Biblica
The Gospel of Mark

Preliminary

For the text of Mark which is assumed in this discussion, see first

• Early Additions to Mark

The previous Trajectory argument, supplemented by a sample Directionality argument, suggests that Mark is the earliest of the Synoptics. This position is widely shared in NT scholarship, and has been a standard conclusion since the middle 19th century, but it has also been challenged. Sample arguments from those challenges have been met elsewhere in these pages; see

• The Sanders List: Challenges to Markan Priority
• The Fleddermann List: Arguments for Q (Mt and/or Lk) as Prior to Mark

Mark Proper

We here take up the question of the structure of Mark itself. We find that it consists of layers of material added successively over a period of time, and that the widely assumed stylistic unity of Mark breaks down when confronted with this result. It does so in a convincing way: The features considered to be most typical of Mark are actually found only in its earliest layers, or in isolated passages in later layers which extend, or are directly based on, something in the earlier layers. The resulting accretional model of Mark finds essentially five major layers plus a few small later insertions. The first three of those layers correspond to major shifts in the text's theory of Jesus (its Christology), and the next two respond to growing doubts about the Second Coming and recognize the existence of twelve principal Apostles. Each layer is initially identified by contradictions within the text, and confirmed by noting evidences of interpolation for one or more possible components of that layer. In order of their composition, these layers are:

• 1. Jesus as the Messiah of Israel
• 2. Jesus as the Son of God, who will return to judge Israel
• 3. Jesus as the Son of Man, who returns to life as a type of individual salvation
• 4. The Twelve Apostles
• 5. Assurances of the Second Coming

The fourth or "Twelve" layer is complicated by the development of the Judas legend, which has displaced one original name from the list of the Twelve. Each of the first three layers defines a complete text, with its own middle and ending points, those of the second and third layers being added on top of the middle and ending points of the previous layers. This leads to the well known scholarly uncertainty about the structure of Mark, the reason for which is that Mark consists of several structures, stacked on top of one another.

For the above-mentioned stylistic argument, see

• Features of Markan Style

Conclusions

The five-layer reconstruction of Mark may be viewed here:

• Accretional Mark

For other early documents supporting one or another of the five major layers outlined above, see the Conclusion section of this site:

• Stages in Early Christian Doctrinal Evolution

The effect of this on Synoptic Theory apart from Markan Priority is nil, except that it makes unnecessary the theory of a prefinal stage of Mark (usually called Ur-Markus) which was available to the later Synoptists. Its affect on how Mark should be read, and on our understanding of how Jesus theory developed in the Jesus movement both before and after the death of its leader, is profound.

25 Sept 2005 / Contact The Project / Exit to Biblica Page