The first few verses of Mark’s gospel are packed with prophetic imagery. From the impossible concept of a path in the wilderness to the Baptist’s position outside Jerusalem, the Markan prologue heralds the victory of the Prophets’ teaching against human cities and the imminent inclusion of those beyond the Jordan in God’s city. Richard and…
Category: Mark
Eye of the Needle Jokes
The biblical system proposes hyperbole, scandal, and logical contradiction as a means to disassemble the statues and false gods we construct in our minds. At the same time, hearers of the Bible tend to rationalize these tensions away, explaining to themselves and others what Jesus “really” meant. Yes, the Bible is a language of metaphor,…
Mark, Canonizer of Paul
New from OCABS Press, Mark, Canonizer of Paul by Tom Dykstra. A new look at intertextuality in Mark’s gospel: “For over 150 years the idea that Mark used the Pauline epistles has been recurring in New Testament research. Now in the work of Tom Dykstra, wide-ranging work and thoughtful, the truth of that idea emerges with…