Vorkosigan

Test drive my Gospel of Mark website!

Michael Turton's Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark

Look forward to more articles, updates, and added information. I hope everyone finds something useful, stimulating, interesting, and informative on it.

Michael

Chris Weimer

great commentary Vork. I bookmarked it and plan to really go over it.

By the way, a little early, isn't it?

Vorkosigan

Yes, it was targeted for New Years, but then I got some translation work, so I pushed it forward...

Michael

Intelligitimate

Bookmarked! I will greatly enjoy digesting this.

Great work, Vork!

judge

Thanks for that. I notice that you indicate that you think Marks mention of the parable of the vineyard comes from the septuagint and not the targum
As I recently posted this essay from Craig Evans arguing that this is reliant on the targum I wonder if you mkight be able to explain the arguments favoring the LXX and not the targum.

Thanks.

Vinnie

The layout looks wonderful and clean. Very nice and very much user-friendly!

The topical index is real nice as well.

I only digested the methodology piece and the introduction thus far. I made a new thread on the method issue

Vinnie

RED DAVE

Vork:
Terrific stuff. Really enjoying it.

RED DAVE

Vorkosigan

Kloppenborg has a piece explaining why:

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/%7Eklop...04NovTIsa5.pdf

Hope this helps. I studied Evans' book on the targums. I think the problem is that you have two different sets of data, targums and scripture quotes in the Gospels, which have a range of variation. Therefore it isn't unlikely that at times they will overlap. I think that prevents me from adopting Evans' POV. Not so much that he is wrong, but that his position is difficult to demonstrate.

Vorkosgian

JoeWallack

JW:
As A Skeptic I'm normally long on criticism and short on praise but in the words of Pharoah to Charleston Heston in the classic "Ten Commandments", Your site is "superb!". That being said:

"1:The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2: As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; 3: the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight -- " 4: John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."

What's remarkable here is the absence of Jesus' supposed history before the baptism which your site doesn't give much attention to but I understand that's because traditional Bible scholarship hasn't either. In the classic Greco-Roman bio the hero has a miraculous birth, but as Hans said in the classic, Die Hard, "No, this is something else." Focusing on just one possible significance, Helms points out that "Mark" intended to be a continuation of the Jewish Bible, starting where the Jewish Bible left off with Malachi's messenger. It thereby becomes ridiculous that "Mark" is placed in a Canon with miraculous births let alone have "Matthew" be put in between it and Malachi. Speaking of Helms, you would never ever see him quoted in a mainstream Christian Bible scholar writing, yet his understanding of "Mark" is exponentially superior to Liars For Jesus because his specialty is Literature and not religion.

To go beyond Helms, what "Mark" is saying is that Jesus' history was the Jewish Bible! Any narrative history would interfere with this connection (not to mention make a Play more diffiCult - understand dear Reader?). "Mark" is priMarily an evangelistic effort utilizing supposed Prophecy Fulfillment as its Marketing Tool (the purpose of Christianity's other main tools, miracles and the resurrection are just more prophecy fulfillment in "Mark"). Prophecy fulfillment is much easier to "demonstrate" than miracles or resurrections as it simply involves comparing writings:

"Mark":
I read it somewhere.

Audience:
Are you sure?

"Mark":
Well, actually I wrote it down and then I read it.

This gave Christianity an advantage over other religions in that they could try to appeal to "supernatural" (what other explanation could there be?) prophecy fulfillment from a much older religion as opposed to newer religions which had to answer the question of exactly where their gods had been for the last 5 thousand years and all other religions who were limited to trying to promote their religion with miracles.

Vork, is this discussion too speculative for you or do you disagree with it?



Joseph

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Errors...yguid=68161660

http://hometown.aol.com/abdulreis/myhomepage/index.html

Vorkosigan

Thanks!

Well, interpreting that goes beyond my site's goals. I simply note that Mark's Christology was most probably adoptionist. Because Mark does not discuss Jesus' early life, I don't comment on it either.

I usually agree with Helms, but here I disagree. I don't think that Mark saw his Gospel as a continuation of the Bible, but as a realization of Pauline thought in narrative form.

Agreed. He really has the gospels down. He has a new book out soon, I think.

Hmmm...prophecy fullfilment is what gives the Markan narrative its emotional oomph for us, especially if the reader had commented on the text to his listeners as he read it. But the Markan text is more likely for disciple or initiates for use as a recruiting manual.

Well, it also helps establish them as an older religion to get around the problem of being a superstitio rather than a religio, where the former was frowned on by Rome.

Vorkosigan