In this independent exposition of the Gospel of St Mark, Adam Darr examines how Mark’s Gospel could have come into being in the climate of early Christianity. The new religion was split between the Palestinian (Jerusalem-based) and Hellenistic (Greek-speaking) Churches, each with its own agenda, as the new religion found its way.
He explores the changing of traditions, with Jewish customs such as fasting and festivals like Yom Kippur increasingly ceasing to be observed by Christians, particularly by the Hellenistic Church whose teachings were at odds with the Jerusalem Church and challenged orthodox Sabbath observance.
Mark put parallel teachings side by side, seeking to synthesize the different beliefs, but often with arguments instead of harmony, weaving all the traditions together, and leaving nothing out from all he had been given. This has sometimes led to stories being repeated from a different perspective within the Gospel. The new way of teaching was Hellenistic and is presented here as the explanation for why, in Mark’s Gospel, some stories are told twice. The supremacy of the Hellenistic teaching, as it is appears in the Gospel, became the foundation of the Catholic faith.
There was a confusion of ideas, and the task of Mark’s Gospel was to edit these differences together to make one Gospel.
Mark’s Gospel is considered to be the earliest of the four Gospels and by many has long been seen to contain different strands of teaching or traditions. Some stories are told twice – but for some believers, because it is in the Gospel, this has meant simply there were two events. But here the repetitions are presented as stories purposefully told a second time in the Jewish way of teaching, in order to give a new understanding, as the early Christian beliefs developed. At the time the different teachings were contested, but now they are all accepted as one Gospel.
In the midrashic style the Hebrew Scriptures were interpreted anew by Jewish Christians to show their fulfilment in Jesus, and these fulfilment sources are now shown in full.
In this non-denominational study, for the first time, the whole of Mark’s Gospel is presented by reference to these different traditions that are here identified and fully analysed.
| Author: | Adam Darr |
| Publication Date: | 1st May 2014 |
| Book Format: | Hardback |
| ISBN: | 978-1-85756-822-6 |
| Price: | £14.95 |
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