The Book Of Mark Essay Research Paper

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The Book Of Mark Essay, Research Paper The Book of MarkAn Essay for Humanities CoursesThat Treat The Bible As A Historical DocumentPART A MARK’S THEOLOGY REFLECTED IN WRITING Mark and the other evangelists used basically five ways to change, edit or enhanceJesus’ sayings to reflect their own views of Christianity. According to the Five GospelsBook, plagiarism and changing of writing was not a crime, but actually very common Mark’stime. Besides, Mark never knew Jesus first-hand, he somehow had to make a ’story’ frombasically Hearsay! Mark groups different parables and sayings of Jesus by topic; making a falseimpression that these things happened in order. This may have little effect on changing themeaning of the lesson, however it illustrates the fact that Mark was

trying to author a”readable” story for people, rather than a book of facts. The best example would be inMark 10:17-31 (Jesus Counsel to the Rich) & (Parable of The Camel and the Eye of aNeedle). It is doubtful that these things happened at the same time; however, they areGREY in The Five Gospels anyway … and probably didn’t happen as Mark describes. Thisbrings us to Mark’s writing style. Mark seems to “tack-on” sentences to Jesus’ teachings to make them more”Christian.” This really changes the meaning more than any other tactic! Who knows whatMark may have edited-out to accomplish what he wanted to impress upon his readers? Inthis, he tries to interpret the meaning of Jesus’ actions … and does this in a misleading way! For example: Mark 2:19, Jesus

regarding Fasting. Jesus makes a strong statement againstimportance to fasting, but Mark (in 2:20) tags on: “But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them,and they will fast in those days.” This blatantly shows that Mark held higher regard for the Old Traditions of Fastingrather than Jesus’ new teachings! This is also an example of “Christianizing Jesus” accordingto traditions that have already earned respect from Jews in their tradition. (Wow, this isstarting to sound like a fight between Today’s Political Parties, isn’t it?! [Jesus = LiberalPolitics / Judaism = Conservative Politics]). Finally, Mark likes to “soften the blow” of Jesus’ Hard sayings. He does this forprobably the same reason Paul preached that Circumcision was not

required for Christians. A good example is The Unforgivable Sin (Mark 3:28-). Jesus clearly states that wordsagainst the Holy Spirit are unforgivable. However, Mark adds that “all things are possiblewith God,” which softens this harsh rule!MARK & THE PAROUSIA Mark lived during the Jewish War of 66-70 ADE. Unlike the later evangelists,Matthew and Luke, Mark believed the Parousia was upon us, about to happen at any time! And, for obvious reason: he lived in an extremely troubled time for the Jews, and he hadnot been worried yet by the Parousia’s delay as were later evangelists. Mark 13:4 – ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when allthese things will be fulfilled?’ According to Mark’s writing, Jesus first predicts thedestruction of the

Temple. However, Mark had written after the destruction of the Templein 70 ADE! This tactic agrees with The Five Gospels: writing apocalyptic sayings of Jesusafter they have already been “fulfilled.” I would suppose he did this to give credit to hiswriting of the second coming of God. An example is the parable of The Fig Tree in Mark 13:28-37. This addition,obviously written by Mark and not said by Jesus, shows the urgency in which Mark expectedthe parousia: “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all thesethings take place.” You can easily see why the other evangelists, Matthew, Luke & John, re-wroteMark’s apocalyptic writing to be more of a “Sacred Time,” and less definite. Mark used a common tactic of quoting scripture