• the RHETORIC of the narrative; HOW it is told
• includes several techniques for shaping the story elements

to persuade a reader of the author’s point of view

Seymour Chatman 1928–2015

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The Gospel of Mark as Story

Narrative Elements

Plot Characters Settings

Rhetoric:

How the author shapes these elements to persuade the audience of his/her point of view

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10 The Gospel of Mark as Story

Rhetoric: How an Author Shapes Narrative Elements

Plot Characters Settings

• order, duration and frequency
• revealed by showing or telling
• exhibit dominant traits; rarely “change”
• flat or round
• they are evaluated by the implied author
• locations
• temporal markers set narrative pace
• causation (kernels & satellites)
• conflict

Rhetorical Techniques

• point-of-view
• symbolism
• irony
• juxtaposition &

sequence: framing, intercalation, repetition

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The Gospel of Mark as Story

Rhetoric: How an Author Shapes Narrative Elements

Symbolism Irony Narration Who narrates? What is his/her level of knowledge, reliability, point of view? Technique for suggesting interpretation; depends on shared context knowledge A figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their actual meaning and intended meaning diverge. Dramatic irony refers to a situation in which the audience knows something that the characters don’t.

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The Gospel of Mark as Story

Rhetoric: Point-of-View

The (implied) author shapes the response of the reader by insisting that the reader adopt a point of view consistent with that of the narrative. To discern the evaluative point of view, read closely the narrator’s statements and be sensitive to the structure of the narrative. Determine the norms, values, and worldview with which the narrator judges the evidence.

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11 The Gospel of Mark as Story

Plotting Exercise in Mark 1:1–8:38

Synoptic Workbook, pp. 43-61

• 1. Where are the episode breaks?
• 2. Do any episodes seem more significant than others

(possibly “kernels”)? How do you know?

• 3. Is there a building of characterization or conflict?

Are there causal connections between episodes?

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• I. Prologue (1:1-3)
• II. Galilean Ministry (1:4-8:21)
• III. Peter’s Confession, Prediction of Passion and

Journey to Jerusalem (8:22-10:52)

• IV. Controversies in the Temple (11:1-13:37)
• V. Passion Narrative (14:1-15:39)
• VI. Resurrection Narrative (15:40-16:8)

The Gospel of Mark as Story

An Overview of the Gospel Plot

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“Causal Connections”

§ Markan sandwiches

Mk 5 (Ger demoniac) Jairus’ daughter [bleeding woman] Jairus’ daughter Mk 11:15ff Temple [fig tree] temple

§ The end-time

Compare Mk 13:28-36 (apocalyptic discourse) To Mk 14 (passion narrative)

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MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE FOR MARK

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Gospel of Mark

Manuscript Evidence

There are 1,738 manuscripts of Mark;

• nly 9 of these date to the first 600 years of Christian history

Century Manuscript Extent

Mark 1:1-4 Codex Sinaiticus

200s P45 Parts of Mark 4–9, 11–12 (& Mt, Lk, Jn, Acts) 300s P88 27 verses from chapter 2 01 all 03 all 0188 7 verses from chapter 11 c.400 05 1:1–16:14 400s 02 all 04 most 500s 032 all

• D. C. Parker, An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts

(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008) 319-20.

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