tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75132079896923452042023-07-17T21:59:20.562-07:00Bipolar Experiences of the Early ChristiansEarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-62439549137812288852012-11-19T06:47:00.000-08:002014-11-10T07:53:53.552-08:00Do You Not Understand This Parable ?<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Do You Not Understand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>This</u></i> Parable ?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s Recursive Paradoxes as Key to
His Gospel<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span>©
Jiri Severa, 2012</span><br />
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Only drowning men could see him.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leonard Cohen<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<o:p> </o:p><br />
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It may be
surprising news to many but it appears that the literary classing of the canonical
gospels revolves around the interpretation of a single verse in the gospel of
Mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the key two questions in 4:13 Jesus
asks : “ Do you not understand this parable ? How will you then understand all
the parables ?”<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[1]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The conventional scholarly reading of the
verse is that ‘this parable’ (<span style="color: #001320;"><span class="greek31"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span></i></span><span class="greek31"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">υ</span></i></span><span class="greek31"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">τη </span></i></span><span class="greek31"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">η</span></i></span><span class="greek31"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i></span><span class="greek31"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">παραβολ</span></i></span><span class="greek31"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">η</span></i></span></span>)
refers to the story of the sower sandwiched around the mysterious quibble in 4:10-12
whereby Jesus restricts access to the mystery of the kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this unanimity may be an example of Bertrand
Russell’s maxim that when all the experts agree on something, we should be
suspicious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the upstaging of Mark, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>both Matthew (13:10) and Luke (8:9) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>deposited Jesus’ explanation for speaking in
parables explicitly in the disciples. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
makes Mark 4:13 redundant in their versions of the gospel, as the sharp
dividing line called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">faith </i>that
separates the disciples from the mystical, invisible body of Christ in the
earliest gospel had lost meaning in their communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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In Mark, however,
it is a primary datum that informs the plan of the narrative .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lament in 4:13 I will argue in this paper,
actually refers back to the quibble, and not to the sower parable which Jesus
explains fully in the verses that follow and Mark uses as a bait to befuddle
the unsuspecting outsider. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first thing
that needs to be grasped firmly is that 4:13 addresses a different audience
than the three preceding verses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
evidently is not talking to those who are privy to the secret of the kingdom,
when he agonizes ‘how will <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>you</u></i>
know all the parables’ ? ( <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">π</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ω</span>ς
π</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">α</span>σας τ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">α</span>ς παραβολ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">α</span>ς γν</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ω</span>σεσθε</i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;">) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Unlike
those who have access to Jesus when he is alone, the addressees of this verse
do not possess the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gnosis</i> to grasp
the meaning of Mark’s mystery tale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
narrator does not tell us who it is that Jesus is talking to in 4:13 but the exasperated
tone of the address is analogous to other speeches to his disciples<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[2]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is the disciples were not
present when Jesus reveals the rule of access to the mystery in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>4:10-12.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How can Jesus ask them if they understood the parable they did not hear
? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is going on ? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mark’s Quibble<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></b>The three
verses inside the sower parable have exercised exegets since William Wrede who
pointed out the strange intent of Mark’s Jesus to speak to outsiders in riddles
so as to deny them grace. It is from the founder of modern Markan scholarship
that came the bitter complaint about this feature of Mark:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Blessed are the ones of plain speech, for
they shall be understood”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wrede put the finger on the facet of the
earliest gospel that became its chief attraction but quickly also its
undoing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brilliant as the writer known
to us as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mark</i> was, he was not accessible
by design to most readers outside a group of mystics whom he most likely led
personally and within which group he animated the spiritual mystery of
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matthew seized on the
intellectual conceit of Mark and deflated his exceedingly clever but condescending
and convoluted tale to a simpler one, taking out most of the persistent opacity<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[3]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
and offensive jesting which included affectation of ignorance and unschooled style
of presentation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He added a wealth of
new material and a sprinkle of condescension and opacity of his own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The immediate effect of Matthew’s re-write of
Mark was likely a rapid coalescence of the two traditions and defections to the
newer version of the gospel in the groups where Mark was not personally
dominant (if he indeed was alive when Matthew’s text began to spread). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the effect was to be lasting; the gospel
of Mark was thoroughly overshadowed by the gospel of Matthew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the later church, and for most of the
Christian history, the earliest gospel by and large was not seen more than an
abridged version of the work of its rival. Mark was not to be rediscovered as a
unique and original work until modern times. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In terms of social psychology,
Mark was writing a classical cultic material, dense, close to impenetrable,
full of mysterious allusions purposely to mislead outsiders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gospel addresses two groups of outsiders
separately: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one is a group of a
different Jesus tradition<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[4]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
to whom he offers the salvation through Pauline Christ<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on condition of their converting to the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He savages and ridicules the pharisaic Jews
of his time by having Jesus defy the law and giving either himself or through
Jesus,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>misleading <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>references<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Torah</i> (1:1-3, 2:26, 9:12-13,
10:19, 14:21, 14:49). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s quibble
addresses all three groups: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(4:10)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when he was alone, those who were about
him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables. <o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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I have called the three verses a ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">quibble’</i> because they declare a mystical
plot which cannot be deciphered grammatically. The first verse sets up a quiz about
who it is that is asking Jesus the question. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus is said to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">κατα</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">μ</span>ον</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ας</span>,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>and yet there are <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">οι</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">περι</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αυτον</span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>who are making inquiries. This blatant contradiction is being excused in
most translations as a slip, or a clumsy construction and interpreted as
something akin to ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">when he was alone with
the twelve and some other disciples’<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[5]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>It looks however it is not that and going
to the later synoptics for clues does not help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As I have hinted already, Matthew and Luke do not recognize access to
Jesus, or knowledge of him, by other agents than the physical entities of
Jesus’ own historical timeline<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[6]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
I believe that one cannot read Mark reduced in that manner and grasp the essence
of his tale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take for example the syntactic
difference between Mk 4:10 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Luke’s
9:18, in which the praying Jesus is said to be alone with his disciples (…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">κατ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span> μ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span>νας συν</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">η</span>σαν α</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span>τ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ω</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">οι</span> μαθητα</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span></i>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Luke, the identity of those with Jesus
alone is revealed, thereby modifying grammatically the extent of Jesus
aloneness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Mark 4:10 intentionally conceals
the object.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ι</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">περι</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αυτον</span></i><span lang="EL"> </span>cannot qualify <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">κατα</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">μ</span>ον</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ας</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i>because the presence of an unknown collective flagrantly contradicts
the adjective <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">μ</span>ονo</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ς</span>. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I assume that if Mark wanted to write <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">κα</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span>τε </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span>γ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span>νετο κατ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span> μ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span>νας</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 19pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span>σ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span>ν τ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">οις</span> μαθητ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">αις</span> α</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span>το</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";">..</span></i><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-hansi-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";"><span style="color: blue;">[7]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></i></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";">,
</span></i><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";">he would
have. </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 19pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>But evidently he did not.<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>He must have had something else in
mind.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>‘There are three kinds of
people’, said someone in a flash of discovery,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘those who can count and those who can’t’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>important item of 4:10 is the position of the
Twelve vis-à-vis the petitioners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Clearly, the two groups are separated, and the Twelve are not the ones
asking the question. Why are they mentioned in the verse then ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was the intent behind that ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The origin of the Twelve and their
function in Mark’s gospel is a large issue and an extremely important one. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As their presence looms large in the exegesis
of the relevant recursions in Mark, I will outline my approach to the problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 404.0pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is my considered opinion that the
Twelve came into being as Mark’s original design and the collective was not
meant to designate an inner group of disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The disciples led by Peter, and the Zebedees <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>appear to have been converted <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>into the twelve apostles by Matthew and later
re-imported into Mark <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the manipulations
of the text<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[8]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That the Twelve were Mark’s own interpretive
device, is argued for by the finding that the group is introduced in the
narrative in anarthrous form (3:14), the only such description of the apostolic
body in the New Testament<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[9]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This group seems to have been conceived as haggadic
midrash to the twelve founders of the tribes of Israel, as is strongly suggested
by the LXX<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>speaking of Jacob’s sons as “in
all twelve”<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[10]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That the single acting member of this body in
Mark,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Judas Iscariot, coincides in name
with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Judah</i>, the brother who would
sell Joseph to the Ishmailites (Gen 37:27), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">so
</i>his brothers’<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> hand would not be upon him</i>,
suggests too much an integral plot of the paschal drama to have been
history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even after the Matthean
recension of Mark,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Judas remained the only
named member of the Twelve who was assigned a role in the script.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike the disciples, the Twelve, as they
were originally conceived, knew the spiritual dimension of Jesus since their
ordination, and they, like the unnamed body of petitioners in 4:10, had
privileged access to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were a
mystical collective, symbolizing the twelve tribes of the house of Israel that
Jesus called to proclaim, and testify about, the kingdom. In the plot, Judas
Iscariot’s delivering Jesus up<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref11" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[11]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
divides the Twelve and thus the kingdom,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>fulfilling earlier Jesus’ saying<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref12" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[12]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
which points to the devastation of the war of CE 66-73 and the loss of
Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An important internal proof that
the Twelve were not meant to refer to the disciples, is that the
Transfiguration was made known only to a selected group of them. If Peter, John
and James were of the Twelve, and the demonstration (which failed: see ahead) was
specifically made to them as the members of that group – the apostles - then Mark’s
tale is inaccessible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where did the
other nine get to know the transfigured glory of the risen Christ ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The original version of the gospel did not feature
posthumous appearances. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Finally, there is the form of the question itself:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘they asked him about the parables’ (<span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">η</span>ρ<span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ω</span>των α<span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span>τ<span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span>ν….. τ<span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span>ς
παραβολ<span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span>ς). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The query comes in the middle of Jesus’ metaphoric
discourse on the fate of faith in different human characters. Given that a single
narrative thread was woven for nine verses, and dealing with a single parable,
the question Jesus is asked looks contrived. The parable of the sower is lucid,
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>making a consistent point about the loss
of the sown seed in unfriendly soil, and to competing vegetation, until it
finds ground where it prospers and multiplies. There is nothing mysterious
about what Jesus says, whether or not the crowd which he addresses would make
the connection between the seed and the word of faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later
in 4:33, the narrator explains, seemingly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">contra</i>
what is presented in the quibble, that the word was understood by some hearers,
even though it was delivered<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as parables<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref13" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[13]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the intent of the question in 4:10 could
not be said to have been provoked by some confusion Jesus caused by speaking in
parables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note also that the
petitioners do not ask Jesus directly, as Matthew’s more focused disciples do :
‘why do you speak to them in parables ?’<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref14" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[14]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In comparison, the question of Mark’s
mysterious beings with Jesus when he is alone looks distinctly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hallucid</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it need not be; it may be a clever way for
Mark to explain the<span class="grek1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> referencing
rule <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">concerning the parables</i>. </span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(4:11) And he said to them,
"To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those
outside everything is in parables;<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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The exegesis of this verse firmly
hinges on the ability to identify those who are questioning Jesus and to answer
the apparent lack of agreement between the singular “secret” and the plural
“parables”. Mark ties the two with an enigmatic <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">τ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span> π</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span>ντα,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</i>everything”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything</i>
? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Is
it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">about the secret of the kingdom of God</i> ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently, yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then how does that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything</i> relate to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">parables
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>? <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
Naturally, this kind of exegetical problem
does not exist for Matthew and Luke, who it appears solved the mystery by
cutting through the Gordian knot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">unio
mystica</i> asserted in Mark’s quibble is removed, and replaced by Jesus
telling his disciples, ie. those on whose apostolic authority the emerging church
would rely,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that there was not one big
secret of the kingdom,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but multiple
smaller ones individually revealed through parables spoken by Jesus. <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
However,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the disciples counting among <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">οι </i><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">ε</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ξω</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype;"> </span></span></span>seems
an important design element in Mark, as I have already noted. Verse 4:13 turns
to them via the proxy of followers in Mark’s time and tells them in not so many
words they cannot understand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this</i>
parable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether Jesus refers to the
parable of the sower (which would be easy to grasp even to Peter, I am sure) or
to something else, there is a contradiction : whoever it was with Jesus in 4:11,
to them the secret of the kingdom was granted<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref15" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn15;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[15]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
They are the knowers of the secret.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By
the rules of Mark’s mind games, it cannot be the disciples. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s story seems at times impossibly self-contradictory
but it does have rules. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They may not be simple
but they are internally consistent. Whatever one may say about Mark’s off-the-wall
antics and his perhaps excessive disparaging of the proselytizing rival Jesus traditions,
his committed viewpoint can hardly be questioned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
Paula Fredriksen
wrote that the earliest gospel operates with a kind of stereoscopic vision, in
which events taking place “ostensibly” in the historical timeline of Jesus have
eyes fixed on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s own community as the
Jesus’ elect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, there is a
dual trace of CE 30 and Mark’s own time cca 70 CE., the time of the gospel
writing<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref16" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn16;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[16]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This perspective is in tune with modern
Markan studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It comes very close to
my own, except that I see the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">70CE track</i>
in the gospel more as a generalized sensation of cosmic eternity<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref17" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn17;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[17]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
whereby the community or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sons</i> endowed
with the Spirit, actually present themselves inside the story and liberally interact
with Jesus, and the disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
writer, I believe,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>thought of the
spiritual faculty as something outside of the spatio-temporal frame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark is certainly not a conventional
story-teller, and to class the work simply as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fiction</i> is to miss the uniqueness of the genre by a country
mile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The hypnotic tale of Mark covered
thirty modern pages with ink. On these thirty pages, he <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>conjured a persona that would dominate Western
civilization for seventeen hundred years and the world for three
centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is nothing in the
history of literature that even remotely compares to the effect of the
explosion caused by this short text, probably known at the outset simply as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the parables of Jesus</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plot of Mark’s parabolic
divination of Jesus revolves around the competing visions of Jesus’
messiahship. When Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ at Caesarea Philippi, he of
course <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sees</i> him as the classical
Davidic king, who will conquer Jerusalem and restore God’s rule in Israel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is still the hope of the disciples when
they enter the city, despite Jesus’ teaching them something else and agonizing
over their lack of grasp of his mission. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(This however does not prevent the same Jesus to
egg them on by staging the triumphal entry prophesied by Zech 9:9 as a way for
Mark to thicken the plot.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they are not the only ones misled about
the messianic identity of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
the high priest asks at the trial: “Are you the Christ, son of the Blessed”,
Jesus replies in the affirmative, which settles the issue for the Sanhedrin: he
must be admitting to being a false pretender to David’s throne<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref18" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn18;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[18]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Mark’s Jesus and the community to which he
ministers know as one body he is not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i>
Messiah; those in communion with Jesus Christ know that the perishable will not
inherit the imperishable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark tells his readers with a poorly disguised
glee that that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">type</i> of Messiah did
not exist in Jesus’ time, in something like, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">psst, don’t tell anyone about me, I have not yet been evangelized by the
apostle</i> !”<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref19" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn19;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[19]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
The gospel evidently
classes Paul’s letters as belonging with scripture (hence <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αι</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">γραφαι</span></i>
in 12:24, 14:49<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref20" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn20;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[20]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>),
and inserts them as prophecies to be fulfilled by the narrative to enhance its
paradoxical effect. Mark asserts gospel events that historically precede Paul’s
blueprint <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>shapes them theologically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The disciples don’t get it; on terms of the
narrative they are foolish (even if apparently devoted) idolators unable to
grasp God’s plan for Jesus in tearing the heavens and sending the Spirit into
him<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref21" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn21;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[21]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the underlying motif of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the messianic secret, at the practical end of
which, the knowing reader is supposed to realize that Mark fully intended to
hoodwink the outsiders<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref22" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn22;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[22]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
and the gospel text itself is the proclamation of the message that the
disciples failed to deliver – Christ crucified who has risen ! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The glad tidings of Jesus’ rising get out
through Mark’s parabolic allegory of Paul, not the preaching of the
disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s community plays part in the
gospel drama as the crowds who follow Jesus, who are fed by him collectively
and cured by him individually. They are the demoniacs whom Jesus restores to
human dignity. They are the mystics who have been touched by the Spirit and
know the gospel story as <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>personal
experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They know Jesus intimately
as they are the body of Christ. In 4:10 they are not asking Jesus a question; they
are staging a revelation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They know the
messianic secret,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and they know there
really is no way Christ can impart the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gnosis</i><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref23" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn23;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[23]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
of himself except by faith. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To those on
the outside everything is in parables. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(4:12) so that they may indeed
see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should
turn again, and be forgiven."<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
There are no tricks, no sleights of
hand by Mark in this verse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shocking
effect of Jesus denying the grasp of his teachings to outsiders is a function
of three things which in the final analysis have little to do with the text of
the earliest gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One, most of New
Testament scholars accept the account of Acts of the Apostles as the guarantee
that a single Christian faith existed at the time of Mark’s composition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The appearances or visions of Jesus to his
disciples immediately after his death are taken as an unquestionable premise even
to the most rational, dispassionate investigators, who assign them to psychological
effects of shock and bereavement. The founding of the church, it is believed,
reflects the historical faith in the reality of Jesus resurrection formed at
the very beginning, with the doctrine of crucified Messiah that was preached
first in, and from Jerusalem, as salvation to all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Two,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>apostle Paul was converted to this teaching, and
became a missionary agent of the Jerusalem assembly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, this appears an unchallengeable datum
to most scholars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Paul says “but we
preach Christ crucified”, few question the identity of the first person plural.
And that with even such difficult verses as Rom 2:16, where Paul proclaims the
pending judgment of men through Jesus Christ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">κατ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span> τ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span> ε</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span>αγγ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span>λι</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span>ν μου</i> (by my
gospel).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This, it would be argued, signifies
only that Paul was converted to the theology of crucified Messiah and adopted
it as his own. But that is highly improbable. And the improbability is twofold:
even if we allow for the sake of argument that a suffering, dying messiah could
have been present in cultic Judaism as a model before the time of Jesus<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref24" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn24;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[24]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
there is nothing (that I have found) that indicates the concept of
resurrection, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a messianic promise fulfilled
by God as preached by Paul, had any sort of traction before his epistles
started to circulate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea of
spiritual metamorphosis, and resurrection in bodily life beyond God’s creation
on earth<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref25" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn25;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[25]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
seems to have been unknown in Judaism before Paul and would have likely been
rejected by most Jews out of hand as self-described lunacy<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref26" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn26;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[26]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other large dissenter to the thesis of a
single church and an early harmony is Galatians. Specifically in Gal 5:10, Paul
expresses faith in the Lord that his converts will not accept any other view
than his<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref27" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn27;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[27]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
and those who trouble them would face his eternal damnation, whoever they are. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the third constant conspiring against major
exegetical discoveries in the reading of the earliest gospel is the implicit
view that the first Jewish war did not substantially change anything on the
development of the Christian faith. In other words, there is no symbolic
connection between the tearing of heavens at Jesus’ baptism and the tearing of
the curtain in the Temple after his expiry on the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no reason, some would say,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>why this symbolic imagery could not have been
present in a text written, say, in 66 CE. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>True, theoretically there is not, but such
dating will surely miss on Mark’s passion play riot around the semantics of
‘king’, ‘messiah’, ‘temple’ and ‘body’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
4:12 argues with all these
exegetical starting points. Markan community, by all appearances, does not yet know
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the recognizable Christianity of the
following gospels. It is a society led by Christ mystics, who are guarding
Paul’s teachings (which they adapted somewhat: see ahead) against incursions of
the judaizing Jesuine exiles from the war likely proselytizing in its immediate
neighbourhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They consider themselves
called upon to protect the treasure of Paul’s letters which they value as scripture
written expressly for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever the actual circumstance of Mark’s
writing, the author appears to copy Paul’s concerns over the possible misuse of
the writing he sends out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The letters were
confidential, written to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>select groups of
those who are mature (1 Cor 2:6), called to be saints (1 Cor 1:2, Rom 1:7), the
elect (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">εκλογη</span></i><span lang="EL"> </span>-Rom
11:5,7 <span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">οι</span><span lang="EL"> </span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">εκλεκτοι</span> – Rom 8:33), to those who
possess the Spirit and are thus equipped to understand spiritual truths (1 Cor
2:13-14).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last formula is especially
of interest as it articulates a restriction in a direct parallel to Mark’s
quibble:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God,
for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they
are spiritually discerned.<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref28" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn28;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[28]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much as the verse shocks those who
believe that Jesus, in the spirit of God, could not admit to misleading his
listeners, there it is, and one cannot do more than interpret it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaiah 6:9-10 (Rom 11:8) may be unattributed,
but Mark evidently deployed the saying(s) as a fully intended proselytizing
formula <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that leaves open the alternative
of the reader refusing, or misapprehending, the offer of salvation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gnosis necessary to grasp the meaning of
the gospel is supplied by familiarity with ecstatic psychic phenomena, faith in
their being of divine origin and training in the interpretation of sacred texts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By all appearances, this is what Mark’s
community believed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The riddle that explains the quibble<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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</span><br />
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The verse 4:13 puts everything in
perspective. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have already begun to
argue that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this parable</i> does not refer
to the simile of the sower. It is apposite to the sower, by the subject of faith.
But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">parable</i> is to be fully explained to the disciples in the following
verses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would make the first
question in 4:13 redundant and argue for the congenial idiocy of Jesus’
followers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither, I venture, was
intended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cognitively, the second
question depends on the first:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the
adverb <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">π</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="color: #001320; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ω</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ς </span></i><span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">(how, by what means) suggests
to the point of excluding alternatives that without the correct grasp of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this parable</i> one cannot understand all
the parables, meaning the gospel as a whole. The perception of which parable
then <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>determines the grasp of all the
others ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outrageous as it will seem to
some, there is not much else in the text neighbourhood beside the sower than
the three-verse quibble just preceding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that cannot be; those three verses have Jesus talking, so how can
they be said to be a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">parable</i> ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very well,
the process of referring to an object or event in a manner that re-references
it and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>produces an indeterminate result is
called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">recursion<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref29" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn29;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #001320; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[29]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Mark, 4:13 confirms that the parables told <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">by</i>
Jesus are wrapped in the parables <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">about</i>
Jesus. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="grek1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Oι </span></i></span><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%B2%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%AD%CF%82&action=edit&redlink=1" title="παραβολές (page does not exist)"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">παραβολ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EL; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">ς</span></i></a>
in 4:10 probably is a veiled allusion to <span class="grek1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">oι </span></i></span><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%B2%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%AD%CF%82&action=edit&redlink=1" title="παραβολές (page does not exist)"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">παραβολ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EL; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">ς</span></i></a>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">του </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">Ιεσου</span></i>, a pun on
the double meaning of the genitive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>It
refers to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> events of the gospel,
not just parabolic material spoken by Jesus.</u> <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have shown
one recursive brain-teaser :<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘there are
three kinds of people, those who can count and those who can’t.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See how this statement refers to the ‘three
kinds’ in naming just ‘two kinds’ in favour of the assertion that some people
can’t count? Formally, of course, the statement is self-contradictory, but most
people will (sooner or later) re-create the complementing subtext that gives
the statement the intended meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
riddle is explained when we realize the speaker wishes to make us believe in
jest she can’t count to three.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In analogy, Mark drew a paradoxical scene
where Jesus was alone and yet there were those around him who asked him about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the parables</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tells them “you already know the secret”
but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to those on the outside (of the
current fully initiated audience) everything is in parables. The intent here is
to create a recursive pointer<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>identifying<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the question-and-answer
exchange as ‘this parable’ to the outsiders. Mark’s Jesus then turns
(parabolically, again) to his not-so-smart disciples who do not have access to the
pneuma and asks: do you understand <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this self-referencing
style of discourse ? And if not, how will you then get the meaning of the whole
gospel ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An important point to grasp in
this is that 4:13 does not intend to address the disciples inside the story
but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>those who follow their traditions in
Mark’s time, i.e. the Petrine group of Jesus witnesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
paradoxical recursion tricks were known in antiquity since Homer. Odysseus introduces
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>himself as “Nobody” to the Cyclops Polyphemus
and then blinds him as a way to escape his imprisonment. When the Cyclopes
friends whom he calls for help, ask the blinded giant who injured him, he
replies “Nobody”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they leave the
cave cursing him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Odysseus then manages
to save his men, and on parting shouts to Polyphemus from the boat: ”You have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nobody</i> to blame, nobody but yourself, that
is”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Paul’s Connection to
Mark<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Evidently, not all readers of Mark are fazed by the
forbidding density of his hypnotic tale:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Frank Kermode asks pointedly: <i>if so many causes act in concert to
ensure that texts are from the beginning and sometimes indeterminately studded
with interpretations; and if these texts in their very nature demand further
interpretation and yet resist it, what should we expect when the document in
question denies its own opacity by claiming to be a transparent account of the
recognizable world ?<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref30" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn30;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[30]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kermode then goes on to illustrate
his point by the scene of the crucifixion in John which bears unmistakable sign
of story-telling combined with the text’s “urgent demand” that it is taken as
factual reporting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But John is a later
version of Jesus divination in a later version of a Christian church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Mark the suggestion of Jesus’ authority and
compassion is far more subtle as he artfully, movingly, manages the vulnerable human
side of Jesus, in passing from an unchained force dominating everyone and
everything to a pitifully disarmed, ridiculed and tortured prophet, forsaken by
everyone, and in all appearance, by the one who sent him, a prophet destined to
fail and to be crucified alone, in weakness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When the shrewd Wrede scoffed at the liberal historicizing of Jesus, he
said that all interpretations of Jesus begin with the discovery of <i>something
Jesus-like</i> (<i>etwas Jesu-ähnliches</i>) in ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this process of course did not start in
1860’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s original narrated
suggestion of a man who had the <i>holy</i> dropped in him was designed to do
precisely that: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to excite that <i>jesuslike</i>
<i>thing</i> within the listeners and readers, and to have them identify
themselves with Jesus by introjecting the suggestion of Jesus as the supreme
authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who know this and learn
to resist the temptation of the <i>libido dominandi</i> are the ones who grasp
the gospel. They are the ones whose messianic mania is eventually cured by
Jesus, or rather by the communal property of the gospel where he personifies
the Lord’s Spirit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
difference between the mystics in Mark’s church and the liberal theologians from
the time of Victoria to Elizabeth II. is that the former had insight into their
personal <i>tête-à-tête</i> with Jesus. They were at the source and the gospel
was animated to them by the life and values of the community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By contrast, modern historical quests for
Jesus <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are predicated by naïve
interpretation of the gospel at the text level (usuallly by individual isolated
effort in an academic setting), and the deluded assurance that flows from it, that
it provides a historical portrait of one’s own superior morality in Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By design, such reading misses the mystical
in Mark,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the disguised carving<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the figure of a beauty of a man and its
placement in the Lord’s house as a model to emulate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The subtext of Mark’s story reads:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘If you do not get the gospel it is because you
are being fooled by your imagining something that is not there’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
incredulity of some exegets that Mark intended to exit, or as I believe <i>recurse</i>,
at 16:8 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>best illustrates Mark’s deep
insight into human psyche. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No greater
homage could have been paid to the man who wrote the story of Jesus for the
delight of his community than that its forged version became canon. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark
achieved the desired effect by having the narrative soaked in <i>scriptures</i>
(ie. the tanakh and Paul)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>interact with
its reader, Jesus with the story, and the narrator (on behalf of his community)
with Jesus. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Frank Kermode says in
the quote above <i>from the beginning</i>, he is not wasting words. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already the first word of Mark’s writ is a
mystery:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">α</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ρχ</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype;">η</span></span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";">, </span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";">pointing strangely to itself, and
suggesting an Augustan <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">incipit</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if one has read the gospel already and
knows its polymorphic feel, a question will obtrude at once:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span>Does αρχη allude to the
beginning of the gospel, its origin, its master design, or perhaps, can it be pointing
to its master designer ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I propose Mark used the same sleight of hand in
1:2 as in 4:13: feigning a forward reference, when in fact he intended to
assert something about the statement immediately preceding. The answer he says is
written in Isaiah the prophet, and it is evidently not (only) Isa 40:3 shown in
1:3. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The hiding of the Malachi 3:1
attribution (which I will show was intentional) suggests that the master verse
in Isaiah that identifies the αρχη of the gospel is also cryptic material. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span class="lextitlegk"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Professor Aichele noted that the phrase </span></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">αρχη</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">του</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ευαγγελιου</span></i></span><em><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">is present in Philippians 4:15,
and specifically alludes to the beginning of Paul’s missionary activity</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref31" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn31;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[31]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He however does not think that the finding has significance for Mark
1:1. <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such verdict would have been
surprising if he or his sources had assessed the likelihood of the strong
association of Paul and the word ‘gospel’ and found little or no connection.
But the problem is that the novel mytho-poetic reach of the word </span></em><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ευαγγελιον</span></i></span><em><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">very likely did originate in the
apostle’s head</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref32" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn32;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[32]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shock of the loss of Paul would have no
doubt accelerated the copying and distributing of his letters and supplying
them to the communities as Paul’s moral guidance in the impending collapse of
heavens. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is reasonable to hold then
that the word ‘gospel’ in the years immediately after his death would have
become associated with Paul even to a greater degree than during his life, and
the faith in the reputed </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">power</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> of the cross in Paul’s guide to,
and insight into, the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">unio mystica</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> with the Lord, would have been
strengthened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is hard to imagine
that the author of Mark, writing perhaps within a dozen years of Paul’s death <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– even if he was a leader of his community -
could have appropriated the sacralized word without at least indirectly
acknowledging Paul. But he appears to have done much more than pay Paul </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">ex
obligatio</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">
in the enshrining of </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">his</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">gospel</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> in the first verse of the new text. Mark’s allegorical narrative is a vibrant
exposition and resounding justification of Paul, even if admittedly conceived in
ways that the apostle might have had great difficulty with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be it as it may, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">α</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ρχ</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype;">η</span></span></i></span><em><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">transparently acknowledges Paul
as the builder of the faith and specifically his understanding of himself as
the founder of a new movement :<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">According to
the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder (</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">α</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">ρχιτ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">κτων) I laid
a foundation, and another man is building upon it.<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref33" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn33;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[33]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Isai’an prophecy of Paul as
the architect of the Lord’s mystical temple is 44:13:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The builder (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">τ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">κτων</span></i>) stretches a line, he marks it out
with a pencil; he fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he
shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a
house.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"> <a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref34" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn34;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[34]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The extent of Paul’s influence on Mark has been widely debated for well
over a century. Most of the academia has taken a negative view, and the
majority case is still referred to a 1923 monograph by Martin Werner</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref35" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn35;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[35]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">, which vigorously denied any
debt of Mark’s gospel to Paul. However, from the times of Gustav Volkmar and
Alfred Loisy, this position has had strong dissenters. In a 2000 paper titled
“Mark – interpreter of Paul”</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref36" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn36;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[36]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">, Joel Marcus, a NT professor at
Duke University, severely dented the existing consensus around Werner. Marcus
sees direct correlation between Paul’s theology and Mark in the use of the word
ευαγγελιον, in the messianic and atoning significance of the cross, in Jesus’ death
as victory over demonic powers, in Jesus as divine blessing and fulfilment of
prophecy, the incorporation of Gentiles in the plan of salvation, and in the
negative views of Peter and the apostles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In another closely related
development, since the mid-20<sup>th</sup> century Markan scholars following
Willi Marxsen, have challenged the historicist underpinnings of the Markan
hermeneutics, focusing instead on structural literary elements of composition which
promise much better grasp of Markan goals and his modus operandi</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref37" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn37;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[37]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a limited yield in the historicist
speculations which depend on the dubious reality of textual sources earlier than
the gospels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end, many feel, the
quests will prove futile, as they will produce nothing of a lasting value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>James G. Williams wrote wisely:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Attempts
to find a foundation for faith in discrete historical events, whether the
approach is liberal or conservative,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is
a positivism which finally founders on two scores: <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The
impossible task of apologizing for the gospel text or any hypothetical strata
thereof as a source of detailed historical information in the face of modern
canons of historical criticism (see Van A. Harvey The Historian and the
Believer,N.Y. Macmillan, 1966, ch 2).<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The untenable conviction that God’s acts in
history are demonstrable from derived sense perception in the web of historical
and natural events. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The
question for the theologian is not whether God acts in human history but how
God acts in it.</span><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref38" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn38;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[38]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There is an important secular complement to this for those students of
the texts who are not particularly animated by a need to find plausible new
forms of theodicy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Williams asks
for a form of faith that does not offend reason, or requests it deny a claim on
any part of human history including the history of religious ideas and
movements, he is </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">also</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> making a case for a civil society that is tolerant of a variety of
expressions of human spirituality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the new hermeneutics, the writer of Mark
is emerging more and more as the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">implied author</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref39" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn39;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[39]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></i></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">of the earliest gospel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Naturally then, the question of his resourcing
comes to a sharper relief in assessing the logic and techniques of the narrative
structure. If, as I perceive, Mark is essentially an authored allegory and not
a redacted collection of traditions about a minor Jewish prophet (though some
may have been co-opted), then the extent of Paul’s influence needs to be understood
in much more focused terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
connection to Paul’s text is hugely important in assessing and testing Mark’s
recursive narration. I will therefore outline my findings briefly. <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one of the more striking example of the insistent
coiling of the narrative thread, the parable of the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Yeast of
the Pharisees and of Herod</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">,</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref40" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn40;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[40]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one sees the pericope introduced by a narrative
element: the companions <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had forgotten to
bring any bread; and they had but one loaf </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ε</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span> μ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">η</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span>να </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span>ρτον ο</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span>κ ε</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span>χον</i>)<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 19pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">with
them in the boat. The implication here is that the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">one
bread</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> was not supplied by
the forgetful disciples. Jesus admonishes them </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">en
passant</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> of
the yeast of his adversaries, and they reply with a seeming non-sequitur,
responding not to Jesus but to the object of the narration, i.e. the supply of
bread. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story-teller then explains
cryptically that Jesus is aware of this and scolds them for questioning the provision.
Then comes the refrain of the quibble (4:12), <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and a test of the number of broken pieces in
baskets after the mass feedings. The disciples answer correctly, giving the numbers
of which symbolize the Twelve (tribes of Israel) for those five thousand fed on
the Jewish side, and the number of days of unleavened bread at Passover for the
four thousand fed on the Gentile side</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref41" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn41;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[41]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> of the sea of Galilee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently, Jesus remains unconvinced the
disciples get him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cognitive effects of
this parabolic unit are extremely interesting. The fascinating issue here is
not as much Jesus reading the mind of the disciples, but his reading the mind
of the disciples as it exists in the mind of the narrator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What Mark is saying in effect is that Jesus
in launching the recursive referencing of ‘unleavened bread’ to himself, is
aware of the eucharistic interpretation of such a figure to the hearer or <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>reader of the story. Mark however is also
saying that such view of Jesus was unavailable to his disciples (and the
uninitiated), and despite Jesus </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">perceiving it, </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">he deplores it as un</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">faith</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This finding has an enormous implications
for interpreters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How would Mark justify
such overwrought melodrama ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By what </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">authority</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> (of his time) would </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">his</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Jesus chastise and ridicule those
who follow him ?<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems a foregone conclusion that it would
not be on the strength of pre-existing historical traditions about the Nazarene
Jesus. There may be some historical background to actual happenings in the
parabolic chain of events<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but that would
be mostly to enhance the appeal of the gospel to the Jesuine Nazarenes as
prospective converts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what is the extent of
the one known authoritative Christology available at the time of the earliest
gospel playing part in it ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I dare say
it is much greater than is generally admitted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Overall, Mark appears to have written a thesis about the Risen One,
disguised as an allegorical, fast-paced thriller taking place on earth in a
historical time-frame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this
particular story Mark transparently animates two Paul sayings from 1
Corinthians: first the argument about the missing bread alludes to 10:17 :<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Because there is one bread (</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">οτι</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">εις</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αρτος</span>), we who are many are one body, for
we all partake of the one bread, </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Jesus’
saying about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>paraphrases Paul’s<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> leaven of malice and evil </i>in 5:8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The letters of Paul make themselves
felt on several distinct levels. As professor Marcus argued, all the major
theological points of Paul and his posture to the rival Jesuine tradition are
present in Mark: the cross as the atoning death of Christ, the overriding
importance of faith, victory of Christ over forces of darkness and death, Jesus
as the fulfilment of prophecy, the inclusion of Gentiles, Paul’s distrust of
and hostility toward the Jesuine traditions of the Jerusalem Nazarenes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is much more than Joel
Marcus perceives as Paul’s imprint in the earliest gospel: Mark’s legal and ethical
base coincides almost entirely with Paul. This is partly obscured by the long
held, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>nearly universal, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>belief that the historical Jesus preached </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">agape, </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">giving to the poor, rendering
unto Caesar, restricting the right to divorce, calling God ‘Father’, relaxing
food laws, and seeing himself as first in being last and the servant of
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of these facets of the Christ
persona that have been with us for two millennia are firmly associated with
Jesus of Nazareth as </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">the</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> model of a perfect human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nonetheless, they were first formulated in the letters of Paul as
attributes of his spirituality as he received them in his intimate dealings with
the oracles of the Risen One.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul’s mystical union
with Christ may be unspoken in Mark but underlies the narrative framework, from
the appearance of the Spirit at the Jordan</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref42" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn42;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[42]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> and descending into Jesus to its
mysteriously disappearing on the cross, and morphing into Mark’s community in
the mystical Galilee as the body of Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The two baptisms, at the beginning by John and at the end by the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">neaniskos</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> in the tomb, serve as the
allegorical vault to interpret Romans 6:3-6:<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 106.5pt 10pt 63.8pt;">
Do you not know that all of us who
have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were
buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be
united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was
crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no
longer be enslaved to sin. <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The verses touch on
the next overarching facet of Paul’s teaching in Mark, the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">imitatio
</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">motif, which comes to the
sharpest relief in 8:34’s “let him take up </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">his</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> cross and follow me”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That those who assign this saying to </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Q</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> do not see Paul’s “</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">be
imitators of me as I am of Christ</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">”</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref43" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn43;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[43]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> as the community background for
the verse seems strange. </span></em><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On
the other hand, their subscribing to the ‘<em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">cynic-stoic’</span></em>, or the <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘deuteronomic’</span></em> origin of the saying<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref44" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn44;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[44]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> may signify
not more than that they overlooked the telling signature (</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">οπισω</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">μου</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">) present in all the canonical variants of
the maxim.</span><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I venture that the exhortation does not
originate in any putative Q script any more than Hamlet’s assessment of Yorick tracks
to Danish royal court’s personnel records.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In Mark’s plan of the gospel, the saying is to be played out in the
ascent to Golgotha, where not Peter but another Simon will follow carrying </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">his</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> cross. Note also the strong parallel
between Paul’s confession of Christ in 1 Cor 1:18-31 (especially in 25-28) and
Mark’s frank portrait of Jesus as resembling a demoniac to those without faith
in the Spirit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have touched
already in the interpretation of 4:12 on the next element of the Paul-Mark
agreements, the sense of a special status or election that Paul promoted among
his followers. The Acts, and to a degree the later Pastorals, portray the
apostle as a more or less indiscriminate proselyte reaching out wide and up
into the ruling class of his day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
corpus, on the other hand, seems by and large innocent of such ambitions.
Indeed, in one of the key passages, 1 Cor 1:18-31, Paul says plainly that not
many of his flock were wise or powerful by the worldly standards, and that God </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">chose</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> what is (or, generally held to
be,) low and despised in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is those who appear </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">foolish</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> to the outsiders that God </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">calls</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> and into whom he deposits the
great wisdom of the crucified Christ. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s
</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Quibble</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> fully reflects this sense of
being especially chosen and living apart from the mundane society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The election is affirmed by the suffering
that the mystics experience which Mark interprets after Paul as a sign of
superior character that will become manifest in the judgment (1 Cor 3:12-13, Mk
9:41-49). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, Paul’s suggestion
of the Eucharist forms a sustained theme by Mark in the stories of the feedings
and the Paschal meal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we saw above,
the theme of the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">leaven of the Pharisees and Herod </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">and the reference to</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> one
bread </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">are supplied directly by
1 Cor 5:8 and 1 Cor 10:17.</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref45" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn45;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[45]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have asserted that
Paul’s conceptual framework animates Mark’s passion plot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul’s ideas of one’s body that one does not
own, a temple in one’s body</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref46" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn46;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[46]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">, his concept of an universal, cosmic
Redeemer, contrasted with a parochial yearning for a shepherd king to restore
the old kingdom, and finally Paul’s church as the spiritual successor of Israel
supply the interpretive material for the narrative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is a strong allusion to 1 Thessalonians in the Little Apocalypse (Mk 13:27, 1
Th 4:16-17), and more pointed ones in Gethsemane. Jesus reproachfully waking Peter
(14:37) references Paul’s maxim to watch (1 Th 5:6) for the coming of the Lord.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The arresting party coming for Jesus, reverses
ironically the saying in 1 Th 5:2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
two-part trial Jesus follows Paul’s two part-script in 1 Cor 1:23, Jesus as
offense to the Sanhedrin and folly to Pilate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jesus expiring with an anguished cry of abandonment fulfills Paul’s maxim
of Jesus crucified in weakness (2 Cor 13:4).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Outside
of theological concepts, maxims and larger parabolic themes, Mark alludes to
Paul subtly: Jesus’ being observed as out of his mind (</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span>ξ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span>στη</i><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">) follows Paul’s frank admission
of same (2 Cor 5:13).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Paul, Mark’s
Jesus is not ashamed of the word (Rom 1:16, Mk 8:38). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul says Cephas stood condemned (Gal 2:11); Jesus
leashes out at Peter as “Satan” (Mk 8:33).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Paul alludes to the missions from James wanting to glory in the
Galatians’ flesh only so they are not persecuted for the cross of Christ (Gal
6:12).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The disciples in Mark run away
from Jesus when he is arrested and Peter denies him three times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is even a good chance that </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Petros, </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">the Hellenized renaming of the
historical </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Cephas, </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">is also Mark’s invention that dramatizes Paul. </span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Petros</span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%;"> looks like a pun on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">petra</i> in Romans 9:33: <em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and
rock of offense (</span></em><span class="wordglowoff">κα</span></span><span class="wordglowoff"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ι</span></span><span class="wordglowoff"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span class="wordglowoff"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%;">π</span></span><span class="wordglowoff"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ε</span></span><span class="wordglowoff"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%;">τραν</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
<span class="wordglowoff">σκανδ</span></span><span class="wordglowoff"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">α</span></span><span class="wordglowoff"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%;">λου</span></span><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">),</span></em><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">and</span></em></span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">whoever believes on Him will
not be put to shame. (NKJV)”.</span></em></span><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not believe these parallels
can be dismissed as fortuitous, or explained as the flow of dominical
traditions with which Paul was putatively familiar but failed to acknowledge as
coming from teachings of Jesus while on earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wernerian objections like Vincent
Taylor’s that ‘</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Pauline ideas are wanting in Mark, or are
differently presented</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">’ and
that where their ideas agree ‘</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">the traditions consist of
primitive Christian ideas</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">’</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref47" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn47;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[47]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> strike me as missing an
important point. If Mark was adapting Paul allegorically, the affinities would
often appear as thematic and symbolic, i.e. as cognitive figures that we would
not expect to produce significant verbal agreements. Even less so if Mark was
writing a mystery which assumed familiarity with Paul’s letters to be decoded. In
some instances, the asserted Pauline motifs may seem difficult, as e.g. the
two-tiered ‘trial’ of Jesus which just magically happens to agree proleptically
with Paul’s dictum that Christ crucified was a scandalous idea to the Jews, and
folly to the Gentiles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bemusement of
Pilate at the nastiness of the Sanhedrin is hard to credit as having historical
roots. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within the narrated framework
there is no rational explanation for the rulings and actions of the Roman
prefect</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref48" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn48;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[48]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">, yet they fit neatly the
prophecy fulfilled in the messianic mystery which confirms Mark’s community election.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last but not least, there
is the mystery of Mark’s style. Many commentators have expressed incredulity
that Mark’s writing should often be so poor and seemingly illogical and at the
same time executing complex plan with patterned structures which bespeak of
great skill and discipline, and generally of the presence of formidable
intellect. This discrepancy becomes even more acute when one examines the
seeming “errors” of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark and Jesus when the
gospel has him quoting the scriptures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The text quotes Malachi and attributes the saying to Isaiah (1:2-3). Jesus
also seems aware of the discrepancy in the relationship between Ahimelech who
is father to Abiathar in 1 Samuel, but said to be his son in 2 Sam 8:17. Mark
2:26 appears to switch the identity of the two in Jesus recounting the story of
the bread of the presence in 1 Sam 21. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And surely </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Jesus</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> was informed there was nothing </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">written</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> of the Son of Man suffering and
rejection (9:12, 14:49) except in the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">scripture</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> written by Mark. And if the
mangled tenth commandment in 10:19 does not convince the reader that the gospel
plays tricks on the learned scribes of Mark’s time, then nothing probably will.
“Do not defraud” (</span></em>μ<span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">η</span><span lang="EL"> </span><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span>ποστερ<span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">η</span>σ<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ῃ</span>ς) does not come from Moses<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref49" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn49;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[49]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
but Paul 1 Cor 7:5 (!), where the apostle admonishes married couples in his
flock not to deprive without cause each other of sex, and thus give cause to
Satan to tempt them with covetousness against the last proscription of the
Decalogue. Oh come, surely, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus</i>
knew that!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is for this and other reasons
stated here that I hold Mark was dissembling lack of scriptural knowledge
likely to get the Pharisee readers worked up at such barbaric renderings of the
Torah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps, in choosing his style of
tale-told-by-a-fool, Mark intended to illustrate Paul’s 1 Cor 1:20: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the
world?</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 19pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not deny there is
a debit side of the ledger in arguing Paul as the prime source material to
Mark. Of course, there is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been
more or less conceded that Paul knew, or rather, recognized, only<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the risen Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea that Jesus of Nazareth possessed the
qualities of the Lord in his earthly career does not look very Pauline; indeed
it goes against one of the basic tenets of his theology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul proscribed the Jesuine traditions of his
time and would not hear of other Jesus Christ than the one crucified (1 Cor
2:2). He evidently knew the controversies around the Nazarene, and the ‘other
Jesus’ (αλλος Ιεσους) in 2 Cor 11:4 may relate to stories about Jesus before
his crucifixion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul’s revelations
about Christ would not change the factual base of what he knew: it was simply that
he believed he received directly and independently a spiritual understanding of
the meaning of the Nazarene’s purpose and death (2 Cor 5:16). Through his own
experience of depressive psychosis he was made to understand that Jesus looked
like sin but he knew no sin (2 Cor 5:21)</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref50" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn50;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[50]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, it is hard to
tell how Paul would have reacted to Mark’s creative allegorization of his
teachings. Perhaps he would have embraced the narrative as true to his
theology, and accepted the hyperbole of the Nazarene martyr as fully matching
the holy spirit of the risen Lord as he received it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is however just as possible that Paul would
have been upset at Mark’s community breaking his taboo on telling stories about
the Lord’s paradoxical abasement in human existence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a tough call to make.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One thing seems clear;
Mark might have followed Paul’s theology faithfully but temperamentally the two
men were of a different stock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul sought
to dominate through self-discipline and impossibly high moral standard, and he
no doubt found it hard to assert himself in that manner with mostly urban
audiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark, on the other hand, presents
himself in his writing as a natural leader, a man of prodigious, commanding intellect
and a more subtle insight into human characters than Paul. He appears to have
possessed a gift of spontaneous, generous conviviality and a wicked sense of
humour. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea of Jesus </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">relaxing
</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">(</span></em><em><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">κατακειμαι</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">) with tax collectors and sinners
would have probably caused Paul great distress as his rules of conduct and
association were quite rigid. The pleasure-seeking Corinthians gave him fits (1
Cr 5:9-10, 6:9, 15:33). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s clowning,
distractions and pranks on the outsiders that were no doubt cherished by his pneumatic
friends, would probably also have not impressed Paul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The apostle, though no stranger to irony and
putdowns himself, was dead serious in his purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s fooling around the request of Joseph
of Arimathea for the ecstatic body (</span></em><em><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">σωμα</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">) of Christ misapprehended by
Pilate to mean Jesus’ corpse (</span></em><em><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">πτωμα</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">)</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref51" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn51;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[51]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> might have made his mentor turn
colours at the impiety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It has also been
pointed out that Mark’s use of ‘Son of man’ is unknown to Paul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The designation <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>would have come from the Jerusalem side of
traditions, and was shunned in Paul’s lexicon as coming from a different spirit
than he knew. Mark, on the other hand, likely adopted the title in his mission
to wow and woo the Nazarenes to the cross. An apocalyptic term they were
familiar with deployed as a Christological title would bridge the gap in naming
of the objects in the eschatological panoply of the two groups. Jesus referring
to himself in this manner would also help to enhance the illusion of actual
events, if the figure of the Nazarenes by tradition had invoked it.<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
war of 66-73 CE war likely changed a lot of things for the Christ professing
communities in near Diaspora. In the defeat of the Jewish rebels, the mayhem
and the suffering, the Gentile Christian communities would have seen a strong vindication
Paul’s cross as the symbol of Messiah’s fate and power on earth. The arriving
colonies of the other Jesuine believers naturally created an opportunity to
strengthen the numbers for the existing Pauline churches. One gets the sense
from Mark that his community wanted to patronize the new Jewish exiles, and shield
them from the wrath of the Phariseic mainstream which blamed their messianic fervour
for the war and its terrible harvest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
this they would have followed Paul also as he considered his growing church to
be an expression of the Lord’s approval and guarantee of his apostolic status</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref52" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn52;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[52]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">. The problem was that the helping
hand had a proselytizing agenda which was deeply resented by the new arrivals</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref53" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn53;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[53]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mark found a formula for a merger based firmly and exclusively on Paul’s
theology but the text triggered a wave of counter proselytizing with roots in
the undisputed physical proximity of the original Jewish disciples to the
historical founder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The process of
consolidating the new faith was far from over. Jesus appearing after his
crucifixion in (the much deplored) flesh to his earthly disciples was just
about to be written up by Matthew. Christianity would be built on that kind of
fantastic foma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The hard core of Paul’s following
would bolt to Gnostic cults.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Parables of Jesus as a Healer<o:p></o:p></span></b></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Mark’s text is extremely slippery because its frames of reference are
movable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 15:21 he introduces Simon of
Cyrene, as a passer-by compelled by the soldiers to carry Jesus’ cross. Except Mark
does not say that nor – I contend - does he intend to say that. He changes the
‘</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">they</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">’
meaning the ‘soldiers’ to ‘</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">they</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">’</span></em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">meaning Mark’s community. </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">They</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> compel (</span></em></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="color: #001320; font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">α</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">γγαρε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="color: #001320; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">υ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ουσιν </span></i><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">- present tense, started in the
previous verse) Simon (likely Mark himself), a passer-by to bear</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> his</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">pass</span></em><em><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">ι</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">ng by (</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">παρ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="color: #001320; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">α</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #001320; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">γοντ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="color: #001320; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">α</span></i><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">)</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> may indicate that Simon joined
them from a Thomasian group</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref54" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn54;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[54]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">, something argued also by the complements
of low Christology in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s narrative
and by what appears to be his therapeutic aims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The abrupt switching of references is a characteristic technique in
building up the gospel figures and makes them often hard to read. In this
instance, the switching of tenses bespeaks of the gospel’s intent to crucify
Simon alongside Jesus as one of the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">robbers</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">His cross </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I interpret as Simon’s cross, as
per the exhortation in 8:34, not Jesus’! <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have already shown this technique in the
verse that forms the object query of this essay, 4:13.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have also shown the recursive turning in
8:34 in Mark setting up a plot to proclaim Jesus as the unleavened bread of the
Eucharist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a recursive
reference in 3:20-21, in the relatives of Jesus pointing to the lack of
appetite in his followers as a sign of Jesus being out of </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">his</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is again a disguised invocation of the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">unio
mystica</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">: Jesus
and his true followers are one, or conversely, Jesus is the composite portrait of
the believer community as a model to emulate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A bizarre incident at the
raising of the Jairus daughter is another example of Mark’s recursive liberty
with the text and “rapid switching” of references; a group that weeps over the
loss of the little girl (5:38) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>breaks
out into inexplicable laughter when Jesus reveals she is only sleeping
(5:40).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This may be, as e.g. Joel Marcus
believes, a laughter of derision of those who know ‘full well that the girl is
dead, and that dead people don’t come back to life !’</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref55" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn55;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[55]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">. It may. But the elementary
problem with interpreting the verse after Matthew in this manner is that humans
in situations like this would not switch from wailing to laughing on a verbal
cue, </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">nota bene</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> one
uttered in earnest by someone brought to the scene as a miracle worker. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not consistent with emotions that fit a
scene of an apparent loss of life and a hope for it rekindled by the presence
of the salvific spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether the
mourners were ‘professional’ or not, they are not portrayed as Jesus’
adversaries (though they are not </span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">οι</span> μετ’ α</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">υ</span>το</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">υ</span></i>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I prefer to look at the incident as another
example of Mark’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gamesmanship in having
Jesus take everyone out of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">parable</i><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 19pt; line-height: 150%;">
</span>and going back<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> to
the sick girl only with those who would play along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The recursion clue here is in Jesus </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">throwing</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> everyone </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">out</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">, not just those mocking </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Mark </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">or an assigned actor in one of the
staged enactments of a Jesus parable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A number of Jesus’ </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">cures</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> afford us a glimpse into the
life of Mark’s spiritual community (likely a colony akin to the </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Therapeutae</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">) in the mythical Galilee</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref56" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn56;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[56]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> where Jesus Christ lived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the first medical intervention, Jesus cleansing
a man of leprosy (1:40-45), he charges the patient to tell nothing of his
cleansing, only to show himself to the priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the man goes away and rants about this everywhere, so much so that
Jesus cannot go back to town but has to retire in the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This story fascinates because it simply
cannot be decoded at the text level. It yields very little that is meaningful
when isolated from other parables of healing by Jesus. Yes, the command for the
man to go and show himself to the priest follows the traditional protocol for
lifting the communal banishment on the leper.</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref57" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn57;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[57]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within the parable, the cleansing is asserted
as real. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But beyond that the story is
cryptic. Despite assurances that the lectio difficilor </span></em><span class="ft"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span></i></span><span class="ft"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ργισθε</span></i></span><span class="ft"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="color: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ι</span></i></span><span class="ft"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ς</span></i></span><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> at 1:41 is explainable as a traditional
thaumaturgical posture, Jesus on a short fuse</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref58" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn58;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[58]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> is not all that easily disposed
of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The disobedience of the cured man is
embarrassing, and the effect of the cure baffling, causing Jesus to withdraw to
the countryside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This ironic twist of
the story is in that the man speaking of Jesus in torrents of public praise
achieves the opposite effect that the healer intended, i.e. the re-integration
of the man in the community. Worse still, Jesus himself now has to avoid
appearing in town. How does that follow the news of a talented healer (with the
Jewish theological implications of holiness) coming to practice in the neighbourhood?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This story would have been received in roars
of laughter by the initiated pneumatics who would have understood at once what
Mark was getting at, if indeed one of them did not think of it herself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
similar, and even more provocative, incident of truculence by those following
Jesus comes after his cure of the deaf man with speech impediment in 7:32-35.
There, it is not the subject of the cure but the ones who observe its effect
who wilfully disobey Jesus: ‘</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And
he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more
zealously they proclaimed it </i><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">(7:36).
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two stories transparently comment on
the effects of the spirit, known as </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">pressure of speech</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> and </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">glossolalia</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">. Jesus as the personified spirit
can do nothing to stop the praise and visions of himself, as they themselves are
</span></em><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span>π<span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span><span lang="EL"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">κυρ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span>ου πνε</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span>ματος (</i>2 Cor
3:2<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">)</i><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is even some chance that
Mark was poking fun at Paul’s lack of largesse, in trying to regulate the
tongue-speaking pandemonia breaking out in his solemn gatherings</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref59" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn59;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[59]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stories of the rising of
the paralytic</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref60" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn60;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[60]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">, Jairus’ daughter, the woman
with the issue of blood, cleansing of the leper, and the cure of the deaf and
dumb, all describe via recursive parable the healing nature of the Spirit, as
experienced by the members of Mark’s colony. The landscapes of Galilee are borrowed
for asserting the cures by the Holy Spirit, parabolically personified by
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The frame of reference for these
gospel events relates too closely cognitively to known positive effects of
manic excitation</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref61" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn61;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[61]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> than to be a purely coincidental
by-product in the recall of actual happenings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even more so, as the cures form only a small part of Mark’s mimesis of
the spirit which includes pressured speech (as noted), subjective acceleration
of time (asserted by hyper frequent use of </span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ευ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">θυς</span></i><em><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">and the ‘shortened days’ </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">for</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> the elect -13:20) , insomnia (
proclaimed by Jesus sleeping only twice in the gospel - both times rising early,
by ordering a night-time journey to Bethsaida in 6:45, by the night setting of
Jesus’ trial</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref62" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn62;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[62]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">), short term memory loss (10:46,
11:11-12),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>psychomotor agitation (2:4, 3:9,
Bartimaeus tossing his cloak), alimentary dysregulation (alluded to in 3:20,
5:43, 6:36, 8:1, and both mass feedings</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref63" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn63;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[63]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">), sexual dysfunction (12:20-24),
manic fugue and spatial disorientation (asserted in the aimlessness of the
Galilean ministry (7:31) and especially in the thrilling voyage to Bethsaida
which ends up with Jesus on board in Gennesaret (6:45-53).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Jesus saying to the rich man in 10:21, also
relates to a standard item on the diagnostic sheet for the people of the
spirit: impulsive generosity and spending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mark was not a modern psychiatrist, but he had an amazingly keen eye and
a healer’s deep insight into the perplex of God and man as one, observed
whenever the spirit was ablaze among brothers and sisters, or in retrospect, in
himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His Jesus showing temper evidently
comes from se</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">eing</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> a lot of </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">that</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> among the former bad copies of Christ who were being reformed to become
a part of a dignified community witness of him instead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In Mark’s idiom then, the cures the spirit
of Jesus performs are allegorical ciphers of the known beneficial health
effects of a sudden mood conversion (from depression to manic excitement), ones
we may safely assume were observed in antiquity by those who had the challenge
and those around the visionaries who either were fearful of them, or amused by
them or – much less frequently - believed in the divine status, or in the
reality of their connections to the highest places the suffering mystics
claimed for themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
That Paul refused to be ashamed of the
gospel <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>i.e. by the humiliating external
view of his own bipolar challenge<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref64" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn64;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[64]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
was a great inspiration to Mark in his role of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">therapōn</i>, a communal therapist. His purpose was to focus the
friends who were ill on the positive blessings of their condition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert M. Price observes the parabolic nature
of the gospel healings. He asks smartly: <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘what are we to make of the fact that Jesus healing
miracles fall well within the range of known somatization disorders, presumably
susceptible to psychosomatic healings ? Does it mean that , having modern
medical analogies, they do not rest simply upon myth and fiction ? If there had
not been some kind of a reality check, wouldn’t the scope of Jesus’ miracle
stories be much wider than it is ?</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref65" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn65;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[65]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">’</span></em>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
I would reply that the cures in
Mark are by and by a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">limited license</i>
because they are the things that the spirit actually <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">does</span></em>;
real cures that the breakout of madness, so despised by most people, actually
brings to the sufferer. Anyone who observes florid manics will be at once
struck by the enormous amount of physical energy they are capable of
generating. Anyone who wrestles with them knows they are veritable God's <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">dynamos</span></em>.
And their bodies really are being healed by the strange excitement the spirit
brings. Not just figuratively! Eczemas and other skin conditions (which were
conflated with Hansen’s disease as <span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">λεπρα</span><span lang="EL"> </span>in antiquity) disappear on short order, as many of them are
simply physical manifestations of depression. The revved up cardio-vascular system
takes care of many ailments, even serious medical conditions which may have
been present for years. There is also a tendency in manics to wander around (<em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">fugues</span></em>),
which takes them out of environments which may have caused, or contributed to,
their poor health. Another well-known effect of manic excitement is that the
subjects experience a greatly elevated threshold of pain. This is the <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘authority</span></em>
<em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">to
tread on serpents and scorpions’</span></em> that Jesus confers on his
disciples (in Luke 10:19). The later annex to Mark records the picking up
snakes and immunity from drinking <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘any deadly thing’ </span></em>(Mk 16:18) based on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the gift</i> of disappearing pain and
greatly improved immune system. Naturally, there is a bit of a poetic license
about the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">'any deadly thing'</i>, that
one may drink, but it is not altogether a tall tale either, as the difficulty
with putting down the shamanic Rasputin with <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">just<i> </i>a horse dose of </span>potassium cyanide well illustrated.
In ordinary bipolars, being distracted by the spirit, means above all that they
are no longer consumed by minor aches and ailments, which are imaginary, or
real but out of proportion to the severity of the underlying physical problems.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
The uncanny resistance of ecstatics
to pain was a well-observed fact in antiquity, which among other things, tempted
authorities to go to extremes in their curiosity to find out the level of discomfort
that would make a<i> furiosus</i> come to his senses. Josephus recounts the
bloody scourging of Jesus ben Ananus by Albinus, in which the prisoner’s <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘bones
were laid bare’</span></em>. And, <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘yet he did not make any supplication for himself or shed
any tears but,…at every stroke of the whip his answer was, ‘Woe, woe to
Jerusalem’’</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref66" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn66;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><i><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[66]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></i></span></a>.<br />
<br />
The healing of the paralytic in Capernaum (2:3-5) and the narcoleptic Jairus’
daughter (5:38-43) are examples of rapid remission of depressive stupor. The
girl prior to being raised by Jesus, would be in a state of spiritual death analogous
to the one described by the Thanksgiving Hymn (1QH) at Qumran:<br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">My spirit is
imprisoned with the dead</span></em><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br />
</span><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">for
(my life) has reached the Pit;</span></em><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br />
</span><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">my
soul languishes (within me)</span></em><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br />
</span><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">day
and night without rest</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref67" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn67;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[67]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><br />
<br />
But this state of almost total helplessness also bespeaks of the things just
just about getting out of control on the other end. Emil Kraepelin, the German
psychiatrist who in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the early 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
century<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>described diagnostically major mental
illnesses <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>observed <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what he
called </span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">manic stupor</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> as</span></em> the phase
of the episode which immediately precedes a sudden switch into madcap cheer<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref68" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn68;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[68]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a>.
The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>modern compendium on <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Manic-Depressive Illness</span></em> discusses the severe psychomotor
inhibition which the patient exhibits during this period of deep mourning:<br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The patient,
usually, is confined to bed, is mute, inactive and uncooperative. His bodily
needs require attention in every way; he has to be fed, washed and bathed.
Precautions have to be made to prevent the retention of faeces, urine and
saliva. In some cases all attempts at movement are strongly resisted. In other
cases the muscles are more flaccid, and the body and limbs can be molded into
any position. On the surface it may seem as if there was a total absence of
feeling and emotions, but that is often more apparent than real, for after
recovery many patients give a vivid account of the distress they have
experienced. The idea of death is believed by some to be almost universal in
stupor reactions, and may be regarded as a form of expiation for the wickedness
for which they hold themselves responsible<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">….</b>.</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref69" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn69;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[69]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></i></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
Not all cures
were constructed by Mark with the sole focus on the beneficial nature of the
Spirit. Some contain, or simply are, theological arguments his community had
with the Pharisees and the Petrine Nazarenes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the <span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">restoration
of a withered hand (3:1-6), Mark asserts the right for Jesus<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> contra </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pharisees to perform cures on Sabbath<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref70" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn70;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[70]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
Naturally, if in the gospel idiom the physical restoration was a direct act of
the spirit’s grace<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref71" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn71;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[71]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>, then
it could not be constrained by the law. It effectuates at a time of its own
choosing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, in the healing of
the epileptic boy (9:14-29), Jesus confidently asserts against the gathered
scribes, that faith may cure even ailments known empirically to be intractable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 1.0cm;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The two sight restorations were not
cures at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gift of sight to the
blind man in Bethsaida, is another example of a mean Markan trashing of the
group’s proselytic rivals. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
narration, the incident comes after the second feeding of the multitude which
the disciples do not get – yet again<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref72" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[72]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a>. Mark devises a
two-stage cure of a blind man, who after the first phase, which is an allegorical
restoration of physical sight and was devised only to make a point about the
second. After the Nazarene idol<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref73" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn73;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[73]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a> does his part in
the two-step <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cure,</i> the afflicted man can
only see <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘men’</span></em>, who <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘look like trees, walking’</span></em>. This ridicules the
Nazarenes’ lack of spiritual insight, which of course has to be corrected by
the proper medicine of Jesus as the Spirit of the Lord, in augmenting the
initial procedure. Many exegets express incredulity at the imperfection of the
first step in the cure. The gradualism does not seem to agree with their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">jesuslike</i> thing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as I have outlined above in the comment on
4:12 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they have fallen into the trap of
reading the fifth-century Vincent of Lerins’ maxim into Mark<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref74" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn74;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[74]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one-church-one-faith dictum will forever
struggle with the text propagating freely and shamelessly the idea that the
disciples, and by extension, the heirs to Peter after 70 CE, were scattered
sheep without guidance and in need of gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>An exegesis proceeding from the premise of pre-existent common
traditions will surely miss the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tree</i>
metaphor as belonging to the Isaiah’s hidden prophecy of Paul as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">builder</i> of the gospel<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in which the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">carpenter</i> is said to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cut down
cedars</i> (Isa 44:14) for his carving work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let it be said plainly:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul and
Mark were not singers in the church choir; they were the choir’s first
composers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
In my reading of
the battle of the first two gospels<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref75" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn75;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[75]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
this story infuriated Matthew, who saw in it a mean-spirited assault on his own
traditions, an exhibit of Pauline insufferable arrogance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would prove to Mark that he and his mocking
troopers owned no monopoly on the spirit. His Jesus bores into Mark for the Bethsaida
blindness cure: (KJV) <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‘How wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the
mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye?’</span></em> <em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Thou
hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou
see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye</span></em><a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref76" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn76;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[76]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></i></b></span></a><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.'</span></b></em> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matthew
won hands down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he did not in fact, the
Jesus of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Q</i> sapiential stratum
could not have said it any better. <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bartimaeus, in my estimate, is another
significant anti-Petrine sketch. Dressed up as a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>blind beggar cure, the parable delivers a
hard beating on the Nazarenes in the generous offer to accept them as converts
to Paul’s Christ after repenting their sin of being the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">other-Jesus </i>idolators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The place is Jericho, the oldest
town in Judea. The conquering <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Joshua</i>
is now a stand-in for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Apostate</i>.
The destitute man is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">blind</i> the same
way as the one at Bethsaida. In his spiritual blindness, he begs <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus, Son of David</i>, and is rebuked not
by the disciples but some obscure gentile <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hoi
polloi</i> who are offended by the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wrong</i>
messianic title<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref77" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn77;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[77]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
He repeats it. Jesus calls him, asks him what he wants, and Bartimaeus asks for
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the gospel</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus recognizes his faith, and gives him not
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Apostate’s corpus</i> but parables
that mean nothing to the uninitiated and tells him to go away. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The converted Bartimaeus stays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The beggar allegory sets off Jesus on the
Mount, in dealing further with Mark’s blindness <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cures</i>:<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or what man of you, if his son
asks him for bread, will give him a stone?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or if he asks for a fish, will
give him a serpent?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you then, who are evil, know how to give
good gifts (δ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ο</span>ματα </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">α</span>γαθ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">α</span></i>)<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 19pt; line-height: 150%;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to your children, <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>how much more will your Father who is in
heaven <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>give good things to those who ask him!<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref78" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn78;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[78]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Beholding the Glory of the Lord<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We learn through the re-writes
by Matthew and Luke of the Transfiguration story that they saw <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>recursion in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After their expert manipulation, Mark’s
intent to abduct the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">οφθ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αυτοις</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i>in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>9:4<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref79" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn79;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[79]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>has become for all intents and purposes
invisible to exegesis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, a difficult pair of verses has caused
all sorts of misses in understanding Matthew’s and Luke’s comprehension of Mark.
Both go to some lengths to assure the readers of their gospels that Peter, John
and James received the vision. Why would that be necessary with 9:4 and 9:8<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref80" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn80;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[80]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
of Mark in place which seems to say that plainly ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why would the artless impostor in 2 Pe 1:16, writing
perhaps a century later, need to forswear, “we have not followed (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ε</span>ξακολουθ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span>σαντες</i>)
cunningly devised fables (KJV)” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when all
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the synoptics apparently agreed Peter
received the vision of Christ’s majesty ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(There is of course another question, which
does not exercise us here:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>why would he
need to argue that he, as Peter, heard God talk through the clouds to Jesus,
when in fact the gospels agreed the voice was addressed to the disciples<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>?)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
To Mark and the
later Gnostics, the disciples were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">οι
πσυχικοι</i> unable to discern things spiritual. Both overt manifestations of Jesus
as the Spirit of the risen Lord, i.e. the metaphors of Jesus walking on the sea
of Galilee and Jesus transfigured, are received by them as disturbing anomaly
in the sensorium, of which they frighten and from which they instinctively want
to flee. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
The common
reading of Mk 9:4 (and 9:8) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>among the
pneumatics would presumably have been that the Moses and Elijah’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">being
seen by</i> the three disciples was meant as ironic description of their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">incapacity</i> to see them.<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref81" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn81;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[81]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Peter interprets Jesus’ addressing Elijah and Moses as being directed to him (9:5-6)
and in his fear and confusion he offers to build the booths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is going on ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
In the
Transfiguration parable, Mark transparently alludes to the peaking pneumatics’ sensing
of light in their bodies<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref82" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn82;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[82]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
and the not uncommon tendency to hallucinate the presence of great sages as
witness to their grandeur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example,
Muhammad, in his mystical <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">al-Isra
wal-Mi’raj</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>overnight journey to
Jerusalem, was engaged by Isa and Yahya (Jesus and John the Baptist) prior to
mounting his buraq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The common belief among the spiritualist subjects
(whether celebrated Godheads of history or regulars on psychiatric wards in
this day and age) is that the sensation of inner light and other paraphernalia
of their distinction and election are observable externally<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref83" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn83;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[83]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
But witnesses who have no idea what is going on inside the excited head of a
visionary would see nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would
hear gibberish in which they would barely recognize the invoked names of
prophets and then perhaps s see their leader disengage completely and fall momentarily
into a cataleptic stupor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fear of
Peter and the Zebedees relates to their imagined observing their leader out of
control, not his glorious transfiguration<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref84" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn84;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[84]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And with this innocence of the inner
sensation of eternity by his disciples, Mark’s Jesus – when he recovers his
senses - commands them not to speak of what they had seen (the writer being
fully aware they saw nothing), until the Son of Man rises from the dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Faithful to the script, the three do not ask
Jesus but argue about what the rising should mean, as they are unfamiliar with
Paul’s resurrectional schema<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref85" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn85;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[85]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus answers their timid question about
Elijah’s coming with a typical Markan <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">panache</i>
referring recursively to his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">own text</i>
as the scriptural source for both, the saying about the Son of Man (9:12) and
Elijah (9:13), transparently alluding to the story of John the Baptist as the
fulfilment of the prophecy of Elijah’s coming. <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
Matthew would
have none of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Jesus took his
most senior disciples to reveal himself in his spiritual majesty of
resurrection, he would darn do it and they would doggone get it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strictly speaking, the Transfiguration looks
pointless in Matthew since the disciples receive the resurrectional manifest in
the Easter post-crucifixion appearance of Jesus. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there was probably a number of good reasons
why Matthew felt it prudent to address the happening on the mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most importantly, it was an opportunity<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to further assert the disciples’ pneumatic
capacity. Matthew’s Peter obtains Jesus’ blessing for his confession at Caesarea
Philippi<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref86" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn86;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[86]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
the wording of which is to confirm that he is an apostle who has received
independently the gift of the Spirit which enables him to recognize Jesus as
not only the Davidic Messiah but also the spiritual one of the Paulines (if
they want to insist there is a difference).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the ensuing event on the mountain, Peter, John and James receive the
vision of Jesus and hear the voice from <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>heaven:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>they react to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shekinah</i> by
hyper-staged mechanics (Mt 17:6-7) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which
are to assure the reader the disciples did hear the voice and therefore the sorry
part they played in the passion was assigned to them by God, and without effect
on their capacity to receive the resurrection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
Luke was
evidently unhappy with Matthew’s Transfiguration solution<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref87" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn87;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[87]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That Peter should have been invested with
Paul-like mystical insight was not acceptable to Luke’s Pauline constituency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His gospel needed to devise a compromise
formula.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was of course no question
in Jesus blessing Peter and entrusting the church to him, nor would the Lukan elders
agree to a Jesus proclaiming observances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A large concession was made only for the historical claim of primacy of
the earthly witness of Jesus, in agreeing to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">merger</i> of the disciples with the Twelve effected by Matthew
(assuming Luke had access to the original Mark’s text without the apostolic
inventory in 3:17-19). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would have
been consented to in observing that much of the disciples’ witness remained
within the Markan gospel parameters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
formula allowed the disciples receive the appearances the risen Christ, but
only after he was made himself available to the two proto-Pauline figures on
the road to Emmaus<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref88" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn88;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[88]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this reason, when the transfigured Jesus
on the mountain discusses his “departure in Jerusalem” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with Moses and Elijah, Luke has the disciples asleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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As for Jesus’
nocturnal hydropatesis on the lake, Mark does not lay claim to a miracle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite the contrary, the story was told to
lampoon miracle-mongering (1 Cor 1:22, Mk 8:12), and the mistrust of
pneumaticism among <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The spirit of Jesus intends to walk by their
boat on a stormy sea to pilot them and encourage them by his presence, but the
sight of him causes panic among the crew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This would be again a story that would send Mark’s connoisseurs into
paroxysms of laughter. Mark’s comrades would have had hard time to contain
themselves when reading or hearing of the men crying out in terror at the sight
of Jesus as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">phantasma</i>, as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it</i> changes the direction of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">its</i> progress, and as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it</i> assures the panic-stricken followers,
that despite lacking flesh it is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he, </i>and
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">whatever</i> they experience as<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> him</i> is real, and there is nothing to
fear. It is clear that Jesus’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">εγο ειμι</i>
was not meant to deny that Jesus for the purposes of this parable was a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">phantasma; </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the gospel agrees <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he</i> was, in order to ridicule the disciples’ fear and
misapprehension of psychic events which lie beyond the realm of ordinary sense
perception.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the assurance and
Jesus’ presence in the boat, the men do not recover their composure and land
way off the planned target. By contrast, the town folk at the new destination
have no problem recognizing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus </i>and
finding their uses for him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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A small anecdote
will perhaps illustrate the deep chasm between pneumaticism and naïve idolatry which
has existed in Christianity (and doubtless in other religions) since its
(their) inception<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref89" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn89;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[89]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an incident recorded by Teresa of
Avila, the 16<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century Carmelite mystic, her confessor seemed to
have been at a loss to grasp her saying she sees nothing during her visions of
the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Since you see nothing”, she
was asked by the incredulous father, “how do you know that it is Our Lord ?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teresa, writing of herself in third person
singular answered<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that she did not know, that she saw no face
and could add nothing to what she had said; that she knew it was Our Lord who
spoke to her, she did not hear them when she willed but at other times when she
was not think about them and when it was necessary….One sees nothing, either
within or without, but while seeing nothing the soul understands what it is and
where it is more clearly than if it saw him….the soul hears no word, either
within or without, but understands quite clearly who it is and where he is and
sometimes even what he means to tell. How, and by what means, it understands it
does not know, but so it is; and while this is happening it cannot fail to know
it.<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref90" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn90;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[90]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mark’s Circular Gospel Plan<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
Heikki Räisänen is among those who
struggle with the notion of ‘top-down’ exegesis of Mark. On the one hand, he
sees a structural approach in reading Mark that attempts to see the gospel as a
whole to be an imposition on the text. There will inevitably be structural
correlations, says<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Räisänen , that are
imported into the text by the reader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
the other hand, he seems to agree that without a bird’s eye view of the gospel
whole, the analytical tools one deploys<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>will forever struggle with ‘the final product’. <a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref91" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn91;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[91]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a fix, I agree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the academic culture of the NT studies,
the default theoretical framework is still supplied by the vague consensus that
the gospel happenings are historical events, even if coloured and at times
overwhelmed by religious imagination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
holds especially true of the Easter events. The belief, which in many cases has
confessional background, that the Jesus trial and execution in the gospels are
essentially historical accounts, holds strong. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To construct a competing general viewpoint is
to run the risk, if not of condemning oneself to eternal hellfire, or the sight
of the Inquisition’s torture implements, then at least to being looked down by
the peers’ collective nose as an eccentric oddball. At the same time, scholars
approaching the subject with a critical eye see a myriad of contradictions that
simply cannot be reconciled within the traditional historical schema.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One can beat around the bush all one wants,
but if Mark’s text exits with the women running away from the tomb without
telling <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">anyone</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">anything</i> - as is plainly intended - then the disciples did <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> get the news of Jesus rising until
it was proclaimed by the gospel of Paul parabolized by Mark .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The risen Christ was not seen by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">them</i> until Matthew (or the spurious
passage in 1 Cor 15:3-11, which it seems paralleled or preceded his gospel) argued
against Mark some fifty years after Jesus’ death that not Paul but the
disciples (as apostles) proclaimed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christ
crucified</i> first. What it boils down to is that there was no assembly in
Palestine before the Jewish war that worshipped Jesus as the crucified Messiah.
It is a legend<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref92" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn92;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[92]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
born of a later quest of the Christian church to become the legitimate
successor of Judaism which laid claim to Jerusalem as its historical ground
zero. <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If
Mark’s gospel is an allegory then the all-important question is: allegory of
what ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does not suffice to say that
Mark allegorized Paul or created a connected narrative of haggadic midrash
figures. This appears to beg the all-important question:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">connected
narrative</i> of what ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
In my
understanding of the gospel semantics, Mark’s messianic secrecy motif<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref93" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn93;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[93]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>specifically references the transitory and cyclical
nature of the spirit manifestations and experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have proposed that many of the miraculous
happenings in the gospel are mimesis of the pneuma which today would be
recognized as familiar effects of psychotic states, especially in a common
disorder which returns the subject to a semblance of normalcy, usually in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a matter of weeks or months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark seems to try his utmost to make the
common symptoms of an ecstatic state of mind accessible to a reader familiar
with the associated phenomena, if he or she has re-acquired the ability to
reflect<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on one’s goings and doings while
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">non compos mentis</i>. The gospel was <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to provide guide and higher understanding of
states in which one’s control over actions and expression has been mysteriously
diminished and one has become a stranger to oneself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s insight into the manic-depressive cycle
is deep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though the illness has
often a specific course, and acquires over time a great variety of rapidly
changing symptoms, manic episodes tend to a statistically significant model of
progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
According to
Godwin-Jamison<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref94" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn94;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[94]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
there are three distinct stages of a manic episode. Initially, in Stage I., the
mood is euphoric (sometimes markedly irritable if demands not satisfied !). In
cognition, expansiveness, grandiosity, overconfidence prevail, and racing
thoughts appear. Even though the subject is coherent, he/she is often
tangential<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref95" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn95;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[95]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>, and
religious (or sexual) themes dominate the discourse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Psychomotor activity greatly increases. Stage
II. is characterized by increased dysphoria, anger and delusions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pressured speech intensifies, occasional
assaultive behaviour is typical<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref96" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn96;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[96]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
In Stage III. the subject as a rule becomes panic- stricken, completely
disorganized and hopeless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s
narrative appears to follow closely this observed pattern. As noted, Jesus
dominates everyone and everything in the first half of the gospel. As Paula
Fredriksen put it, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mark’s Jesus is a man
in a hurry dashing through the Galilee in rapid, almost random motion, from
synagogue to invalid, from shore to grain field to sea, casting out demons and
amazing those who witness him. The spare prose and stacatto cures create a mood
of nervous anticipation. The times must be fulfilled<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref97" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn97;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[97]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the Galilean fugue, Jesus becomes known
to everyone and is followed by a multitude which – unbeknownst to the uninitiated
reader – is hallucinated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever the
circumstance of the historical Jesus, there were no large crowds following him
in his time; it is a deliberately conjured fantasy to excite that which I have
called here the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">jesuslike</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thing. </i>It serves as an interpretive tool
the purpose of which was designed to control delusions of grandeur in excited
pneumatics. In the therapeutic process devised by Mark, the visiting spirit
which initially seduces the subject into believing he or she is the promised
Godhead (and everyone knows it), was to be defused by transferring the grandeur
to Jesus. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tripping brother or sister
were then led from being the Christ him- or herself to a competent member in
the communal witness of the mysterious drama of the passing of the Lord’s
spirit. The community knowledge of the spirit’s phases, i.e. the initial surge
of energy, vistas of limitless mastery and vast knowledge of all, being
replaced by terrific, visceral suffering and an unfathomable sense of persecution,
had a great therapeutic value. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cycle
was predictive<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref98" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn98;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[98]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. The
great mission to save the world would end with the spirit languishing and with its
expulsion in the terrors of the cross. <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
That the crowds
in Mark were not real but allegorical <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>props
to counter the associated paranoid <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>aspects of the manio-depressive psychosis, is
best attested by their sudden turning hostile to Jesus<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref99" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn99;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[99]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">In a detached view of a therapist, one would be hard pressed
to read Mark’s story another way without impugning both the author and his
historical protagonist as seriously mentally incompetent persons, and the
gospel as outrageous nonsense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this
is why: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if Jesus had<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>great success as a healer and exorcist in his
lifetime, it is just plain insulting to human intelligence, whether ancient or
modern, to proclaim<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he managed to escape
the enduring love and respect for his care and successes in bringing continued
relief and happiness to thousands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">generation</i> would have not been just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">faithless</i>, not just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">morally revolting, </i>but simply <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not
human</i>. Individually, perhaps, there could have been ingrates. But not many
if his skills </span>were said to touch<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> whole villages and towns and his fame spread quickly over
the districts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People would not have
been just<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> all amazed </i>at Jesus’
prowess as a healer; they would have not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">just</i>
glorified God for it, they would have – first and last - deeply bonded with it.
They would have appropriated Jesus as treasure and would have protected him
ferociously. Reciprocity is the basis of human interaction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if this bond is expressed by the throng
in the cries of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hosanna</i> on his entry
into Jerusalem, then the crowd turning on him during and after his trial is not
explicable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, if the theologian wants
to argue that this was ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">end times</i>’ it
only makes matters worse. The end times did not come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And why would Jesus preach the end times in
the first place if his cures <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">worked</i>
?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would his cures have not been <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">prima facie</i> proof that God loves his
creation in a sensible way, and that he sent his son to assure those who needed
such assurances that his creation was still good ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, they had no <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">faith, </i>you say<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> !</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But where on the planet would humans <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not</b> have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">faith</i> in Jesus if he was for real and headed their way preceded by
a reputation of being a great healer ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doesn’t
the spread of Christianity itself argue <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>violently with such notion ? </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
No, the abrupt
change in the crowd’s disposition appears given by the community’s knowledge of
the Spirit in which the elect experience themselves as the incarnation of a God-like
power but which their brain eventually unmasks as a delusional mirage, frequently
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>through horrific bouts with acute panic followed
by a lingering sense of shame. The therapeutic suggestion that they are not
multiple <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christs</i> but chosen witnesses
of God’s gift to humanity would have (typically) a significant compensating
effect in re-building self-esteem and in helping to reduce their anxiety and
suffering.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
Jesus fulfilling
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the scriptures</i> in dying an
ignominious death confirms the effects of the manic cycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end of the episode,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the pneumatic would be returned to his or her
right mind, most of the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
excitement would disappear but may be immediately followed by a depressive mood
swing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A narrative that could explain the strange
loss of one’s self through a complex <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">metonymy</i>
of a witness to the rising of Nazarene Jesus at John’s baptism, would have had
a dramatically positive impact on many intelligent sufferers, and strengthen their
ability to deal with their bipolar challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
Some people may
feel that the metaphoric crucifixion <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with</i>
Christ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>proclaimed by Paul and written
into his parabolized gospel by Mark (the two <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">robbers</i> being a cipher for the two <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lawless</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>proclaimers of
Christ crucified, i.e. Paul and Mark a.k.a Simon<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref100" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn100;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[100]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>),
is too melodramatic to have caught on a large scale. I agree to a point. A free,
unstructured <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>communion with the Saviour
could not have been sustained in building a large church, which impulse won the
day over the desire to restrict the access to the mysteries to those deemed
spiritually competent to receive them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nonetheless, for some period in the beginning, there evidently existed
proto-Christian communities where this ethos prevailed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for the reality of the suffering that gave
rise to the crucifixion parallel, it is perhaps best attested by Emil
Kraepelin, the psychiatrist who first described the bipolar process medically:
‘ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Very commonly it is asserted</i>’, he
wrote<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the illness, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">’that the disease is a greater torture than
any other and that the patient would far, far rather endure any bodily pain
than disorder of the mind’.<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref101" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn101;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[101]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
You have seen my
assertion that the opening and closing scenes of the gospel are allegorized,
two-pronged baptism into Jesus Christ, following Paul’s dictum in Romans 6.
Those baptized into Christ are baptized into his death. This is why the gospel
exits abruptly with the women, unable to cope with the spiritual supra-reality proclaimed
by the gospel fleeing the place where they expected to find the dead body of
Jesus of Nazareth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To an initiated
reader, one who knows Paul’s scripture and who experienced the spirit cycle within
him- or herself this figure would have a clear and un-ambivalent meaning. The
last verse at 16:8, simply confirms the parabolic nature of the gospel and the
interpretive rule of the quibble in 14:10-12,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>confirmed in 4:13 as the key with which one unlocks the secret.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The messenger, in whom the community
delights, announces that Jesus of Nazareth has risen, is to be found in Galilee
and that this should be made known to his disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the women do not understand resurrection,
just as the disciples did not understand the allusions to it made by Jesus.
They frighten and run away without saying anything to anyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is nothing more to add.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the reader does not understand, he will be
compelled to return to the beginning of the text in search for the meaning of
the gospel. If the gospel fast gained in some quarters the reputation as a
life-saving revelation about the Son of God, the search would likely be
frantic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More so, as the reader would
have been made captive by Mark’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">jesuslike</i>
thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The provocative, unexpected
ending was designed to make the desire to grasp the meaning of the tale more acute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
Robert Fowler suggests
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the conjunction <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">γαρ</span></i> in 16:8 is analogous
to musical notation of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">coda, which signals to the musician a return
to marked passage, and to keep on playing’<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref102" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn102;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[102]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>I am very much on side with this
hypothesis, and in fact the idea of the text <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">returning </i>to the beginning has occurred to me independently. It is
given by the tight coupling of the two baptismal scenes, at the start, by John
the Baptist and at the end by the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">neaniskos,
</i>which I am persuaded were composed as a single unit ahead of time. Note
that in the recursing narrative, the hidden paraphrase of Mal 3:1 in 1:2 of
Mark becomes ambivalent on the second pass through the text.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Behold
I send my messenger </i>now refers to both baptizers, not just John, something
I believe can be demonstrated quite easily, if one reflects on the whole <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Malachi 3:1:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 92.35pt 10pt 3cm;">
(NRSV) Behold, I send my messenger
to prepare the way before me, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the
Lord whom you seek</i> (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">κ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span>ριος </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span>ν </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span>μεις ζητε</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span>τε</i>) will
suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight,
behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark deliberately concealed the reference to
this verse as it forms part of the gospel mystery. His gospel starts and ends
with a baptismal scene and a messenger sent before the Lord. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lord
whom you seek</i>’ is transparently returned by the messenger in the tomb at
16:6 when he tells the women ‘you are seeking Jesus the Nazarene’ (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iησο</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">υ</span>ν ζητε</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ι</span>τε τ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ο</span>ν
Ναζαρην</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ο</span>ν</i>). You will also note that the
baptizing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">neaniskos</i> is first
introduced at the scene of the arrest of Jesus, fleeing in the terrors of the
Lord’s day ( Mk 14:51 cf. Mal 3:2).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The body of Christ<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftnref103" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn103;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[103]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,</i> created as a spiritualist pun in 4:10,
is now in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Galilee</i> manifested in the community
of Mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
And that is how <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i> understand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>this</u></i> parable.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
</span><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: 44.1pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[1]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">all quotes in the
essay are from Revised Standard Version except as indicated.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[2]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">To wit</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">8:18 as a paraphrase of 4:12</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[3]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">For
example, Matthew cleverly resolves<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the
koan of Mk 4:10-13, “whenever two or three are gathered in my name I am in the
midst of them” (Mt 18:20). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The saying is
no longer “baked into” the narrative itself as in Mark. </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[4]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Mk 9:38-40
evidently relates to Mark’s own time and inter-communal issues of tolerance.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[5]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">After William Wrede
writing that the disciples received the explanation <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">alone (The Messianic Secret, tr. By JCG Greig, London 1971, p.61)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>a number of exegets, among them R.H.
Gundry, J.C. Meagher, H. Räisänen argued along these lines.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[6]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">For
Matthew this holds absolutely; Luke appears to admit access to the Easter
events <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from a timeless plane.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[7]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">in</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> 8:34 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jesus</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">summons</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">τον οχλον συν
τοις μαθηταις αυτου</span></i><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[8]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> To
begin with, both Sinaiticus and Vaticanus repeat the appointment made in 3:14
with the aliasing of Peter in 3:16. The dative </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Σιμον</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> in Mk 3:16 makes his renaming<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>unrelated to the repeated ordination, and thus
the appended alias of Zebedees with the inventoried apostles (all accusative)
immediately suspect. The ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">assurance</i>’
of the two oldest known manuscripts at 3:14<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">και</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">αποστολους</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ωνομασεν</span><b><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">suggests that in the evolving redactions of Mark the idea of naming of
the apostles<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>came first as a license for
its effectuation. (the phrase is missing in Alexandrinus). </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Οι</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">δεκα</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, in 10:41 is
most likely a harmonizing gloss (Mt 20:24), to fix the numerical discrepancy
which would have arisen with the inclusion of the Zebedees in the twelve. Mark
identifies Judas in 14:10 as </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="wordglowoff"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ο</span></span><span lang="EL"> </span><span class="wordglowoff"><span lang="EN-US">εις</span></span><span lang="EN-US"> <span class="wordglowoff">των</span> <span class="wordglowoff">δωδεκα</span></span><span class="wordglowoff"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> </span></span><span class="wordglowoff"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">making the introduction
of the character in 3:19 improbable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[9]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The strange creedal manifest of Paul in 1 Cor 15:3-11,
looks like an early interpolation, an attempt to indict Mark as unfaithful to
his own teacher in claiming his gospel was the first witness to Christ’s
resurrection. For analysis of the passage as post-Pauline insert, see<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert M. Price, Apocryphal Apparitions, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Empty Tomb</i>, ed R.M.Price, J.J.
Lowder, N.Y. 2005, Hermann Detering <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tradition
oder Interpolation</i> </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.hermann-detering.de/1kor15.pdf"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.hermann-detering.de/1kor15.pdf</span></span></a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[10]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Gen</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;"> 49:28</span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">:
</span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Π</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">α</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ντες ο</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">υ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">τοι υ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ι</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ι</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Ιακωβ δ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ω</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">δεκα</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">… </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">If
the OT Joshua was from the Josephan tribe of Ephraim, the number twelve then
agrees with the number of tribes if <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Twelve</i>
in Mark registers Manasseh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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</span><div id="ftn11" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn11" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[11]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> Rom 4:25, 8:32</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn12" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[12]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Matthew 12:25 makes
Mark’s reference in 3:24 more strongly suggestive of the mayhem of the war</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><div id="ftn13" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn13" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[13]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">4:34 is generally thought of as Mark’s
redaction but it looks interpolated, as it forces an interpretation on the
preceding verse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the longer endings
of Mark, it appears to have been written up to contradict the intent of the
previous passage, in this case Jesus’ saying in 4:11 that to those present, the
secret has been given, i.e. if it were the disciples nothing needs to be
explained to them. Not only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">χωρ</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt;">ὶ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ς δ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt;">ὲ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> παραβολ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt;">ῆ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ς</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> strangely echoes what was written in the
preceding verse, but it attempts to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">resolve</i>
the issue of the disciplies’ incomprehension of Jesus, which becomes glaringly
self-contradictory after they have been absorbed into the Twelve. But in the
original plot of Mark, the disciples <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">getting</i> Jesus, was exceedingly
important, and asserted consistently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The verb </span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">πιλ</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ω</span></i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> is a hapax in Mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn14" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn14" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[14]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Mt
13:10</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn15" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn15" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn15;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[15]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-US"> The perfect indicative </span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">δεδοται</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> speaks of the grant of
understanding the mystery to the hearers as having occurred already. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn16" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn16" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn16;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[16]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Paula Fredriksen, From Jesus to Christ, Yale U.P., 200, p. 185<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn17" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn17" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn17;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[17]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">via known
neurophysiological effects of temporal lobe dysfunction. See Michael Persinger,
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Religious and
mystical experiences as artifacts of temporal lobe function: a general
hypothesis. </span></i><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6664802"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6664802</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn18" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn18" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn18;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[18]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Mark is probably
correct in guessing that the Jesus would have been condemned for
blasphemy,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if he placed himself as the (apocalyptic)
Messiah/Son of man at the right hand of power (Exd 15:6).</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The gospel
explicitly rejects Jesus’ Davidian descent, in the reaction of the </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">πολλοι</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">to
blind’s Bartimaeus <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>address (10:48) and
in arguing via David’s psalm in 12:36-37 for a non-Davidic messianic
identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn19" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn19" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn19;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[19]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>H.Maccoby
asks: …”which is more likely, that Jesus’ closest disciples failed to
understand his most important message, or that Pauline Christians, writing
gospels about fifty years after Jesus’ death, and faced with the unpalatable
fact that the ‘Jerusalem Church’ was unaware of Paul’s doctrines, had to insert
…denigratory material about the Apostles in order to counteract the influence
of the ‘Jerusalem Church’ ?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Hyam Maccoby,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of
Christianity</i>, N.Y. 1986, p. 129<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
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</span><div id="ftn20" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn20" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn20;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[20]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The shortened
descriptor </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">γραφη</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> (singular) likely derived from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">γραφ</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">
θεο</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">υ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">(</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ex 32:16)</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> referring to Moses’ tablets. Whether the plural of
the word was commonly used before Mark is questionable. It does not come from
LXX.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul’s referring to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">scriptures</i> comes invariably in passages
suspected of being later interpolations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn21" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn21" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn21;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[21]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The disciples of
course could not get it but Matthew appears to have clued on. He outs the
recursive tricks of Mark in 26:68, “</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Prophesy to us,
you Christ! Who is it that struck you?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">"</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> i.e. expanding<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mk 14:65 to comment sarcastically on Mark’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>asserting<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Paul’s cross theology <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ex
vaticinium eventu</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn22" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn22" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn22;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[22]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Dissimulation
and deception are known <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tools to protect
sacred beliefs. Perhaps the most best known is the common practice of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">takiyya</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kitman</i> in Islam. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn23" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn23" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn23;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[23]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2 Cor 12:4</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn24" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn24" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn24;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[24]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> The
import of Daniel 9, the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, or the Melchizedek
Scroll (11Q13) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on the formation of the
cross theology is an unknown at this time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn25" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn25" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn25;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[25]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">as apprehended eg.
in 1 Thess 4:16-17, 1 Cor 15:44 </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn26" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn26" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn26;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[26]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">This is not the
same belief as one in the immortality of the soul which was probably common
among the Jewish Greek speakers. Nor does<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>it duplicate a belief in eschatological re-incarnation as revealed in
Josephus, Wars 3.8.5</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn27" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn27" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn27;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[27]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ο</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">δ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ν </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">λλο φρον</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">η</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">σετε…</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> strengthens
the reference to the preceding nine verses which it can be little doubt express
Paul’s unique view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That he was at
loggerheads with Jerusalem missions of James regarding his cross theology is
given by<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gal 4:23-4:31 which purposely
contrast Paul’s vision of a ‘spiritual’ Jerusalem. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><div id="ftn28" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn28" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn28;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[28]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">One possible origin
of the text is that the gospel was composed as an allegorical letter and sent
to the Nazarenes who requested Paul’s corpus from Mark’s community.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><div id="ftn29" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn29" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn29;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[29]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn30" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn30" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn30;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[30]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Frank
Kermode, The Genesis of Secrecy,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harvard
U. Press, 1979,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>p.102</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
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</span><div id="ftn31" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn31" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn31;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[31]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">George Aichele,
The Poetic Function and the Gospel in/of Mark: a Post-Canonical Reading, 2003
(Published on Marc Goodacre’s NT Gateway: </span><a href="http://www.ntgateway.com/gospel-and-acts/gospel-of-mark/books-and-articles/"><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: BJKCMM+Georgia;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.ntgateway.com/gospel-and-acts/gospel-of-mark/books-and-articles/</span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn32" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn32" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn32;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[32]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Paul’s neologism apparently proceeds from the
verb <span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span></i></span></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">αγγελ</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ζω</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>derived
grammatically from Isaiah’s 52:7 participle reproduced in Rom 10:15 (</span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> π</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">δες τ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ω</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ν ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">αγγελιζομ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">νων</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">)</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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</span><div id="ftn33" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn33" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn33;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[33]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1 Cr 3:10</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn34" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn34" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn34;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[34]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the mystical
<span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ansi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span></i></span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">κος/ο</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ικια</span></i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> that led this analyst to Isa 44:13.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The verse supplies the meaning to the
otherwise obscure terms in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2:1, 2:15,
3:20, 7:17, 7:24, 9:28, 9:33, 10:10, 13:34-35.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">Οικια</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">in 6:4 relates
to the re-referencing of Jesus as </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">τ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">κτων</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">in
the preceding verse.</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div id="ftn35" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn35" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn35;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[35]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="DE-CH" style="mso-ansi-language: DE-CH;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></span></span><span lang="DE-CH" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-CH;">Martin
Werner, <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif;">Der Einfluss
paulinischer Theologie im Markusevangelium,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Zeitschrift für neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, Beih. I, 1923</span></em></span><span lang="DE-CH" style="mso-ansi-language: DE-CH;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
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</span><div id="ftn36" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn36" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn36;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[36]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: DE-CH;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="DE-CH" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-CH;">New Testament Studies vol. 46,
(2000) pp. 473-487 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn37" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn37;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[37]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="DE-CH" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: DE-CH;"> Count here Norman
Perrin, Werner H. Kelber, Norman R. Petersen, John R. Donahue, Theodore M.
Weeden, Mary Ann Tolbert, Robert R. Fowler, George Aichele, Donald H. Juel.</span><span lang="DE-CH" style="mso-ansi-language: DE-CH;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn38" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn38;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[38]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">James
G.Williams,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gospel Against
Parable<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JSOT Press,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sheffield, 1985, p.14</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn39" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn39;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[39]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">D.H.Juel, A Master
of Surprise: Mark Interpreted, p. 24<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(attributed to Norman Perrin)</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn40" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn40;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[40]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">NRSV heading for
the Mk 8:14-21</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn41" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn41;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[41]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Werner H. Kelber,
Mark’s Story of Jesus, Philadelphia, 1979, pp 40-41</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn42" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn42;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[42]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The baptism by John
appears to be a midrash on the investiture of Joshua, in Jos 3:2-11.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">In relation to Paul, it is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>important to note is Mark’s description of
the invasive nature of the spirit descending <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">into</i> Jesus (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">εις</i> αυτον</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">, Mk 1:10</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">) mirroring Paul’s articulation of </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">receiving</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> the Son <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in</i>
him (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">εν</i> εμοι, Gal 1:15)</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn43" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn43;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[43]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-US"> 1 Cr 11:1</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn44" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn44;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[44]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-US"> Q 14:27</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn45" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn45;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[45]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> I do not believe that 1 Cor 11:23-25 is from
Paul’s hand. Mark was the originator of the Last Supper allegory, inspired
by<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul’s 1 Cor 10:16-17. Matthew and
Luke adapted it from Mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
improbability of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1 Cor 11:23-25 being genuine
Paul is that the verses effectuate the 1 Cor 10:16 rhetorical questions, which
indicate that the Eucharist tradition was not known in Paul’s time. Second, the
verses mimic too closely Luke 22:19-20.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Third, Paul does not recognize but Christ crucified, and does not
present ever the intimations of the Lord as a source of information on
historical events.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn46" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn46;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[46]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Even if some of the
metaphoric figures do not originate with Paul, they were likely known to the
believer communities through Paul’s writing.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn47" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn47;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[47]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Vincent Taylor’s assessment of Pauline influence on
Mark in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gospel according to St.Mark</i>,
London, 1959, pp.125-129</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn48" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn48;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[48]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The Barabbas story protests too much <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the folly</i> of crucifying Jesus. Pontius
Pilate would immediately expose himself to the charge of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maiestas minuti populi Romani</i> in freeing an enemy of Rome on the
whim of the mob.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn49" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn49;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[49]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">LXX. renders the Ex
20:17 commandment as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do not covet</i></span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> as </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">ὐ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">κ </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">ἐ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">πιθυμ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">ή</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">σεις.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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</span><div id="ftn50" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn50" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn50;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[50]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">There are strong indications in the writing of Paul
that he thought of the Nazarene Jesus exclusively in terms of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>human<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>typology (Rom 5:14).</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">His refusal to credit anything Jesus was reported as saying and doing
follows his own experience of the Spirit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One loses one’s identity and cannot be held
responsible for one’s actions. One does and says what the Spirit commands.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Paul evidently believed that Jesus was executed justly
under the law, (Gal 3:13, Rom 8:4) hence his idea of the superiority of faith
to written code.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn51" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn51;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[51]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Paul Nadim Tarazi, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New Testament Introduction: Paul and
Mark</i>, St.Vladimir Seminary Press, 1999, p. 230.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tarazi interprets </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Αριμαθαια as
standing for <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Har-rimmat(h)aim</span></em> , Hebrew for <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">'mount of decay'.</span></em></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn52" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn52;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[52]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">1 Cr 3:8-10, 1 Cor
9:1-2, 2 Cor 10:15-18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn53" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn53;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[53]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> The close of the Sermon in Matthew, (ch 7)
I read as a passionate rebuke to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Markan
Paulinism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Judge not’ is likely
reference to Paul’s 1 Cor 2:15, and the conceit of the ‘Christ-imitating’
pneumatics who dominated the churches. ‘Their scribes’ in 7:29 would be Paul
and Mark, appearing also as the two demoniacs, two blind beggars, and two asses
on whose backs Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem, in the new edition of the
gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn54" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn54;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[54]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> GThomas (42), “Become passers-by”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn55" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn55;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[55]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> Joel Markus, Mark 1-8, p 371.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn56" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn56;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[56]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">As some of the
geography of the narration seems to be alluding allegorically to temporary
events, Mark’s community would have likely been located in the region of
Decapolis or southern Syria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as the
text appears to be defending<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a set of
values against a Jerusalem based Jesuine tradition that was migrating, it is
probable that Mark’s community was settled in the region prior to the new
arrivals.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn57" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn57;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[57]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">see Robert H.
Gundry, A Commentary on His Apology of the Cross, 2005, Grand Rapids, v.1 p.
102</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn58" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn58;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[58]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">See also 3:5, 5:30,
8:33, 10:14, 11:14<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn59" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn59;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[59]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> 1 Cor 14:23<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn60" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn60;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[60]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Mark at times
creates paradox by reversing the attributes of the subject and object in his
narration; in the story of the paralytic, the descent of the patient to Jesus
in the house inverts the descent from heaven of the healing spirit into the
man.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn61" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn61;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[61]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> Bi-polar disorder would have been probably
the most common background to pneumaticism and apocalypticism , although the
new creed likely was informed also by struggles with postictal psychosis in
temporal lobe epilepsy and remitting schizophrenias.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn62" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn62;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[62]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The distress of
Jesus in Gethsemane, and the night session of the Sanhedrin may be another clue
that Mark was familiar with the sayings of Thomas. GT(69): ‘Blessed are they
who have been persecuted within themselves; it is they who have truly come to
know the Father’.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn63" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn63;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[63]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The incident with
the disciples of John and the Pharisees in 2:18-20, points to the other extreme
of the observed dysregulated eating in manics – it is “feast or famine”.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">“Loss of water and lack of nourishment”</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> is </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">cited as typical
for manic reactions, A.H. Maslow, B. Mittelmann, Principles of Abnormal
Psychology, Harper 1978, p 510. </span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn64" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn64;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[64]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The assessment of
Paul as suffering from manic depressive illness is based on his description of
the bipolar nature of his Christ experience in 2 Cor 12:2-9.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further diagnostic clues are to be found in
:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1 Th 2:18, Cor 1:8-9,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(depression) , 1 Th 5:2, 6<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2 Cor 11:27 (insomnia), 1 Cor 2:1-4, Gal
4:13-14 (depressive psychosis), Gal 1:15-16 (euphoric grandeur), Rom 9:1-2, 2
Cor 2:4 (anxiety, depression) , 2 Cor 4:10, Rom 6:3-6 (self-interpreted bipolar
states), 2 Cor 8:2-3 (compulsive generosity), 2 Cor 11:22-28 (persecutory
mania, anxiety),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Phl 3:8 (depression), 1
Cor 15:32, 2 Cor 5:13 (psychosis). Paul’s antinomian verve and creative
semantics also fit a typical bipolar personality profile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn65" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn65;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[65]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">R.M.Price <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man</i>, NY,
2003,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>p 152</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn66" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn66;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[66]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Josephus, Jewish Wars, 6.5.3<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn67" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn67;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[67]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Geza Vermes, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, </i>Penguin,
1987, p 189<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn68" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn68;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[68]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> Emil Kraepelin, Manic Depressive Insanity
and Paranoia, tr. R. Mary Barclay, Edinburgh, 1922,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>p. 106<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn69" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn69;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[69]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Frederick
K.Goodwin- Kay Redfield Jamison, Manic Depressive Illness, Oxford U.
Press,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>p. 40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn70" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn70;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[70]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Under
James’s leadership in Jerusalem, Mark’s Lord-of–the-Sabbath argument likely
would not have gained acceptance. The Nazarene exiles after the war however
were presumably open up to some of Paul’s antinomian sentiments, especially
those pointed against the Pharisee puritanic interpretation of the halakha .
The incident with Cephas at Antioch in Gal 2 testifies probably to a relaxed
form of observances among the original disciples.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn71" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn71;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[71]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The miracle
duplicates the restoration of the withered hand of king Jeroboam in 1 Ki 13 by
a nameless “man of God”. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn72" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn72;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[72]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Mk 8:22-25</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn73" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn73;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[73]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The Paulines had no regard for the Nazarene ‘Jesus’
traditions; they had no confidence in what the missions asserted about Jesus as
they did not respect them.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn74" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn74;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[74]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FR" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: FR;">Teneamus
quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum est. </span></i><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Let us hold onto that which was
believed always, everywhere and by everyone. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn75" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn75;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[75]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">My
perspective is buoyed by Mary Ann Tolbert’s approach:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But
suppose Matthew and Luke, for different reasons and in different ways were
attempting not to clarify and extend Mark’s vision but to refute and undermine
it</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sowing the Gospel: Mark’s
World in Literary-Historical Perspective, Berkeley 1996, p 28</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn76" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn76;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[76]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Mt 7:4-5, note Matthew’s clever twist to
Mark’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ansi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">διαβλ</span></i></span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">π</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ω </span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Mk 8:25) </span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">which </span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">was rhetorically returned as the result of a two-step process<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>much like Mark’s 4:12 </span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">μηποτε</span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">πιστρ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ψωσιν</span></i><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">in the saying about the pearls before swine.</span></span><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype;"><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-size: 19pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn77" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn77;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[77]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is
unlikely that the Paulines associated Christ with David. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I
do not believe Rom 1:2-6<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>comes from the
same hand as 1 Cor 1:18-31.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The issue
here is that the </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">former</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
seems innocent of Paul’s ‘imitatio’ which lies at the core of the teachings. </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Εκ</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">σπ</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ρματος Δαυ</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">δ</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">κατα</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">σαρκα</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> in 1:3 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">also
contradicts directly 2 Cor 5:16</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn78" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn78;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: blue;">[78]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Mt 7:9-11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn79" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn79;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[79]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The repeated
passive aorist<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">οφθ</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">is in 1 Cor 15:5-8 is probably
one of the features in the passage that point to it as referencing the earliest
gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The writer of the passage
probably did not realize Mark meant it sarcastically. The other ones are </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">γ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">γερται</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">τ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">τρ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ι</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">τ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">μ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ε</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ρ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ᾳ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">, </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">κατα</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">τας</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">γραφας</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">, </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ειτα</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">τοις</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">δωδεκα</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">, </span></i><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">the first one likely attempting to correct Mark’s ‘after three days’ in 8:31,
9:31, 10:34. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn80" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn80;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[80]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Mk 9:8 may have been interpolated to assert
specifically the </span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">three
received</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"> the vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s most common adverb </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ευθυς</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is here replaced mysteriously by a hapax </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">εξαπινα</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">.</span></i><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn81" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn81;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[81]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Mark evidently uses
ironic reversals to enhance the feel of mystery for his tale. Thus the observed
penchant of demoniacs to abuse verbally figures of authority is reversed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to assert Jesus’ control over them,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the classical visualization of restoring
spirit descending into the patient is reversed in story of the paralytic, the
day of the Lord coming as ‘a thief in the night’ is asserted as a party
arresting Jesus<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as if a ‘robber’, and
finally the absurd Pilate’s decision to release a violent criminal who by
definition was an ‘enemy of Roman people’ in place of Jesus. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn82" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn82;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[82]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That the sensing of inner light projects externally
and is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>seen</u></i> by kindred souls
was known in later Christian mysticism. See e.g. the story told of St. John of
the Cross, in R.M. Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness, Citadel 1961, p. 120<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn83" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn83;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[83]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Kraepelin reports
photism phenomena in his manic patents,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>op. cit. 9</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn84" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn84;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[84]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The figure <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>transparently alludes to Paul’s 2 Cor
3:18<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And
we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed
(μεταμορφο</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri;">υ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">μεθα) into his likeness from one degree of
glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">.</span></i><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn85" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn85;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[85]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">the
fear of the disciples to inquire about Jesus’ resurrection is also featured in
9:32, and by Peter ‘not hearing’ Jesus saying that he will precede the
disciples to Galilee in 14:28.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn86" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn86;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[86]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Mt 16:17 <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn87" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn87;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[87]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">That Luke knew
Matthew flows from their apparent collaboration on two large amending formulas
against Mark’s gospel:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1) the
investiture of the disciples with apostolic insight and authority, and 2) the
bodily rising of Jesus and the appearance by him to a group of the
disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In both instances, Luke appears wishing to
reduce Matthew’s upset of the Markan gospel plan. Luke’s nativity story also
seems unlikely to have been constructed independently, given the alternative
genealogy which looks <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>too formulaic to
have originated in lore. If one looks for a ‘smoking gun’, Lk 4:22<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>would do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Luke’s incredulous residents of Nazareth, ask “isn’t this Joseph’s son”
against Matthew’s “isn’t this the carpenter’s son”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That Luke would create a variant of the same
question independently outside the scope of Q looks very improbable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn88" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn88;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[88]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Luke’s formulaic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">those
who were with them [the eleven]’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">και</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">το</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ς σ</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ν α</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">το</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ς) in 24:34 echoes Mark’s 4:10 quibble
and likely asserts Pauline primacy of access to the risen Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Simon’ in 24:34 is unlikely Simon Peter, as
Luke uses that appellation only when Jesus addresses Peter directly, same as
with the one direct address in Mark (14:37). </span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn89" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn89;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[89]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The contrast between
spirituality and religiosity, or the ‘convulsive’ versus the ‘obsessional’
aspects of faith, has been brilliantly described by Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s
parable of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the Grand Inquisitor</i>, in his
novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Brothers Karamazov</i>.</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn90" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn90;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[90]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Maxime Rodinson, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mohammed</i>, tr. by Anne Carter, Penguin
Books, 1991, p.74</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn91" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn91;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[91]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Heikki Räisänen,
The ‘Messianic Secret’ in Mark,( tr. by Christopher Tuckett), Edinburgh, 1990,
pp. 27-28</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn92" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn92;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[92]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">The
Pentecost founding event seems to have been concocted to defeat Paul’s scorn
for the belief in the magical properties tongue-speaking in 1 Cor 14.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul says specifically in 1 Cor 14:23</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘</i></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If, therefore, the whole church
assembles and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will
they not say that you are mad?</span></i><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">How could this be a hypothetical if such an event was acclaimed
(Acts 2:2-13) as the traditional founding of the church which he is believed to
have joined ?</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn93" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn93;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[93]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">This
excludes commands not to speak of miraculous cures which are takes on the
glossolalic property of the spirit, scorned by outsiders.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn94" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn94;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[94]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Godwin-Jamison,
op.cit. pp.76-79</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn95" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn95;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[95]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Mark’s tendency to
reverse, ‘retard’ or misappropriate logical components in narration has been
well illustrated by Robert M. Fowler,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let the Reader Understand, Minneapolis, 1991, pp.92-98<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn96" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn96;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[96]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Kraepelin
cites the tendency of the florid manics to disrupt church services by screaming
and singing, and otherwise target the symbols of power (eg. by ‘forcing their
way to a palace’), op.cit.,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>p.62.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This behavioural pattern throws new light on
the cleansing of the temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Worth
recalling here is also Paul’s legendary disruption of the praying glens in the
Macedonian Philippi (Acts 16:16), and Muhammad’s (by proxy) in Makka as
recorded in ibn-Ishaq’s Life of the Prophet.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn97" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn97;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[97]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Fredriksen,
op.cit., 44,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>compare her presenting the
disconnected, disorganized, rapidly serialized, heroic motifs with Kraepelin’s
observation of his charges: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The delusions which forthwith emerge, move
very frequently on religious territory: the patient is a prophet, John II., is
enlightened by God, is no longer a sinner, is something supernatural; he fights
for Jesus, has to fulfil a divine mission , is a spirit, hides the world-soul
in himself, intends to ascend to heaven, possesses secret power over mentally
afflicted people. He preaches in the name of the holy God, will reveal great
things to the world, gives commands according to the divine will. Female
patients are queen of heaven and earth, the immaculate</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">conception,
female clergyman[sic], mother of heathen children; they have a child by God,
are going to heaven to the bridegroom of their soul; Christ has</span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">restored their innocence in them. The devil is done
away with; the patient has taken all the suffering of the world on himself; it
is a wonderful world<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">op.cit.68-69<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn98" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn98;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[98]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">The
Thomasian community likely was the first to develop the Jesus therapeutic
lore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In their rendition, the
persecutory mania was a side-effect of the obtruding grandiosity.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">GThomas (69)</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">…</span> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Jesus said, "Blessed are they who have been persecuted within
themselves. It is they who have truly come to know the Father.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-US"> ..”</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn99" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn99;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[99]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">The
oppressively needy, menacing nature of the crowds around Jesus is asserted well
before the final days in Jerusalem. Note the packed house preventing the entry
of the paralytic (2:2), the planned escape from the crowd bent on crushing him
(3:9),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the pressing of Jesus in the
story of the woman with the issue of blood (5:31), and the uncanny knowledge of
the people in the districts of the place where Jesus planned to rest with his
followers, which was given privately to them (6:31-34) and the arrival of the
multitude at the destination ahead of Jesus’ party.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn100" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn100;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[100]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">The idea was mocked
first by Matthew, who had the two co-crucified robbers revile Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Matthew 27:44 lampoons Pauline <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">systauroō</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>supplying a redundant
preposition syn (with) to the already prefixed word indicating that the robbers
were crucified with Jesus. The effect would be an instant howl to anyone who
knew what the allusion meant. I hold that the reviling is of Matthean <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>origin, and was later assimilated into Mark
(15:32). Matthew </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">interpreted
the robbers as<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>specifically invoking
Paul’s mystical co-crucifixion and the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="color: black; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">λεσται</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> as reference to Isa 53:12, </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ν το</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ς </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ν</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">μοις </span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">λογ</span><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">σθη</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, ie. as Paul’s followers freedom</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">from “the law”.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The image of the co-crucified probably
inspired Matthew 5:18-19 and the anti-Pauline ‘doublets’ in the stories of the
Gadarene demoniac, the blind beggar at Jericho and the donkey<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(in Jewish<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>tradition, a symbol of unruly truculence) on which Jesus entered
Jerusalem. That Mark 15:32 has a later harmonizing gloss is also argued for by
the verb <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">oneidizō</i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">occurring as a hapax in Mark, but having multiple uses in Matthew (5:11,
11:20). </span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn101" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn101;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[101]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt;">Kraepelin, op.cit.
p.22</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn102" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn102;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[102]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">Fowler,
op.cit., p 262</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///Z:/personal/Kingdom/This%20Parable%20(3).docx" name="_ftn103" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn103;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue;">[103]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;">1 Cor
12:27</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now you are the
body of Christ and individually members of it.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-24263916139992429412012-06-01T11:11:00.004-07:002012-06-10T16:13:02.996-07:00Hoffmann Tales<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In the debates following the appearance of Bart Ehrman’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Did Jesus Exist </i>last March<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>R. Joseph Hoffmann weighed in with a scathing manifesto dissmissing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the “mythicist” theory in general and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> one of its leading spokesmen</span>, with a special gusto.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Introducing Carrier, as man from a “Freethought Blog Ghetto”,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an “atheist” and a “part-time Jesus-denier” in a self described <i>rant</i> titled <a href="http://rjosephhoffmann.wordpress.com/2012/04/">Mythic Pizza and Cold-cocked Scholars</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hoffmann deplored the “<em>sewer of internet-facilitated nastiness…flowing into what used to be called academic discussion</em>”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My curiosity was whetted instantly. As someone on the record saying that the “Jesus existence” debating is <a href="http://ecs1.blogspot.ca/2011/05/notes-on-jesus-historical-existence.html">a hopeless group-think which has no greater purpose than badmouth opponents </a>, I am thrilled whenever I see my theoretical insights confirmed by the behaviour of well-known scholars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Hoffmann is overly generous in that regard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right off the bat, to make a point about the “sewer” Hoffmann chose to engage not Carrier himself but some unknown blogging wit who was mighty pleased with Carrier’s response to Ehrman. This is a popular technique of attacking a dumber proponent of a theory rather than a smarter one as a way to score debating points quicker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are of course risks associated with this manoeuvring, as the demoliton of this sophistry<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://richarddawkins.net/articles/1061-true-faith-is-greater-than-the-ranters">by Rees-Mogg in Dawkins’ anti-theist argument</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>illustrated. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That Hoffmann has a certain weakness for the nutty type of equation<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>becomes evident quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God deniers are Jesus deniers are mosquitos, and mosquitos carry dengue<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and malaria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mosquitos, the train of thought goes on, like Alex Forest (the crazy woman from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fatal Attraction</i>) will not be ignored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By what method did she get into the academic perspective of Hoffmann ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He does not tell but it is obvious why Glenn Close’s mongoose stare needs to be embedded in the paragraph. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes no divine to conclude that more than a bunny rabbit is in a mortal danger from Jesus-dengueing mosquitoes !<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<em>The disease these buggers spread is ignorance disguised as common sense</em>”, Hoffmann states matter-of-factly. Care to run that one by us one more time, prof ? Would <em>that</em> be the bunny-boiling buggers or the buggers who together with rum and cat-o-nine-tails made Winston's navy the best in the world ? It is not clear !</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The incensed academic of course deplores the lack of couth and finesse at the Freethought Ghetto, and recalls in wistful threnodies<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the gentlemanly bygone age in the Ivory Towers<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on the very next blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But lest he stand accused of lack of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“sewer” biting skills,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he will tear into Carrier for his estimate of him as “crazy”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his exercise of gentlemanly standards, Hoffmann somehow manages to follow a sentence in which he complains of Carrier’s uncivil, unscholarly, temperamental outbursts, with one which calls him “Dick” and “Carrier the Terrier”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There seems to be – and I am not claiming any academic credentials for saying this – a screw or two loose in professor Hoffmann’s nomenclatura.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For whatever perceived inanities Richard Carrier is guilty of, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it is plainly unwise to return them in the self-same artless form if one is bent on claiming a higher professional standard. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something else caught my eye here:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the idea that one can actually fake common sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>True, C. Wright Mills observed more than half a century ago that common sense seems often more common than sense. But still. In the high altitude of academia, it rarely matters what people without eligible degrees think, especially not in the academic disciplines where the expertise consists in gathering evidence of what God (or his duly appointed emissaries) actually did and said. They are those who pretend to study New Testament as literature but some of them too will turn into raving madmen should one suggest that the gospels are nearest to fiction. The disciplines relating to the texts, professor Hoffmann seems unaware,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have long been held by the smarter common folk to be basically the Great Science of Talking through the Hat, i.e. having no greater object than to condescend to people about things that no one can <em>really</em> know in the absence of evidence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not just Steven Carr or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PZ-EZ</i> who would scoff at the idea of an “<em>independent historical investigation</em>” the final product of which are assertions about artefacts that noone has seen, or the opinion on the therapeutic merit of spitting into the patient’s eyes as a way of returning sight to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor is the disdain of the people who have common sense for religious or quasi-religious patter something dependent on Internet technologies. My sixteen-year old son says the New Testament is “random bullshit…marketing”. He should know better; he attends Catholic high school !<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(my concession to his mum). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has never visited a Jesus chat group. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he already belongs to the greater pool of intelligent people who read the texts and will not mince words in saying the gospel factuality is historically imponderable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most will hold off on whether<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that means Jesus did not exist. That is where the common sense lives as far as I can tell. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The mythicists as a group have convinced themselves they know the figure of Jesus did not exist in history. Is that possible ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure it is. And the more Ehrman, Hoffmann and the Tweedles of Nottingham U. sing a historical positivist looney tunes to them, the greater the conviction that the religious fanatics smuggled Jesus into history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think they have made their case, but that is not my point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My beef here is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with the academic competence dervishes who should make themselves familiar with a few lines from Omar Khayyam’s Rubiyat:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">These fools by ignorance most crass<br />
think they in wisdom all mankind surpass<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And glibly do they damn as infidel, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Whoever is not like them, an ass.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In slandering and reviling you persist,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Calling me infidel and atheist:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My errors I do not deny, but yet</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Does foul abuse become a moralist ?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A shaikh beheld a harlot and quoth he:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">‘you seem a slave to drink and lechery’, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And she made answer, ‘what I seem I am,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">but master are you all that you seem to be ?’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span></span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: FR;">(tr. by Richard Le Galienne)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Hoffmann’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus Process Con</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">t</span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">ortium</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Late in April, Professor Hoffmann announced a new scholarly “consortium” called “Jesus Process” with a subtitle which left nothing behind:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A Consultation on Myth, Method, and Madness in New Testament Studies”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its objective, clear as day, is to heap scorn on the perceived misperceptions and misdeeds of the mythicists, with special focus on the application of Bayes Theorem to Historical Jesus by Richard Carrier, although that topic was flogged to multiple deaths on the blog all of the past year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(FWIW, I was in agreement that Bayes theorem is for all intents and purposes useless for the task at hand, as the real differentiator lies in the factual reliability of the inputs, not in the algorithmic mechanics).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beside Hoffmann, Maurice Casey and Stephanie Louise Fisher announced their contribution. The latter two advertise themselves as ‘independent historians’ though evidently not independent of each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Steph” Fisher is (was?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maurice Casey doctoral student.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Casey praised Fisher’s as yet unpublished work in his 2010 volume, “Jesus of Nazareth”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not exactly regular fare as academic standards go. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The essays appeared on the New Oxonian site on May 22.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hoffmann’s own contribution to the debate (“Controversy, Mythicism, and Historical Jesus”) sets the tone. It more or less confirms and promotes a new sub-species of historical positivism regarding Jesus of the gospel which was hinted at by Ehrman in his latest book and which is best exemplified by the writings of Maurice Casey and his protagonist, Stephanie Louise Fisher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already the first sentence of Hoffmann’s essay presents the kind of irreducible proclamation, or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ipse dixit</i>, which precludes reasoned debate:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“<em>While the New Testament offers the most extensive evidence for the existence of the historical<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus, the writings are subject to a number of conditions that have dictated both the form and content of the traditions they have preserved.”</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The professor should know that one cannot assume what one seeks to prove, i.e. that the gospels were intended to recount actual events, rather than, say, assert the mysterious workings of God in the end of times. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it seems obvious that the gospels follow the doings and sayings of a person called “Jesus the Nazarene/of Nazaret(h)/Nazara”, but there is nothing in the text or surrounding it which would confirm the verdict Hoffmann seeks and which at least theoretically is plausible: an historical account, distorted by religious beliefs about, and associated with, the protagonist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the plausibility of such understanding of the texts does not in any way exclude other interpretations. It is illogical and manifestly false to claim that this is the only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">possible</i> reading of the gospels or that the admissibility of such a scenario proves the existence of a single historical person as the source of the narratives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All sorts of interpretations can be constructed <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on the evidence of the gospels: they may seek to personify wisdom and deposit it in a fictitious character in manufactured historical settings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, they may allegorize theological teachings, maxims and oracular revelations and connect them loosely via a set of historical settings with a legendary figure, with whose followers the earliest narrative was at cross purposes (pun intended). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that Hoffmann wants to believe that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mythicist</i> case is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fatally flawed</i> generically may be just a case of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fatally flawed</i> logic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>G.A.Wells argued in a paper written for the 1986 Ann Arbour CSER conference (Hoffmann is surely aware of this), that just because a theory has been argued poorly, does not mean it cannot be argued well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have little to quarrel with Hoffmann when he says that the attempts of mythicists to show that Jesus did not exist, "<em>has been largely incoherent, insufficiently scrupulous of historical detail"</em>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is of course true of most proponents of the theory, especially those working from “diffusionist” mythological models or, in the case of Doherty, from an improbable theo-philosophical schema.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fair enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is however that the prof seems to conclude that non-existence of Jesus cannot fly because he knows of a better way to talk through the hat. </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Paul and Mark: key to the Historical Conundrum ? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is interesting that Hoffmann should believe the earliest gospel of Mark exhibits ‘<em>Roman historical interest</em>’ rather than the ‘<em>Anatolian eclecticism</em> [sic]<em> as reflected by Paul</em>’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One has to ask how much the prof has read in the modern Markan scholarship that starts with Willi Marxsen and Norman Perrin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He seems blissfully unaware of the nearly impenetrable opacity acknowledged by nearly everyone between Wrede and Räisänen plunging into the depths of Mark’s ingenious tale. "<em>Blessed are the ones who speak plainly"</em>, commented Wrede sarcastically, "<em>for they shall be understood"</em>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And indeed, there is so much of what professor Aichele described as ‘<em><a href="http://www.crosscurrents.org/mark.htm">fantasy' </a> </em>in Mark which not only clashes with any putative ‘<em>Roman historical interest</em>’ but clobbers such an idea outright.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aichele acknowledged <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that most of the miracles and healing feats in Mark are standard professions of belief. They are strictly addressing themselves to the object of faith – as ‘believe it or not’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that respect, he says, the stories are not any different from other sacred texts in other religions or mystical cults.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, says Aichele, there is also<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">an inexplicable residuum…an irreducible, opaque remainder of the text [that is] not finally consumed and absorbed along with the rest.</i> What does he mean ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The difficulty of answering questions </span>along these lines: why do people forget about feeding themselves when they are around Jesus ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is that a sign to those who know Jesus best that it is <em>he</em> that is out of <em>his</em> mind and needs to be restrained ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does the physical oppression of Jesus (e.g. 2:4, 3:9, 5:31) signify ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why would mourners in Jairus’ house burst out laughing when Jesus announces the girl was only sleeping ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that sort of reaction explicable in the context for which it is given, i.e. human life apparently lost, and a hope for it rekindled by an expert brought in to return her to life ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How about Jesus adding a commandment to the Decalogue in 10:19 (μη αποστερειτε), one that was actually formulated by Paul (1 Cr 7:5) in different context ? Or the visits to Jericho and Bethany with no action recorded ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How about removing the roof and making a patient descend to Jesus in exchanging roles of the act of heavenly salvation ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How about – when we are on the subject of Roman historical interest – the fantastically twisted idea that a governor of a Roman province would have acceded to a request to release from custody someone who is portrayed as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adversus securitatem regnum Romanum</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in place of a harmless furiosus ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are just some examples of Mark’s dramatic ploys which point to a writing project radically different than recording, or redacting previous reports of, historical happenings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A welcome relief from the droning of Ehrman, who more or less claims that the “Jesus mythicism” is an Internet-age conspiracy theory, or at any rate, gives minimum outline of how the idea of Jesus non-existence developed, is Hoffmann description of second century Gnostics as “mythicizers”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, we know that there were people in the second century (and probably earlier) who denied that Christ came “in flesh”, in other words, that (nearly) from the beginning the term designated no more than certain passing psychic phenomena (rare but not uncommon), available to great seers and mystics and ordinary psychos (in Mark's idiom <em>the demons who knew Jesus</em>), around which most of the lore was built. We know that because the second letter of John declares such views the work of anti-Christ. So, in truth “Jesus mythicism” is not a new, or modern phenomenon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It is good that Hoffmann acknowledges that. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">As expected though, the prof takes an unfriendly line to the Gnostics. To him they truly were lthe original version of the lamentable “mythicizers” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> whom </span>the church fathers valiantly fought and defeated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hoffmann it seems missed Schweitzer’s poking fun at the exasperated <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">theologians championing the historicity of Jesus</i>” fighting the Jesus myth proponents in his time who so resembled the church fathers fighting heresy in the middle of 2<sup>nd</sup> century. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Like them they felt themselves called upon to protect the spiritual welfare of the defenceless masses who were in danger of being craftily deluded…As the polemical works for and against the historicity of Jesus were on the whole written rather quickly and were intended to be within the intellectual grasp of ….the widest possible readership, their level of scholarship was not generally very distinguished, and sometimes, in view of the authority of the writer, remarkably low.</i> “<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Quest, ed. John Bowden, Minneapolis 2001, p. 395). </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Given the tenor of the essay, and its obssessive concretization of the gospel metaphor, it is not surprising to find that Hoffmann considers Paul's influence on the whole marginal. If Paul's spiritualism does not fit the theory it needs to be carefully censored. So, Hoffmann teaches thqt Paul's reputation was <em>'para-canonical rather than original to the tradition</em>'. The apostle's prestige was '<em>forced on the church writers</em>' by '<em>a specific heresiological crisis'</em>. Really ? That is news to me. Not only the Pauline allegory of Mark confirms that (at least in the eyes of the Markan community) the disciples were as clueless about the novel concept of resurrection as some in Paul's Corinthian audience, but also that they did not <em>know</em> the cross. The women running from the tomb tell nothing to noone; the news of Jesus' rising gets out through the <em>gospel</em> itself. That of course, in the eyes of some, makes Paul the de facto <em>originator</em> of the Christian tradition. He did not invent Jesus but certainly supplied the theological ground for him to walk on. The attempts to dress up the unknown historical Jesus as self-conscious Messiah fulfilling his earthly fate <em>selon</em> Paul are - well, laughable. Mark's tragi-comical farce of Paul's cosmic spirit of the Lord being mistaken for the parochial Jewish Messiah who would restore the old kingdom - by his own disciples and the Sanhedrin - is a brilliant brief on the historical, fissiparious Jesus' idolatry meeting the earliest Christian faith. When Matthew re-wrote Mark to make Jesus' corpse rise with zombies scaring kids in Jerusalem, the hard core of Paul's faithful would have nothing to do with the caricature of their original Christian faith. They would bolt to Gnostic cults. On the positive side for the historicist zealots, the gospel became dumbed down sufficiently to assure mass following, the spiritual conquest of the planet and the continued worship of nonsense in the related academic disciplines. All we have left of the original gospel are the two asses on whose back Jesus rode to Jerusalem - the plagiarist's thumbing his nose at the two geniuses who created it in the two literary formats of the New Testament. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><strong><em>Did Paul Meet Jesus' brother ?</em></strong></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I have had an exchange with Hoffmann about this on his blog which ended up with his expunging my final post after I had caught him mistaking James the Zebedee for James the Jesus brother. Oh, well ! </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Hoffmann, like Ehrman, suffers from the delusion that there exists a way of connecting James the brother of the Lord, of Gal 1:19 to the James, the brother of Jesus (Mk 6:3, Mt 13:55) and further to the James of Acts 12:17. There isn't because Luke does not know Jesus brother by the name of James. But of course that is not the end of the problems. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Gal 1:19 is likely interpolated, as I have shown <a 08="" 2010="" ecs1.blogspot.ca="" href="http://ecs1.blogspot.ca/2010/08/through-galatians-darkly.html" through-galatians-darkly.html="">here (How many times was Paul in Jerusalem?) </a>. But even if it is not Hoffmann's analysis is flawed. He argues with Drews, whose position would not be the preferred one among the current breed of mythicists. Price, Carrier, Wells and Doherty have all indicated that the 'brother of the Lord' is not to be understood as a rank-and-file member of the cultus but as as something of a rank or functional description of an inner circle of the Jerusalem assembly. In this they agree with E.P. Sanders, who described the 'brothers of the Lord' (and the apostles) as leaders of a 'Jewish eschatological movement'. So there is a difference between the αδελφοι εν κυριω (Phl 1:14, generic brother, member of the cult) and αδελφοι του κυροιυ (1 Cr 9:5, church leaders). </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It is to be noted that 1 Cor 9:5 describes what appears to be privileged members of the Jerusalem assembly, a group into which Paul himself by all appearances had not been accepted (1 Cr 9:2). That the Jerusalem temple worshipping dignitaries would have been referring to Jesus by the near absolute "Lord" (which Paul used to describe as the visionary entity which at times overwhelmed him, and which he understood to be the son of Lord-God) strikes me as a non-starter. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Further, other than the interpolated "James, brother Jesus called Christ" in Josephus Ant XX.9 there is nothing in the earliest Christian history indicating that James the Just was thought of as Jesus' relative. Luke knows nothing about it. Neither does the writer of the letter of James. Nor the Gospel of Thomas. The first person historically who is recorded to have made the connection was Hegesippus in the middle of 2nd century. But nothing has survived of Hegesippus. His belief was recorded by Eusebius a century and a half later, who was plainly skeptical of a blood relationship between Jesus and James (H.E.1.12). Heggesippus account of James is obviously legendary as it affects to credit that for thirty odd years he operated a church in Jerusalem dedicated to the memory of his executed brother without the authorities being aware of it. When they naively ask him to renounce Jesus, and he refuses, they promptly throw him down the parapet and stone him to death. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Of course none of this will sway the historicist <em>passionnés</em>. They will deny the possibility of reading of 'brother of the Lord' as something other than plain admission of kinship. Bad for them that not only the author of the Acts of James but Origen was struck by the improbability of the idea: <em>Paul, a genuine disciple of Jesus, says that he regarded this James as a brother of the Lord, not so much on account of their relationship by blood, or their being brought up together, as because of his virtue and doctrine.</em> [Contra Celsum 1.47]. One has to wonder how Origen figured that. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-26000060264203947012012-04-25T20:44:00.001-07:002012-06-03T07:07:37.840-07:00Paul's Lexicon<span style="line-height: 24px;"><br /></span>
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Ever
since acquiring a modicum of koine Greek, and parsing the NT texts in the
language of their composers, I have been struck by the uniqueness of some of
the constructs before me. I wondered if it may be simply my feeble grasp of the
language. But the turns of phrase became etched into my memory and I was
returning to them over and over (,over the years) to test if my intuition about
them would hold. In most cases it did
and I was further encouraged by regularly finding the rarest quality among NT diviners
– a frank admission of not having a clue – surrounding a number of them. The apparent <i>weirdness</i> seemed then to be a <i>datum</i>,
not just a personal feeling. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b> </b> Mental health professionals today would immediately
recognize familiar issues with Gal 2:19-20. Paul avers that he was crucified with Christ
and that it is no longer he, Paul, who lives, but Christ who lives in him. Taken the words without affectation, Paul is being morbid. The idea he articulates attests to a process of disassociation and
psychic annihilation inside the writer’s head.
Whatever the mystic dimension to the apostle’s spirit, Paul was not
crucified when he wrote or dictated the letter.
Whatever theology can elucidate, it cannot explain why Paul in receiving
the wisdom hidden from everyone for aeons, feels compelled to present it as a
testimony to necrotizing agony, in the bipolar contrasts of eternal bliss and
fulfilment thrown against unforgiving, unmitigated hostility of God to his
creation and the abandonment of his most ennobling project called ‘life’. If Paul grew spiritually beyond yelding to the
passions of the flesh, why the hyperbole of torturous, universal, unappealable death ? What does <i>crucified with Christ</i> mean, anyhow ? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Actually Paul does not even say he
was <i>crucified with Christ. </i>That is a
translation made in most languages, <i>faut
de mieux</i>. Paul, for his part, says
something more along the lines of having been co-crucified or having <i>shared
in </i>Christ’s crucifixion<i>. </i>The verb
systauroō stands along a number of words showing Paul’s and his friends fondness for the sy-
constructs (e.g. synergos, sygkoinōnos, synaichmalōtos, systratiōtēs,
<em>symparakaleō, sympsychos and in
the deutero-Paulines: synoikodomeō, syndesmos, sympolitēs, sygklēronomos,
syssōmos, symmetochos, syndoulos). The
prefix ‘sy-‘ stresses the commitment </em>of Paul and his early
imitators<em> to their communal enterprise
and the collective nature of their mystical apprehensions</em>. This poses
little difficulty when applied to terms like <i>workers, soldiers, servants, prisoners,</i> or <i>in building, or gathering together</i>.
There is however a problem in
proclaiming oneself sharing in someone’s death. This is not simply a hyperbole.
Paul is not saying, rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated. He says,
I am greatly exaggerating when I tell you I am dead.<br />
<br />
The idea that Paul was <i>overdoing</i>, whatever it was he was doing,
was most likely first resented and ridiculed by the Jewish Nazarenes. They
accepted Paul’s theology of the cross but no way the moral equivalency of
Paul’s suffering to the one who was crucified for real. We have an excellent example of this in
Matthew 27:44 where he lampoons Paul’s systauroō
by adding a redundant preposition syn (with) to the already prefixed
word indicating that the robbers were crucified with Jesus. The effect would be an instant howl to anyone
who knew what the allusion meant. I hold
that the double sy- is of Matthean origin, and was later assimilated into Mark
(15:32), as it follows the anti-Pauline ‘doublets’ in the stories of the
Gadarene demoniac, the blind beggar at Jericho and the donkey on which Jesus
entered Jerusalem. (I will explain the
meaning of Matthew’s ‘doubling’ on Mark’s characters in one of the next
posts).
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<b>Beastfighting in Ephesus and such</b><br />
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The ‘sharing in the crucifixion of Christ’
describes Paul’s debilitating lows, and struggles with depressive
psychosis. It becomes a starting point
in an abstract narrative for which he found an audience among people similarly
afflicted. No doubt many found relief in the discovery their suffering had an
explanation and through Paul and his acolytes was shared across the known
world. No doubt that absurd as Paul’s mantras and missions spreading the good
news of salvation in the impending collapse of heavens seemed to the outsiders,
in the inner circle of the saints who suffered for no reason other than that
they seemed to have been chosen to suffer, Paul was seen as one sent to them by
God. His gospel spelled relief and hope
and restored the dignity that was being denied to them by other people and fate.<br />
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<i>But
we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power
belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck
down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so
that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live
we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of
Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but
life in you. 2 Cor 4:7-12 </i><br />
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The semantics in the passage are difficult but not impenetrable. They
bespeak primarily of inner struggle for the meaning of one’s existence. It seems clear to me (as a sufferer of the
disorder that I recognize struck Paul) that the apostle struggled to establish
the “new normal” after his bi-polarity presented itself in an acute form. Paul
found a way to make something extraordinary from a banal illness.<br />
<em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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People nowadays scoff at the idea
that Jesus died for their sins. It is meaningless to them and it is not
difficult to guess why. Salvation is worth nothing if you don’t need it. But
Paul’s teachings in his time were not for everyone despite what Acts of Apostles would claim later; it addressed itself to a core audience of people who like himself were in need of relief from acute
suffering. </div>
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<br />
Musing over his initial episode of
full-blown mania, he reasoned if Jesus whom he badmouthed prior to his first hypermanic episode ( 2 Cor 12:2 -9) was
a mad prophet because God made him mad and he was destroyed by God because of
his madness, and if God was now destroying Paul, the pious, blameless,
educated, as close to perfect Pharisee as you could get, and if God was
destroying both Jesus and Paul for no cause other than to frustrate the vision
of heavenly bliss he himself supplied to them, then life was meaningless
nonsense. God would have been the perfect <i>gentile</i>
Demiurge. Nothing could save Paul if the
sight of the Omnipotent was on him, had he accepted the shrug of the Greeks
that his God was out to destroy him, just like their gods do routinely to amuse
themselves in their leisure.<br />
<b> </b> <b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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But if there was a plan and not it was not just another delusion, i.e. if the manic
experience was to be interpreted to show to Paul and through Paul, that no man
may boast in the presence of God, then there was hope for Paul and those <i>afflicted</i> like himself. The crucified savior admittedly sounded like
a crazy proposition to everyone innocent of the internal struggles that happen
only to those whose brain chemistry goes out of whack and returns back to something
like normal. But lest you think that
the Paul’s parallel of his suffering to Jesus’ death on the cross was a cheap
hyperbole you need to know this ‘ <i>Very
commonly it is asserted</i>’, wrote Professor Kraepelin the German
diagnostician of the manic-depressive illness, <i>’that the disease is a greater torture than any other and that the
patient’ would far, far rather endure any bodily pain than disorder of the mind</i>’ The baptism into the death of Christ would be
a powerful metaphor in the circles where Paul moved. No doubt, it helped many of those Paul
screened for his therapy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bart Ehrman, who is all the rage these days after he
unloaded on the atheist hordes denying Jesus walked on Earth, thinks the legend
of Paul and the baptized talking lion (in the pseudepigraphical Acts of Paul) ,
developed “out of a vague reference” to Paul’s own letters. In 1 Cor 15:32 Paul makes the strangest claim:
(RSV)“<b>What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat
and drink, for tomorrow we die.</b>" Ehrman
comments dryly, “He obviously survived but how ?”(Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene, p. 133) It is strange that the best known popular interpreter of the New Testament is by all appearances clueless as to the
meaning of this verse. But then again Ehrman also believes (or affects to
believe) that Paul met Jesus biological brother, so the issue may not be all
that hot. Not if another well known
scholar of our time Dominic Crossan has convinced himself that the “beasts” were
actually Roman guards who were chained to him during his imprisonment at the
praetorium.
<i>θηριομαχεω</i> which combines beast and
fighting, and would likely sound as strange to a koine Greek speaker as
“beastfighting” would sound to a native English speaker. Unless it was some local argot, used as a
putdown. By all appearances, Crossan’s idea comes from
the letter of Ignatius to Romans (5.5) but that is obviously Paul interpreted
by the imagination of a later churchman with somewhat different issues, who manufactured
his own context to them. That Crossan should credit this as real, is uncanny as
he is the only one, to my knowledge, who correctly reads (at least some of)
Paul’s imprisonments as metaphorical. <em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></em>
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
The problem with interpreting Paul’s meaning does not seem to start with the strangely positioned verb but by the
qualification he places before it <i>εἰ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον </i>. This is variously rendered as “humanly
speaking”, “from human point of view”, “for merely human reasons” and similar
pap, which makes it clear that the translators are groping in the dark.The phrase evidently stresses that seeing whatever Paul actually does as “fighting with beasts” is not his own but an
external view of himself. Paul uses <i>κατὰ ἄνθρωπον </i>for
exactly the same function in Gal 3:15, to say he speaks not as God’s
plenipotentiary but in common terms. In Galatians, the phrase could be rendered
more meaningfully as “in simple terms”, or “without putting a too fine point on
it”. In the context of 1 Corinthians the
external POV would need to be stressed further, in order to set the verb in the
intended context. It could be “if, as
they/men/people would say,…”, or “if …as the saying goes” or something in that
vein. So let us see what the sentence gives when we convert the idiom: ‘<b>How do I profit then, if, according to popular wisdom, I was [beastfighting]
in Ephesus ?</b> <b>If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we
die”. </b>So, by the structure of the
sentence, it is clear Paul did not fight with beasts literally, but rather was
seen in Ephesus in a state of mind
which made people think he was wasting
time fighting with the devils for an obscure cause.<br />
<br />
Nonetheless,
metaphorical fighting with beasts had a venerable traditon among early
Christians. If the mystics were laughed at as fighting imaginary predators,
they would wear the insults proudly and converted them to clever insights. Here is my reading of perhaps the most
brilliant Thomasian saying (GThomas 7): <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i> Blessed
is the lion whom the man eats <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i> For
the man will become like a lion<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i> And
cursed is the man whom the lion <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i> eats
for the lion will become like a man. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
In other words, if one overcomes
and masters the assaults of psychosis one becomes enriched and strengthened by the
experience of one’s restoration; if one is consumed by it one will be reduced
to pathetic beastliness. The saying was
evidently popular among the early Christians, as evidenced by 1 Pe 5:8. Paul’s saying in 1 Corinthians however does
not show he was familiar with it. <o:p></o:p></div>EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-11816001170950109772012-03-25T11:24:00.003-07:002012-03-25T12:23:52.425-07:00Those Who Would Save Jesus - Prologue (sketch)Hi, everyone <br />
I back after a longer pause: had some other business than Early Christians on my plate. As you can plainly see, I am a part-time apostle...the time-proved technique of keeping my sanity. <br />
<br />
Thanks to Bruce Dunn for the heads-up on Mark Vonnegut's memoir: there is a connection between this hobby of mine and his dad, in that I was crazy about Kurt's writing and during my episode tried to contact him, through what I believed was a code about his whereabouts in <em>Cat's Cradle</em>. I was sort of a Dwayne Hoover chasing Kilgore Trout. The parallel of my insane chase of Kurt Vonnegut was not available until after. I figured that a legion of nutjobs like me who believed themselves on the same <em>karas</em> as Kurt were likely harrassing him and that supplied the plot of the <em>Breakfast of Champions</em>. I picked up <em>Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So</em>. I saw the beef that there were not enough questions about early Christianity. I will write to Mark about my project. Thanks again, Bruce. <br />
<br />
****<br />
<br />
There are themes in the Prolog sketch below which more or less a repeat of the first post on the blog: it is give a quick overview of the subject matter discussed here. Those who read the 'Not Thinking Differently' essay will notice that I changed my rendering of the anecdote by Bertrand Russell. I feel pretty sure that I saw the anecdote in the form I gave out originally, but I could not find it even though I searched very hard. So I changed it to the one in <em>A History of Western Philosophy</em>.<span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
****<br />
<h3>Those Who Would Save Jesus</h3><h4> </h4><h4>Prologue </h4><br />
<span lang="EN-US">The idea may seem strange at first but I feel strangely assured that most people will get it - eventually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus seems to have lived on one-way salvation street: did this, taught that, cured the sick, messed with the natural law, called to repentance, and writhed on the cross for our sins. Did I say ‘writhed’ ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems an unbiblical (or is it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ibiblical</i> ?) verb, but let it stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is to make the point that some of us don’t actually mind seeing another human in a heart-rending agony to pay<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>vicariously for our improved health and prospects in the great yonder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, do not be fooled by the crucifix; you are not looking at a relic worshipping a random act of meaningless barbarity. You are the benefactors of God’s gift to us, his own Son whom he made insane, and killed by his own law, to show mercy to those who have faith<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in it as the act of divine wisdom and atonement for their sins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, I am not making this up: apostle Paul said that and from this idea of Paul a religion was born that conquered the world. It may sound insane, but perhaps it is the one of the best insanities humans can hope for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US"> I say that because people who acquired the cultural reflex of condemning <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christianity, or denying <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>any positive influence the religion had on our civilization are blind in one eye. The beam in that eye makes them unable to see that that when Paul wrote to the Corinthians that God made Jesus sin but he knew no sin, Jesus was already dead. Nothing could change that fact. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing could change also the perception of it as an act of outrageous barbarity, in people capable of feeling for another human being. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US"> This <em>Saving of Jesus</em> is sort of an experiment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could tell you that I had a revelation, that an oracle told me, that I too had the light in my body, but we are much older now, and locutions of this sort do not – and should not – sway anyone who is intelligent and has a healthy sense of self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul may have struggled with how to present his gnosis, and not sounding like the other apostolic idiots, but we are more sophisticated and public-relations savvy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know from Abraham Maslow that some of us have messianic personalities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>know most will end up in psychiatric care if we don’t become great leaders, artists, writers, standup comedians or find another fascinating object to occupy us other than our precious selves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I simply tell you this: there are certain things I know I know about the origin of Christianity. These are my internal<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>assurances. Whether they are believable to you or not, is not my issue. You may bless, diss, question me or ignore me. The heavens will not fall down because of my reading of the gospel and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>no-one will be judged on the last day based on his or her willingness to save Jesus. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can promise you that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How is that for good news ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"> </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"> In the earliest gospel, Mark, the spirit of the Lord swoops on (actually, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">into</i>) Jesus and obliterates him as a human. From then on, Jesus, though flesh and blood is driven by the spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He becomes the one who was sent to save. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From then on, there seems to be no other purpose to his existence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He calls folks to repentance, teaches, tames nature, cures the sick, and goes to Jerusalem to fulfill his contract. He doesn’t eat except by implication until the Last Supper; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he doesn’t laugh or weep; when he gets tired and falls asleep once upon a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>gospel he is awaken by the disciples because the ship is sinking and the needy guys complain when he gets groomed by a woman. He only gets kissed once and it is the kiss of death that was foretold by a scripture as it was being written.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US"> If Jesus hadn’t been saved from oblivion we would have not known about him. And if you say the gospels see that differently, then you have not read the above paragraph the way it was intended to be read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mean</i> exactly the same thing. No-one would have known about Jesus if<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul and an unknown author we know as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mark</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>did not begin writing about him in the two genres of the New Testament: the epistle and the narrative gospel. The two of them, you will see, were the ones who took pity. They took pity on Jesus, and many like him who would have fallen into the same trap as he had, and boasted of God in God’s presence like some some of his followers did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul and Mark had a solemn purpose, which was to save others from the fate of an unknown, insignificant, ecstatic Galilean prophet. All that we can be reasonably sure of, concerning him , is that he wandered<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>into Jerusalem in the reign of Tiberius with a small group of followers and was killed there, likely after an arrest in the precinct of the Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would have been forgotten soon, perhaps sooner than Juhayman al-Oteibi, the Saudi messianic leader who perished in the assault on the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979, that is, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the age of information overload. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He, unlike the <em>Jesus of the Nazarenes</em>, was global news. Who remembers Juhayman now ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who saved him ? Jesus of Galilee did not register<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a blip on the history radar, but would not be forgotten by a small community in Jerusalem outraged by the Temple priests and the hated Gentile occupiers who killed him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without the poor Jerusalem saints awaiting Messiah nothing would have become of the obscure drifter who apparently believed God told him the end of misery was near and the restored kingdom of Israel was at hand. The saints adopted his disciples and sent them out to preach of his martyrdom. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US">In the early days of my project,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was somewhat naïve about the effect of my ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I told an Anglican priest I held that Christianity (like<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>other religions)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>owes a great deal to a common mental challenge that in our day and age has a diagnosis (or two), he became upset. He told me that my little theory has obviously a simple goal, to apprehend his faith as a product of sick minds in order to declare its tenets invalid. I asked him if it would help to change his view if I told him I was diagnosed with the disorder myself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, I was easily refuted by the fact I would admit to having been sick in the head myself, if one wants to look at it that way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He seemed to struggle with the idea for a moment but then his face lit up as if in a triumphal revelation. ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I think I will take you up on your offer</i>’, he said with all the philosophy he could cram into his face, as he was standing up and extending his hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US">It was a valuable lesson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It helped me to understand<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that any new revelation on who Jesus <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> was, what he <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> said, how he managed to keep balance when treading water on a stormy sea, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> happened after he walked away from the botched crucifixion will be always the same old same old. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the reason is simply this: such noble efforts are predicated by the suggestion of Christ as the ultimate authority and oneself as the only one who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> understands him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may rest assured that some efforts to re-invent<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the wheel of the gospel will be hilarious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Richard Dawkins for example considers God to be Delusion, and yet has run an essay titled ‘<em>Atheists for Jesus’</em> on his website. He argues that Jesus was a theist with Father in heaven only because there were no <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brights</i> like Dawkins to teach him the science of 10<sup>46</sup> monkeys at typewriters busy producing a line from Hamlet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In another case, a gentleman by the name of Earl Doherty has recently compiled<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>850 page volume he considers the final proof that Jesus did not exist. But who needs such a proof, given there is no material evidence<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that Jesus existed, except to those who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> need to believe that ? Why would one want to go to such extravagant lengths to argue with the simpler folks who take the Bible literally and who find in Jesus their better self ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why ? The simple proof of Jesus non-existence would be to say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tout çela est bon et bien</i> , and do some gardening instead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But surely, Mr Doherty knows (deep inside) that if<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Neither God Nor Man</i>, he sure is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Suggested Authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alas, to arrive at that insight the author would have to grasp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> that </span>which drives him to declare himself <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the beholder of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the Ultimate Truth</i> worthy of a book the thickness of the Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for the Anglican pastor showing me the door, I do not know what I expected: perhaps, for him to approve of my far-out reading of the Manual of Techniques for the struggle with demons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How could I have been so naïve ? </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333;">In one of the revelations I cherish, Bertrand Russell tells a story in (which he got from William James) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>about a man who whenever he got a sniff of nitrous oxide had the profoundest feeling that he knew and could name the ultimate secret of the universe. However, when the effect of the laughing gas wore off, he could not remember what it was. It bugged him and he resolved to write the revelation down while under the influence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An indeed he succeeded to do that. When his brain shed the effect of the anesthetic, he found the all-important note he wrote while inside the mysterium.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It said, “the smell of petroleum pervades throughout”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333;"><br />
The humorous anecdote illustrates a number of important points. First, it shows the difficulty with placing one’s trust in the productions of a pickled brain. Second, it tells us that we just don’t know what else lurks inside our skulls beyond the entity which we are asked to refer to in the first person singular past the age of three, and vouch for legally after puberty. Third, it says that our innermost self is built specifically around the denial of reality and the desire to fuse with the universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333;"><br />
Evidently, the idea that there is a mental health side to the New Testament creativity is not only not new at all but has been acknowledged by the gospels and epistles themselves, directly and indirectly. In the gospel of Mark, it is not just hostile opponents and a bemused Roman governor, but those closest to Jesus who see his new mantle of a prophet a sign of his being out of his mind. The view that Jesus was possessed by a demon is acknowledged by all gospels, and Matthew (10:25) makes explicit the charge that those who follow Jesus are as much devil-possessed as their master. Only a handful of the epistles are credited by modern scholars to those in whose name they are written, and as these forgeries do not appear motivated by simple gain but extra large would-be moral concerns for humanity in the name of a loving deity, they do give rise to questions about the head space of their authors. And these are not trivial concerns. The deutero-Pauline writer of 2 Thessalonians, goes as far as warning the recipients of his dispatch (2:2) against false writing <em>purporting to be from us</em>. This sort of “deep impersonation” with its implied knowledge of itself as fraud is troubling. In 2 Peter, an epistle usually placed several generations after the gospel events, the author, who I am assured by the experts <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is not Peter, forswears (1:16) he is not presenting the readers with <em>cleverly devised fables</em> when he gives his testimony of the majesty of the Lord’s transfiguration he personally witnessed on the mountain. The same problem of “knowing one’s lie” lurks here, and with yet another twist. This pseudo-Peter goes as far as claiming that <em>no prophecy of Scripture</em> (of which he considers his testimony to be an example !) <em>is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. </em>(1:20-21).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
The difficulty with the religious or ideological mindset (as this of course is not a problem unique to the Christian objects of faith) is compounded by the conviction of the believers that no valid external view of it (them) exists, or even, can exist. Paul tells his followers that the <em>spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no-one</em> (1 Cr 2:15). This peculiar idea had a way of propagating itself in later gospel writing. Mark while acknowledging that Jesus is looked upon as ecstatic lunatics<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7513207989692345204#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a>, and the Holy Spirit, but effects of frank mania, immediately proscribes such a view as absolutely unforgivable taboo worse than blaspheming God himself and one that requires eternal damnation !<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s Petrine editor and censor, we know as Matthew, considered it prudent to excise the concerns of Jesus’ family, while of course keeping the eschatological fatwa against maligning the spirit. Evidently, Matthew did not think the reader of his corrected gospel had the intellectual need to understand the origins of that particular idea.<br />
<br />
It should come as no surprise then that if faith depends on the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, that even modern theology will find a way to deny that the NT texts can be penetrated and understood by independent, disinterested analysis. Here is another sample of the view that I have recounted in the story above and encountered in a number of forms and shapes. It comes from Hans Conzelmann who lamented in his <em>Outline of the Theology of the NT</em> back in 1968:<br />
<br />
<em>Attempts have been continually made to derive Paul’s theology from his experience. He himself declares that his gospel has been revealed to him. But in what sense is that to be understood ? We can get an answer only when we put the question in terms of the history of religions, not in psychological terms. For ‘inner experience’ explains nothing, it is an ‘x’ which itself needs to be explained. Attempted reconstructions of the experience are useless, as the sources are simply not there. Just as Paul has visions without making personal use of them (2 Cor 12), so he never speaks of the inner event of his conversion, but only of its theological content: his commission to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. </em><br />
<br />
On one level I can of course sympathize with the objection of the theologian . Theology and psychology are rivals. The theologian instinctively disdains attempts to explain away the mystery that is life and its purposes, the ambition of some grand theorists of human psyche. He or she senses that people who think (they think when they write) that way, either do not think very deeply about what they say or do not really know how to align feelings to ideas. Further, and therein I believe lies the crux of the matter, whatever one can say about the creativity and activism of Paul, Mark, the people around them, and the copycats they inspired later: they were challenged and responded with what they had, and whatever one’s opinion of the cultural selectors that favoured their cosmology, and social psychology over their competitors, here we are with them in our cultural baggage. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333;"><br />
On the other hand, I hope the problems with a theological attitude that Conzelmann’s view illustrates, are immediately visible, and hopefully not only to non-faith. Does Paul’s experience really explain <em>nothing</em> ? Are the reconstructions of it really <em>useless</em> ? Do the secular (,or religiously not-committed,) views of Paul, or classing Paul’s visitations with known mental phenomena observed medically and psychologically, automatically derogate to Christianity ? I don’t think so. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There will be ideas in Paul’s letters that we will never be able to decode by knowledge of theology, study of comparative religions, Greco-Roman history, Greek grammar, 1<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>st</sup> century Judaism. There will be verses in Paul <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which simply boggle the mind, to wit:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">….when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son </span></i><span lang="EN-US">in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles….<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><br />
The problem with the line that Conzelmann takes is simply that Paul’s commission to Gentiles is not understandable to someone who is sane, and always has been sane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One can rhapsodize around it, and run wild with theology but the simple test that we all use to ascertain the truth of what we are told, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I-am-thou</i> check, will fail. What does Paul say ?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> God set Paul apart before he was born, God called Paul through his grace, God was pleased (no less) to reveal his Son in Paul </i>in sending him on his way. Any competent mental health professional today reading such a presentation of self, would at once identify them as delusional ideas of reference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul projects his feelings of grandiosity into God and makes himself the interpreter of the Jewish scriptures among <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>special groups of Gentiles, who like him believed they were hand-picked by God to save what was worth saving of humanity in an impending destruction of the world. One of the great mysteries that explains Paul’s success is that the basic structure of this delusional scenario is quite common among psychotics everywhere. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Jesus Christ went out to tell them they had Christ in them, they already knew, or knew someone who was saying the same thing and looked sometimes crazy and sometimes not.<br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would be the sober assessment of the verses. The argument that the Greco-Roman antiquity accepted such pleadings routinely is in want of proof. Paul would have been generally despised as a devil-possessed psycho in all places he went, except in groups familiar with the phenomena of the manic spirit and its annihilating <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>obverse. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The historical development of the Church and its suppression of the oracular spirit as the final authority in accessing the saviour, is the best argument against the notion that the ancients in the Greco-Roman Near East were tolerant of the mentally ill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333;">For one, I know that Conzelmann’s theological mentor, Rudolph Bultmann, openly discussed the delusional nature of some of the beliefs ascribed to Jesus if there were held by a real human. So, it would appear Conzelmann’s teacher knew there are issues with the historical identity of Jesus, and to push theology out of harm’s way, he declared himself for the view that we can know nothing about Jesus with certainty, historically speaking. His pupil could not say the same with Paul, since he had Paul in his face, historically speaking, so he declared himself for the view that we cannot know anything about Paul, psychologically speaking. <em>The sources are simply not there.</em> This sort of approach greatly distressed Paul Tillich who warned its cumulative effect would be <em>empty theism</em>. As theology locks itself inside its own hermetically sealed little world, it loses touch and relevance. The attitude reminds one so much of the wife of the bishop of Oxford, who on learning of the Darwin’s theory of our biological descent exclaimed: <em>Let us pray it is not true, or if it is, that it does not become generally known</em>.<br />
<br />
But the reality is that we have Paul’s letters and they reveal quite a bit about Paul, not the theologian, not the saint, but the courageous human suffering periodically from a debilitating disorder who through creative genius that dissociated a part of his person into a mythical personna, laid the groundwork for the world’s most successful religion. There are direct and oblique references in Paul’s letters to his health and with the cognitive patterns in his theology which – read together – may create a psychological profile which is reasonably close to what we may know of him, a profile which optimally would be candid but compassionate, and therefore perhaps theologically useful to some who dare to rattle the skeletons of dogma, and trying to read the texts differently. As for the rest of the New Testament, the texts, contrary to conservative belief, present an interesting window on the social psychological makeup of the early Christians and may yet shed unexpected insights on the first communities and the development of their beliefs. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333;"> </span><span lang="EN-US">My present project then does not focus on the historical person of Jesus, but rater rather on the psychological facets of the first mystical witnesses of him, specifically the writing of Paul and Mark. Both show a strangely ambivalent posture to the historical figure. And, as I am a man known to speak his mind, let me be even more challenging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two saviours of Jesus, actually had a distinctly unfavourable view of his career and despised what they saw of him in the following he left behind. Yet they were strangely drawn to the figure’s earthly fate, and they explored deep, mysterious connection they felt existed between themselves and him, in the depths of ourselves which we do not understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">The project started as a sort of apology to myself for going off the deep end, out of shame and frustration that comes with a sudden acquisition of a psychiatric label in a mature individual. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had always thought of myself as a bright type, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>well-read, down to earth and free of nonsense. Yes, I was thought of as eccentric, some would say very much so, but a professional concern to mental health professionals ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Definitely no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was hard getting my life arranged to fit<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the new normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My reputation was shot during what was described to me by the shrinks as an episode of hypermanic excitation. What I did and said, the way I carried on, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>made everyone around fearful and distrustful of me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a freelancing business software designer I had built a niche of clients. It dissolved almost overnight. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though my creations<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>worked well,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I instantly lost most of my business as the word spread that I went insane. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My friends became insufferable with their patronizing solicitude. My mother wrote or called almost every day. She insisted<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I return to her care in my native Prague.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a couple of her calls,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my sister intoned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maggie, my ex-girlfriend, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who moved out of my apartment some three months before my episode, came to reclaim her petty possessions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As her bag was getting filled with near-empty <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>jars of cosmetics, an alarm clock radio,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ayn Rand paperbacks, and a pair of slippers she never wore, she kept glancing at me furtively,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>probing <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what Sally (my neighbor and mutual friend) was reporting to her about me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Suddenly, I had no one. No one knew me; I did not know myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There I was at thirty seven, a babe born again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US">During my episode <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I scribbled profusely and mailed copies of my manifestos and proposals for action to the former Canadian Prime Minister, to the Vatican, and to the White House. The world was going to be destroyed by a nuclear war which would be triggered accidentally, my dispatches revealed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To save life on the planet, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>instructions <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>entrusted to me by God, would have to be carried out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To make my mission credible, I <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(or rather, someone standing in the place of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><em>I</em>) , wrote, and my credentials<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>beyond dispute, God chose me, an atheist, and someone who never dabbled in politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"> Be it as it may, I was seen talking to myself aloud in the streets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My neighbor Sally said to me later that I looked drunk, and smelled of urine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember running upstairs after she told me that and sniffing through my dirty laundry. I found nothing that reeked but the bin had a faint smell, or so I convinced myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly, I recalled an incident of losing bowel control during one of the terror attacks a couple of months before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As many things in the episode, it was blocked from my memory. Now I recalled it but I could not remember what I did with the clothes I wore. I was grabbed by a surge of visceral disgust and panic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, it is confirmed, I thought, I am insane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Everywhere, around me, I was finding evidence of my unsoundness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here was a note to Henry Kissinger, to make himself comfortable in my loft – I might be late for our appointment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a Wordstar printout to John Paul II., addressing him as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brother</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Keeper of the Keys, </i>informing him of my commission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scraps of paper with sayings, aphorisms, notes to TV celebrities, addenda to the Bible, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mathematical formulas yielding the phone number of the greatest American writer alive whom I tried to contact. I called him <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dear Baptist</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(My phone bill was in thousands) . They seemed to come out everywhere: from inside books, from behind the bed, under the flower-pots, in between the cushions of the sofa, out of the drawers of my dresser.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One water-damaged notepad I found <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>under the cast-iron bathtub.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Book of Sharats</i>,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>messages or proverbs that were sent to me by God in the form of ants. The messages were decoded by eating them and then transcribed. </span> <br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US">I lived in a loft above a pub on a busy Montreal boulevard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the balanced bio-sphere of my place, the mice normally took care of the insects and the cat took care of the mice. But that summer, after Maggie left with her little predator, everything seemed to be out of whack. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very discouraging, and kept driving me to the edge of a precipice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>@@@</span></div><br />
[end of the first segment]<br />
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7513207989692345204#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lack of grammatical agreement is intentional and mirrors<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the seeming mismatch in subjects of Mk 3:20-21.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div></div>EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-24894506115132537402011-10-31T09:39:00.003-07:002012-06-03T07:10:36.970-07:00Mark's Magical (Circular) Mystery Tour The idea may not be as crazy as it first appears. Or if it is, at least I am not the first one who has seen Mark as a going in circles. I have already shown (<em>Mark's Recursive Gospel</em>) why I believe the original design of Mark was circular. At the end loop, the <i>messenger</i> of the Lord in the tomb unsuccesfully attempts to baptize the disciples into the death of Christ via their women. The body of Jesus is missing but the<i> σομα χριστου </i>lives in Paul's church(es) in the unio mystica of its saints with the Redeemer. The church itself is the body of Christ. The final scene of Mark (16:1-8) reveals the encrypted interpretation of Malachi 3:1, <em>"Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, <b><u>and the Lord whom you seek</u></b>* <strong><u>will suddenly come to his temple**</u></strong>; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts..."</em> <br />
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*/ note the explicit parallel with<em> Iησοῦν ζητεῖτε τὸν Ναζαρηνὸν </em>in Mk 16:6.<br />
**/ refers to Paul's metaphor of one's body as the temple of God (1 Cr 3:16, 6:19) <br />
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In other words, Mark fooled the uninitiated reader into thinking his reference to<i> Isaiah the prophet </i>was to the messenger sent before the Lord, and he artfully encouraged the misstep by annexing Isa 40:3, with John as the voice crying in the wilderness to make the path straight for the Lord. The obscuring of the Malachi verse was deliberate as it provides the vital interpretive clue to Mark's allegory as a whole and specifically to the action of the messenger of the Lord in the tomb (16:6-7). <br />
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But Mark's ruse was not as simple-minded as that ! The mention of Isaiah also strongly binds with the strange allusion to <em>gospel in </em>the opening verse. Why would the writing start with something that looks like a title ? I am led to believe by the cognitive structures present that the first verse of Mark looked most probably like this: "<em>In the beginning of the gospel, as it written in Isaiah the prophet"</em> (<em>ἐν ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ τῷ προφήτῃ</em>). <br />
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We know there was only one gospel in Mark's time and it was the gospel of Paul. There is no indication there was anyone else who described his own missionary activity with what appears to have been a new verb εὐαγγελίζω (<em>preach the gospel, </em>found as participle in LXX only in Isa 52:17 xref Rom 10:15) which gave the noun from which it has been derived a new context. The word <em>'gospel'</em> would have been adopted in the earliest Christian communities with the understanding that it was the gospel of (Jesus) Christ. As Paul himself often dropped the descriptive tag to the word using it as standalone, and in Rom 2:16 referring to '<i>my gospel'</i> I am persuaded that the association of the word with Paul was initially high and with a subtext that the word belonged to him and bespoke of his teachings. From there I reason that the mention of gospel in the first verse of Mark was not as much self-description of the text that followed but a tribute to Paul's teachings by which it was inspired. We know that <i>ἐν ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου</i> was a turn of phrase used by Paul in Phl 4:15. Mark would have seen his creativity as inspired by, and owing to, Paul and himself very much in the large footsteps of the master builder(see my table <i>Paulinisms in Mark </i>earlier in the blog). By Mark's standards <i>gospel of Jesus Christ (the Son of God</i>) would be too longwinded for his purpose. Paul was the <em>ἀρχιτέκτων</em> of the gospel (1 Cr 3:10), upon which he, Mark is called upon to build. Hence also Jesus' own profession revealed in Mk 6:3. Isaiah 44:13 describes the initial master plan of the gospel and the fashioning the figure of Christ: <em>The carpenter stretches a line, he marks it out with a pencil; he fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.</em> This verse from Isaiah most likely also supplied the meaning of Mark's 2:1, i.e. that it was reported after Jesus returned to Capernaum that he was <em>ἐν οἴκῳ </em>repeated as <em>εἰς οἶκον</em> in 3:20, and 7:17<em>.</em> In none of these instances Mark actually means to use <span class="lexTitleGk">οἶκος as home or house but as a code for the in-dwelling spirit. </span><br />
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<strong>Tale of a shared conjunction</strong><br />
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The abrupt ending of Mark 16:8 has the potential of dramatically altering our view of the earliest Christianity. If the text of Mark was as Tischendorf presented it, the <em>appearances</em> of resurrected Jesus<strong> </strong>to his earthly disciples were believed to have happened not immediately after his death, but as a reaction to Mark's gospel, some forty years later. If Mark ended at 16:8, then <em>resurrection</em> was not an historical event but a theological concept which was first resisted and then modified in reaction to Paul and Mark by a group which has been dubiously described as <em>Jewish Christians</em>. <br />
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There was no single church at the outset but apparently two major independent, rival strands in the Jesus traditions, the older one disseminating the views of him by missions from Jerusalem and a newly formed one, which countered with an entirely different teachings on the meaning an death of the Nazarene prophet. Only the latter group, founded by Paul apparently accepted the cross as the symbol of Christ, renouncing the traditional Jewish messianic hope for a restored kingdom of Israel. The older group appears to have had great difficulty in accepting the purely spiritualist concept of resurrection as taught by Paul and allegorized by Mark. If this is not true then the original gospel of Mark in effect lied about the resurrection <em>not</em> being revealed to the disciples by Jesus, in person - postmortem. But if the women ran away from the tomb and did not share the annunciation they received, then the <em>gospel</em> (of Jesus Christ) reached the disciples, or those who believed in them as a source of tradition, through Mark's allegory, as Mark evidently intended. Mark's gospel is self-pointing, or recursive. <br />
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Markan exegets have often expressed incredulity at the gospel ending with a conjunction (γαρ), in what appears a syntax forced to suggest a continuation of the narrative. The grammar of the last verse (16:8) has been a subject of many discussions. My own solution at which I arrived independently but which I have learned since had been suggested by Robert Fowler (<em>Let the Reader Understand</em>) back in 1991 is that the conjunction actually was intended to connect the text back to the beginning. Fowler speaks of an analogy with a musical notation of <em>coda</em>, returning the reader/listener back to the beginning.<br />
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In my perspective, the circularity on the level of symbolism is given by two things. One is the symmetry of the baptism by John, which in its effect brings about the descent of the Spirit into Jesus, and the baptism of the messenger of the Lord in the tomb, which in its effect causes the reader following the story, to recurse back to the beginning, if unable to read the plot:<br />
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1) Jesus acquires dual nature at the Jordan, <br />
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2) he becomes empowered by divine Spirit, <br />
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3) he acquires disciples and spiritual witness (the demons, the Twelve, Markan readers) of his ministry - though others, including his family are convinced he has just gone off the deep end. <br />
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4) his disciples led by Peter and the Zebs (outside of the Twelve - read here) do not receive the spiritual mystery of Christ; after Peter, they come to idolize Jesus as the traditional Messiah who will restore Israel<br />
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5) but that is not what Jesus sees as his messiahship<br />
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6) the kingdom of God is not of this world<br />
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7) he must die and the witness of his resurrectional glory (the symbolism of the Transiguration) is sustained by faith <br />
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8) that's all folks, there is no other good news (gospel) and.....<br />
<br />
....if you do not have faith in the gospel, read it again, perhaps you will note on the second pass that Mark changed Malachi's 3:1 <em>prepare my way</em> to <em>prepare your way</em>, and that the messenger to be beheld, now refers to both John and the <em>neaniskos</em> in the tomb. You are on your way to more discoveries on Mark's Magical Mystery Tour through the scriptures. Just remember that Mark includes the letters of Paul as bonafide scriptures as well.<br />
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Second, the gospel's cycle is simply given by the nature of the Spirit. Bipolar challenge belongs in a class of mood disorders marked by a repetitive attacks. A severe manic episode is typically marked by stages where in the early phase of the episode, euphoric, over-confident, expansive and grandiose ideas and behaviours predominate. They then morph into increasingly disorganized, agitated behaviours and experience which becomes dysphoric, finally ushering into panic attacks and severe inner torments in which the Spirit is internally perceived as a malevolent intruder and impostor, until the mental excitement subsides and the subject typically passes into depressed moods.<br />
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The gospel begins with Jesus at the apex of euphoric intoxication; he is empowered by the Spirit, embarks on a chaotic tour marked by acts of large benevolence in providing cures, exorcisms, feedings and teachings of coming judgment which strangely belies a limitless potential for good that Jesus possesses (or Mark's reader is hypnotized to believe he possesses). The anarchic fugue suddenly changes when Jesus' becomes gripped by a prophetic resolve to go to Jerusalem to be humiliated, tortured and killed. At this juncture the Spirit animated by Jesus begins to realize the unreal, delusional, nature of the enterprise and seeks resolution of his predicament. Through the crisis, ironically plotted as the judgement of the Lord in reverse, even to the near-blowing of the allegorical cover of Paul, where Jesus is arrested "as if a robber" (ληστης) (cf. 1 Th 5:2), Jesus keeps his faith even to the seemingly hopeless end.EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-32747969627133189752011-09-19T20:51:00.000-07:002012-01-07T09:09:23.032-08:00Doherty’s Strange Defense of QTo many people it is surprising that Earl Doherty, the author of<em> Jesus, Neither God Nor Man </em>(hence <em>JNGNM</em>) who counts himself an atheist and someone who demonstrated that Jesus did not exist should also confess the reality of a document that no-one ever saw or talked about in antiquity, or Middle Ages, in fact no-one ever knew anything about until German theologians of the 19th century deduced its existence. The putative document is today known as “Q” as the acronym of the German word “Quelle” (source). The origin of the name itself has been the subject of numerous studies, and it seems that for the first quarter of century the name competed with the designation “<em>Logia</em>” (from the Greek “oracles”) referencing a futile and fading quest for an Aramaic compilation mentioned by an early church luminary Papias who himself was to write a five-volume commentary on it. As nothing was turning up on the oracles and the exegets could not even agree what “Logia” actually meant, a new problem arose after the discovery of a fragment of what we now call the Gospel of Thomas in 1897, which was dubbed “<em>Logoi</em>” (sayings). The focus in the search shifted from the Papias text to this finding which was the hoped-for shared source between Matthew and Luke. This document was for a while referred to as <em>Λ </em>(the Greek letter lambda), but soon Q became the standard, evidently to reduce the confusion that arouse around the “L” designation. That certainly happened but the proto-gospel that was thought to have been shared between Matthew and Luke, never showed up, nor anything testifying about its existence.<br />
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Doherty challenged me in an FRDB post to refute his views on Q, saying that <em>the document stands or falls on the neutral evidence for or against it</em>. Unfortunately, insofar as I am informed, there is no Q document to be examined. To a thinking brain, there is no evidence for Q to challenge. All we have are the cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die of a long array of NT scholars that the composition of Luke is not adequately explained without Q. All other considerations fade in comparison if they are relevant at all. So, the case for Q will be made not on the evidence for or against it, but on the viability of the propositon that Luke did not know, and could not possibly have known, Matthew’s writing. It is only when this proposition is demonstrated that Q becomes the preferred, even if not necessarily the only reasonable, source explanation. All right, let us then look at the way Doherty establishes a case for Q.<br />
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The Q discussion opens Part Seven of <em>JNGNM,</em> titled <em>Preaching the Kingdom of God.</em> After introducing the gospel sourcing, Doherty moves to the brief overview of Markan priority which most of the academics accept, and those who subscribe to the two-source theory need to accept as <em>sine qua non</em>. Doherty does a decent job of defending Mark as the earliest gospel. However, his first few paragraphs already show some strange habits of thought.<br />
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One indeed may dispose of other models by pointing out the greater primitivity of Mark’s, incidence of agreements among gospels that show dependence on Mark, and the higher presence of Mark’s content in the other two synoptics than what either Matthew or Luke would show in a parallel test. But it is poor form to use formulas like <em>gutted the Temptation scene, or discarded …the most prized of Christian ethics</em>, to depict Mark under assumed Matthean priority. The Matthean sermon would not have been beyond dispute at the time of Mark’s writing, and the temptation landscapes in reality might have been compacted by Mark for all sorts of reasons. For example, one can postulate Mark as a gnosticizing shorthand of Matthew, forcing a single iteration of the empowerment-persecution cycle on Jesus ‘ministry’. The temptation is a mini-cycle of the spiritual crisis which resolves itself in Matthew with Jesus explicitly defeating the devil. In Mark (and Luke as per 4:13 ), the crisis is left to be resolved by the cross, a manoeuvre which is truer to Paul’s theology. In the case of the sermon, it is gratuitously assumed that Matthew’s account was immediately embraced and venerated by all Christians. But it need not have been. There are what looks like some heavy anti-Pauline salvos coming from the Mount (5:19 and Matt 7:1-2 seem obvious) which would have been, and likely were, resented in many communities. Matthew’s version of the sermon became a prized jewel of Christianity no doubt, but the poignant question is <i>when</i>.<br />
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These are just two examples right at the start of the section which should make people leery of Doherty’s habit of introducing a counter-argument by characterizing it.<br />
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The rhetorical posturing would come into full relief starting in the first paragraph on the Q Document in chapter 7 (p.310). Doherty admits there is no reference to the suggested proto-gospel to be found anywhere and that its existence merely a <em>‘majority scholarship’s deduction’</em>. But prior to any discussion of the viability of the Q hypothesis, he cannot help himself announcing that the arguments for the existence of Q are <em>‘much stronger than those against it’</em>. Having revealed the idea of having the sentence first, i.e. dismissing objections out of hand, the wonderland captive then proceeds <em>‘to the examination of [this] question’</em>. But actually, he would not do that just yet. Before the justification of Q’s existence is offered, Doherty needs to assure the reader that ‘<em>the exact extent of Q is still matter of debate’</em> and walk her through two-and-a-half pages of descriptions of the layers and get even into of actually describing the nitty-gritty for the Q’s strata of development. Then, at long last, he will examine the question of existence (p. 313). But, don’t get your hopes too high !<br />
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The first sentence of the <em>‘Existence of Q’</em> section resets the readers’ expectations for a scholarly review: ‘<em> Having gained an overall picture of [Q], we can digress to consider the very question of whether it actually existed or not’</em>. Wait a minute: did he write we <em>‘digress’</em> to the <em>‘very question’</em> he promised to <em>‘examine’</em> three pages earlier ? Yes, I am afraid he did.<br />
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Now obviously - or perhaps it is not obvious to some - if I were to argue for the existence of Jesus in the same manner Doherty argues for the existence of Q, the sceptics would laugh me out of the room: <em>‘Some say that Jesus did not exist, but the majority of scholars disagree with this view and I will show you why shortly, but first let me give you some basic data about Jesus. He was born in Bethlehem 4 BC, and after flight from Herod’s murderous hand and return to his native Galilee, his family settled in Nazareth. At a later point Jesus moved to Capernaum, where, scholars agree, he lodged in Peter’s house……now, let us digress to the silly question of the naked existence of Jesus’</em>.<br />
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Debating with Doherty is a frustrating business as he does not seem to grasp that among the academic points of view (unlike that of political speech, e.g.), there are finer shades of distinction and the tools in exposition simply do not, as a rule, admit careless banter of the sort he proposes.<br />
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<strong>If Only Hypotheses Support Hypotheses the House Cannot Stand.<br />
</strong><br />
Having introduced the modern Q skeptics Austin Farrer, Michael Goulder and Mark Goodacre, Doherty, in the first issue of method he presents, wishes to dismiss the generally valid rule that a simpler explanation is preferable to the more complicated one. He states that using the Occam’s razor rule to <em>‘decide the day’</em> in this case would be incorrect. He writes: <em>‘it would be like a prosecuting attorney declaring the defendant guilty of the murder dismissing the defence’s claim that a third party was a culprit on the grounds that the latter is introducing an extra entity’</em> (p. 313). But this hopeless straw-man misstates both, the application of the logical principle, and the views of the scholars who consider Q extravagant or unnecessary. Occam made it clear in his rule that <em>“entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity”</em>. In the murder trial example, if relevant, the evidence of the third party’s involvement would be <em>“necessary”</em> to dispense justice and could not be thrown out on the principle cited. And ,by the way, prosecuting attorneys do not declare guilt or innocence of the accused in any known criminal proceedings. The self-evident function of this exercise is to remove considerations of <em>‘raison d’etre’</em> for Q, the very thing that is to be decided in the chapter. Whether choosing specifically a murder trial as illustration was designed to paint the Q dissenters and create an adverse gut reaction in his inexpert audience to their ideas, I will leave to Doherty’s readers to decide.<br />
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The next paragraph Doherty decries the reluctance to admit <em>‘hypothetical documents’</em> stating that historical research is <em>‘full of hypotheticals’</em>. As an example, he offers an imagined scenario in which Mark’s gospel was not preserved and the scholars would have to guess its existence from Matthew and Luke. Again, this is a fallacious argument. One cannot compare a real document (Mark) to a hypothetical one (Q) on the basis of a scenario that is itself hypothetical. The obvious problem is the lack of verifiability of whatever result we would obtain from such speculative adventure.<br />
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Before considering the actual issues in the Q/no-Q debate, one has to establish what needs to be proven about Q for one side to prevail. Generally, both sides agree that Luke knowing Matthew obviates the need for Q. (The only notable dissenter to this point of view to my knowledge is R.H.Gundry who apparently believes Luke knew Matthew but still sees Q as a source to both.) This very simple rule was formulated in the 1950’s by Farrer. If we can defend a view that Luke did not redact Mark independently of Matthew, we may dispense with postulating Q as a document. Doherty does not say that anywhere, and it is not clear how people who are not familiar with the synoptic issues could form an informed opinion relying on the digest he provides. What are the burdens for each side to prevail in the debate ? Is the thesis of Q falsifiable and if so, how ? Specifically, what needs to spelled ahead of time is that the need for the Q stands and falls with the view of Luke’s organization of the double tradition, i.e. material common to him and Matthew but not to Mark. Doherty does not analyze such important matters. He simply rules on them, without qualification. If the double tradition shows Luke re-arranging the sequence of the Matthean materials while following the sequence of Mark’s stories, then if Luke was to know Matthew, he would in Doherty’s opinion <em>‘seem to take somewhat schizophrenic approach to sources’</em>. Simple as that ! But an intelligent, thoughtful reader, would immediately have to ask herself: why would it be so hard to credit that Luke gave different weight to both gospels, considering the original script the more authoritative one for sequence ? What if there was some adverse reaction in the Pauline communities following the appearance of, and fast conquest by, Matthew which they perceived as threat to the ‘faith’ by a new campaign of the judaizing horde driven out of Jerusalem by the 66 CE war ? And isn’t Q just a too obvious smoke-screen behind which to sneak in a monolithic first-century church where everyone believed the same thing, namely that all the wisdom of ages proceeded from the mouth of Jesus Christ during his short ministry on earth ? It would appear that even though it originates in Protestant scholarship, the Q theory enthusiastically promotes the assertion of the fifth-century church man Vincent of Lerins, professing Catholic faith, <em>“which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all”</em>.<br />
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With no definition of terms and no overview of the historical development of the Q theory, Doherty goes to work on the latest and most sophisticated of the Q critics, Mark Goodacre. Again, there would be no digest of Goodacre’s thesis (e.g. as it is spelled out in his book <em>The Case Against Q</em>). Instead, Doherty goes straight into reciting the University of Toronto John Kloppenborg’s attempts to refute Goodacre’s major points. There is very little which Doherty adds to Kloppenborg’s critique (taken, it seems, in its entirety from his essay, <a href="http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~kloppen/2003mwqh.pdf">On Dispensing with Q ?</a> <em>Goodacre on the Relation of Luke to Matthew</em> ). No big issue per se in Doherty’s dependence on leading Q scholar when he criticizes Goodacre, but I find problematic his taking a highly technical argument and presenting it in a trivial manner to non-specialists, in packaging which distorts both the aims of the critique and the criticized approach. I have already mentioned the accusation that Doherty makes as Kloppenborg’s interpreter, with respect to the perceived ‘<em>schizophrenic approach’</em> of Luke, and there is yet another crude <em>doherty</em>ism at the end of the section, in which the writer asserts that if Matthew did not originate all the material (imputed to Q) but drew it from some other source, <em>‘then one has simply re-invented Q’</em>. This random brainwave is not directly attributed to Kloppenborg or any of the academics mentioned in the paragraph preceding, but still. A more judicious approach would clearly separate attribution of ideas in sections where one presents commentary of someone other than himself.<br />
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Kloppenborg is complimentary to his opponent, a skill which appears to be alien to Doherty, who often gives the impression that an admission by him of skill or (God forbid) commanding argument in a rival view equals to an admission of defeat. The Q scholar from Toronto says that one of the virtues of Mark Goodacre’s book is <em>‘its sense of proportion and balance. Where Ropes’ proposal was little more than an aside, Farrer’s case logically flimsy, and Goulder’s exposition so full, subtle and complex, that it is accessible only to specialists, Goodacre’s argument is clearly structured, careful in its logic, and helpfully illustrated with a few choice Synoptic texts’</em>. Indeed, as a non-specialist myself, I was delighted to find how clear-headed Goodacre’s book is, making concepts and arguments instantly available by thinking through their presentation. This is a skill I do not often see in my readings of NT scholars.<br />
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I am afraid I would not be able to say the same about Kloppenborg. He certainly gives an impression of encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject matter, and scholarly discipline in presenting his argument. But I find his arguments, and counters to Goodacre unpersuasive.<br />
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On the crucial issue of the hypothetical nature of Q, Kloppenborg proceeds in a manner that clearly inspired Doherty, but falters. He says, "<em>Q is indeed a hypothetical document. Equally hypothetical, however, are Matthew and Luke’s dependence upon Mark, something that Meier (along with Farrer and Goulder) apparently did not think it worthwhile calling ‘hypothetical’"</em>. Unfortunately, one does not have the luxury of that line of defense. To proclaim the existence of a hypothetical document is not quite the same thing as proclaiming a hypothetical relationship between existing documents. The ensuing argument he makes for the <em>‘hypothetical nature’</em> of Mark simply fails to convince as it equates a presumed but unproven text (Q) and its organization with one (Mark) which although – true – we have received after much redactional development, but have received nonetheless. Unfortunately, the idea that the hypothetical nature of Q can be defended by arguing that all synoptic relationships are hypothetical in nature strikes me – purely on logical grounds – as a poorly disguised <em>et-tu-quoque</em> against Goodacre’s charging that Q enjoys undeservedly <em>‘the aura of received truth’</em>.<br />
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<strong>Minor Agreements</strong><br />
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The one hugely surprising thing in Kloppenborg’s criticism of Goodacre is his reluctance to take on the strongest argument against Q, the existence of the so-called ‘minor agreements’ between Matthew and Luke against Mark. The inevitable question needs to be answered: why are there so many points where Matthew and Luke are in unison against Mark, if one supposes they redacted him independently ? Kloppenborg waves off the question saying that there is already a lot of stuff written on that subject and he could not do it justice in the scope of the essay, and - herein the eyebrow-raiser - that the agreements do ‘<em>not represent a problem for the MwQH (Mark without Q Hypothesis)</em>’. This is a puzzling response to Goodacre who calls the minor agreements ‘the Achilles heel of the two-source theory’. One would expect at least some token grasp of the gravity of this issue would be offered by Kloppenborg. Doherty, however, in one of the responses where he departs from Kloppenborg and speaks for himself, did respond to the challenge of minor agreements, which of course counts as a positive.<br />
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Goodacre points out, citing E.P. Sanders and W.D. Davies, that there is hardly a pericope in the triple tradition (events recorded in all three gospels) that does not show some minor agreements. It is to Goodacre’s credit that he tempers the finding by allowing that some of the redaction was common stylistic editing which does not presuppose Luke’s dependence. However, he is just as quick to dispel attempts to wish away the ‘minor agreements’ as insignificant, sarcastically commenting against C. Tuckett that there seems to be a tendency among the Q defenders to explain the minor agreements as “minor” and the bigger ones as “Mark-Q overlap”.<br />
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If Doherty did one better than Kloppenborg in addressing the problem, he does not seem quite to grasp the trouble the Mt-Lk agreements in the triple tradition spell for the two-source theory. For example, he proceeds on the careless assumption that where ‘Lukan-Matthew material can be assigned to Q, there is no problem’. Not registering Goodacre’s sarcasm, he also forgets the name of the chapter into which he writes and its purpose. It is called ‘The Existence of Q’ and it is where he is to explain why the hypothesis of Q is necessary. One cannot assume what one sets out to prove. One cannot assume Q but must show why a simpler alternative would not work just as well. Further, the issue of agreements clearly militates against the idea that Luke did not know Matthew’s gospel. There are – generally speaking - two possibilities in explaining the overlap of the later synoptics in their dissent from the known prior source, Mark. One, they knew each other; two, there was another source preferable to both which supplied the dissenting formula or motif. This reasoning should quickly lead to another step: what does in this instance, in which one explanation is clearly more parsimonious, justify the more complicated one ?<br />
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Doherty reluctantly admits that in <em>‘few cases’</em> the agreements are <em>‘not that easily explained’</em> and that<em> 'such agreements tend to constitute a major appeal’</em> for theories like Goodacre’s. But lest the babes in the exegetical woods stray from the path of the righteous, he issues a warning that we should not place much confidence in <em>‘specific wording between evangelists’</em>. We have no manuscripts to go by before the 3rd century, says he. I am not sure Doherty fully appreciates the irony of some of his positions: Here he cites the lack of early gospel manuscripts to defend the existence of presumably the earliest source manuscript that gave rise to them. Does he understand the repeated charge of <em>‘circular reasoning’</em> that Goodacre raises against the Q proponents ?<br />
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The answer to Goodacre’s<em> “most striking”</em> parallel in the Passion narrative again discounts the import of the minor agreements. At issue is the addition of five identical words by Matthew and Luke to Mark’s account of physical assault by the Sanhedrin members on Jesus after his trial. Both add <em>“who is it that struck you ?”.</em> This is an extremely difficult verse in all three gospels. First off, the idea that judges would physically mistreat a prisoner looks far more like a literary ploy, than anything else. Second, what is the function of the assault in the Passion story, and further, if unrelated , why does the malevolence specifically involve Jesus’ ability to prophesy ? The intent is opaque in Mark, despite Goodacre plausibly pointing back at 10:34 as the source of malevolence against Jesus, their glee at Jesus succesfully prophesying his own earthly demise. However, Matthew’s annex, for this scenario still leaves questions, as does Luke’s insisting on the return of the blindfold, leaving aside the intent of the assault being carried out by venerable counsels of the court. Both Luke and Matthew understood there was something else at play that warranted adding to the maliciousness. Mark gives a hint in 15:10, naming <em>‘envy’</em> as the cause of meanness of the assailants, but that complicates things even more. The line added by Matthew and Luke, indicates specifically prophesying <em>ex eventu</em>. Suffice for the moment that the <em>“who is it that struck you ?”</em> derides Jesus’ in a very difficult way for an outsider to grasp, and that both Matthew and Luke would have to get the insight into Mark’s opaque intent on their own, and phrase it exactly the same way. Doherty thinks that the way out of the conundrum in this instance – since it lies outside the accepted scope of Q – is to assign it to one of the two authors and then have the other gospel pick it up in a process known as text “assimilation” which is known to have occurred in many places in many of the NT documents. But this is blatantly special pleading. The point that Goodacre makes is that the minor agreements occur everywhere, whether in the Q scope or not, so plainly it is not an answer to say that if they can be assigned to the Mark-Q overlap, we could do that, and if we can’t, we could explain them by assimilation. Again, why would we need two explanations, if one can cover both instances ?<br />
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<strong>Luke’s Order </strong><br />
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If the agreements as a major challenge to the two-sources tradition remained unanswered by Kloppenborg and poorly handled by Doherty, the perceived lack of rigour in explaining Luke’s diffusion of Matthew’s text in his own gospel engenders a substantive response. The attack centers on what is held as the improbability of Luke mistreating the Sermon, had he found it in Matthew as it stands. Both critics of Goodacre wilfully ignore his smart pre-empting this sort of attack in exposing its confessional background. He quotes one of the founders of the two-source theory, H.J. Holtzmann, who in 1860’s asked whether it was likely that <em>"Luke should so wantonly have broken the great structures, and scattered the ruins in the four winds” </em>(op.cit.59). He also brings in the modern commentators G. Stanton and C. Tuckett to express similar personal incredulity. He however remains undaunted in his criticism and says that <em>‘this argument is felt to be persuasive’</em>, meaning, <em>it isn’t</em>. And, it isn’t because at the root such statements are a pious conviction that Luke knew the feelings of the later churchmen in regard to Matthew’s Sermon and would not want to hurt those feelings. Factually, substantively, there is nothing that would have prevented Luke to adapt Matthew in close to the text that we have received.<br />
Doherty mostly repeats what Kloppenborg says even to the trite tidbit of asserting that Luke knowing Mark first and inserting Matthew into his narratives later <em>‘is unprovable’</em>. Compared to what exactly, may I ask. He complains that there is no explanation for the <em>‘piecemeal’</em> handling of the Matthean pericopes, and the subjectivity of the kinds of selectors that Luke supposedly deployed in displacing what is agreed on by almost everyone else, Matthew’s superior organization of the Q-material. I admit having certain sympathy for the criticism of Goodacre on this point for his mention of the <em>“Luke pleasing”</em> formula of Farrer. I think the MwQH would be better off without this sort of explanation as it is just as circular, as Holtzmann’s thesis of <em>“four winds”</em>. Further, it appears that no grand theory of Luke’s composition is called for here. The redaction that seems odd to the modern exegets could have been – and probably was - the function of a number of factors. Most plausible to me, is that Luke sought to devise a compromise gospel solution to squabbles between Pauline traditions and the newly arrived Jewish Christians, each prosecuting their own theological agendas. Matthew’s brilliant, ruthless demolition of the Pauline gospel monopoly proclaimed by Mark created completely new, and unexpected effects, accelerating on the one hand the unification of the churches and on the other, alienating irretrievably principled Paulinists, who on seeing a gospel with zombies walking out of tombs in Jerusalem and ravaging their communities, started an exodus into schools of docetic gnosticism.<br />
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Interestingly, Acts 1:6-7 is the only place in the New Testament that specifically concerns itself with the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. Surely there was clamour for specifically that in some quarters of Luke’s community and it was not the Gentiles. And again, the downsizing of Peter by Luke against Matthew and the formula by which he receives in Luke-Acts the credit of being the church first spokesman and envoy to the Gentiles sure looks like a tradeoff for Paul’s monopoly on the later missionary conquests. Not a peep from Luke about Peter’s church ! So, strange as it may seem to the devout and the clueless today, Matthew’s brilliant verses of the sermon might have been part of the bargaining process.<br />
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<strong>Other Issues in Luke’s Redaction of Matthew</strong><br />
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</strong>Let it be said that Doherty shows a great deal of confusion when he steps out of Kloppenborg’s protective shadow. He opines that Luke’s 8:10 failing to pick up Matthew’s 13:14-15 reference to Isaiah source saying argues for his ignorance of Matthew. But what does he know of the reason by which Luke prefers to go with Mark 4:12 quoting Isaiah 6:9 without attribution ? The omission of the <em>‘lest they turn and be forgiven’</em> in both Matthew and Luke is actually quite important and signifies likely the condition of repentance for the denial of the cross by Petrine followers is no longer an issue at the time of the later synoptics. But one cannot draw any reasonable conclusion from Luke not specifically mentioning Isaiah as Mark’s source. Goodacre makes mincemeat of the charge that Luke seems ignorant of Matthew’s modifications of Mark, which Doherty foolishly charges and badly illustrates. The fact that Luke does not pick up certain verses of Matthew cannot be construed as his being ignorant of them. Goodacre calls the argument <em>flawed </em>(op cit p. 52) and shows that Luke prefers the Matthean version to Mark’s in a whole slew of incidents with the John the Baptist ‘complex’, the Temptation, the Beelzebub controversy, and the Mustard Seed parable named as examples. <em>‘On all of these occasions</em>’, he says, ‘<em>the parallels between Matthew and Luke are more extensive than those between Mark and Luke’</em>.<br />
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Doherty charges that Luke <em>‘failed to incorporate the material’</em> known only in Matthew, the co-called <em>M </em>verses. He would not be humoured, as John Kloppenborg was, by Goodacre's clever retort that this objection exists only in the minds of the two-source theory worshippers. Had any <em>M</em> (Matthew only) material been taken over by Luke, it would have become by definition Q material - with a different bone to pick. It seems that by the 2SH theorists’ rules, it is heads I win, tails you lose. At any rate, whatever Kloppenborg or Doherty can dredge on the lack of convincing argument in Luke’s motives for editing cuts, in the end it is a subjective perception. They rely on a circular argument, which will be in want of proof, until some earthen jar in a West Bank cave disgorges a scroll with Q on it. One can argue based on theological imperatives, personal aesthetics, one church vs multiple communities, but, in the end, in the absence of conclusive proof, the argument should be decided on the parsimony principle.<br />
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Next issue on the agenda is the so-called <em>alternating primitivity</em>. It is said (Goodacre cites two authors) that if one of the evangelists followed the other, it is <em>“inexplicable”</em> why in certain sayings Matthew should have the simpler form and in others, Luke. Again, this kind of pseudo-reasoning vexes people who don’t do the academic group-think, and lucid scholars who stay away from it. Why should it be unthinkable that Luke sometimes simplified or pared down Matthew’s saying and at other times doodled around it ? One reason that I can <em>think of</em> is that many New Testament academics never quite grasp the text on personal level and convince themselves that this or that one of their favourite teachers <em>‘had it right’</em> without thinking about it too hard. Once the opinion acquires a large <em>‘installed base’</em> of believers, it is quite capable of maintaining itself even if it is manifest nonsense.<br />
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Doherty asks naively : <em>Can we believe that for Matthew’s “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness ?” Luke would have chosen to substitute “Blessed are you that hunger now ?”.</em> I take the first person plural in the question, no less so than the tortured <em>believe</em>, to be a slip of the pen of someone who just hasn’t got a handle on the material. If Doherty bothered to take a count of the word <em>dikaiosynē</em> (righteousness) in Matthew and Luke he would have found that Matthew’s quill <em>thirsted</em> and <em>hungered</em> for it far more often than Luke’s. The score is seven occurrences in Matthew to one in Luke. In Matthew, then, it is not hunger (or thirst) as such but those who need to be vindicated that are blessed. In Luke it is just promise to fulfil a more basic human need. So, it just could be – could it not (?) – that we are looking here at, not as much alternating primitivity as different community ethos. It might not have been as much a <em>‘culling’</em> of the beatitudes, as Doherty describes Luke’s work on Matthew’s text, but a determined revision of the Matthean counter-claim to monopoly access to Christ that the Sermon on the Mount shamelessly proclaims for the Palestinian traditions against Mark (who just as shamelessly pushed Paul’s). The two details that Doherty generously overlooked is that Luke’s beatitudes are delivered on the Plain (i.e. by the model <em>primus inter pares</em> !) and that the ones blessed are addressed directly (as <em>you, yours</em>) whereas Matthew’s Jesus speaks on the Jewish holy mount and gives the beatitudes in the third person plural. Luke’s preference for shortening the ‘poor in spirit’ to ‘poor’ may be explained by the fact that the <em>πτοχοι</em> was itself a term meaning literally the needy, and a cultic designation for the Nazarenes generically (<em>ebyonim</em>), which actually might have been closer in meaning to <em>‘dispossessed’</em> if read as originating in Deut 15:4 . Luke’s correction of Matthew then would not be modifying the blessing but actually expanding it.<br />
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The example Doherty gives of Mark 8:38/Matthew 10:32-3/Luke 12:8-9 (p 319) also need not in bespeak of <em>‘primitivity’</em>. To begin with, the example chosen is wrong ! Luke repeats a variant of the Mark’s saying cited at 9:26, so this is a special case of triple attestation to begin with. Further, the perceived primitivity of the Son of Man versus Jesus speaking in the first person singular, need not relate to Mark 8:38, but again to what might have been Luke’s community reaction to Matthew’s perceived excesses in impersonating Jesus. Note e.g. that on the Plain Luke uses the <em>‘I say’</em> formula only once and Matthew’s <em>‘on my account’</em> in 5:11 Luke renders as ‘on account of the Son of Man’ in 6:22.<br />
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Further on, there is the <em>“editorial fatigue”</em> question. Doherty defines the feature proposed by Goodacre correctly as a tendency of a creative editor in modifying a source text, to revert to the original, or carry over a reference to the original that contradicts the intent to modify the text. Unfortunately, he then goes on as if Goodacre proposed that the editorial fatigue itself is a phenomenon which, like the minor agreements, militates directly for Luke’s use of Matthew rather than Q. That most certainly is not the case in Goodacre’s book that Doherty quoted. What Goodacre proposed back in 1998 is something else: we can help establish Marcan priority if we find a fairly persisting pattern of fatigue in Matthew/Luke redacting Markan stories. He made some intriguing comments about applying this rule in the <a href="http://www.markgoodacre.org/Q/fatigue.htm">Fatigue in the Synoptics paper</a> to the double tradition which he did not repeat in his book The Case Against Q published in 2002. In preparing this essay, I have exchanged e-mails with Mark Goodacre, and asked him about his decision not to push his case with the double tradition examples Doherty cites (Mt 25:14-29/Lk19:11-27, Mt 10:11-14/Lk 9:4-5). Doherty goes on for nearly a page trying to refute the alleged Matthean dependence by Luke in these stories by all sorts of irrelevant and fallacious tangents, failing to note that the <em>fatigue</em> is non-starter for the manner he grasps Goodacre’s argument, i.e. that the tool does not help establish which source caused the logical lapse. What Goodacre proposed was something else. Assuming that we accept the evidence of the phenom for both Matthew and Luke in the triple tradition and the two examples of Luke’s fatigue in reading Matthew, is it not curious that Matthew does not get fatigued <strong>also</strong> (!) while reading Q ? Goodacre wrote to me that no-one in the thirteen years since the paper was published has come up with an example of Matthew’s fatigue reading Q, as he does in the three recorded cases of him mishandling Mark. Conclusive ? Not by itself, no, but it is definitely curious.<br />
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Finally, we come to the issue number (7) (page 322) in which Doherty offers Kloppenborg’s confession that Q presents <em>‘a distinctive quality and content’</em>, themes that he believes ‘<em>shine out [sic] in Q as central concerns, but are not of significant interest in the rest Matthew and Luke’</em>. If one keeps one’s head, there is not much that one can say about such <em>pronunciamentos</em> other than that professor Kloppenborg and Mr Doherty are certainly welcome to their opinions on the matter. But again and again: where is the business end of this ? It cannot be perceptions, oaths, visions, aesthetic preferences, and veiled pleas for unity in place of reason. All sorts of interesting things can be done with the texts, segregating portions of them based on different criteria, and then making observations about the resulting product. There are evidently traditions common to Matthew and Luke which are either ignored by, or unknown to, Mark. It is possible to segregate analytically the sayings tradition from the narrated events in the gospel background and then marvel that these <em>‘shine out’</em> as self-sustained units of tradition. But is that a sufficient proof that they are <em>that </em>? Is that a sufficient proof <em>they ever were that</em> ? Are they self-sustained units of tradition written up in stages and in a single document, as it is asserted ?<br />
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<strong>Concluding Thoughts</strong><br />
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I have expressed my conviction in one of my previously blogged essays (“Notes on Jesus Historicity”) that the theory of the mythical origin is not a hopeless undertaking and that the contempt shown for the idea by most of the mainstream scholars may itself be foolhardy. I have also said that a better mythical theory would be more circumspect than either G.A. Wells or Earl Doherty have been about subscribing uncritically to the analytical tools of the liberal NT scholarship. For one, it is an unwise way to try to gain respectability for an unorthodox theory. More importantly, tools like Q will ensnare a mythicist and drive him or her into a corner out of which it will be hard to fight one’s way. The theory of Q presupposes a single common tradition standing opposite to Paul one on which Matthew and Luke drew differentially. I strongly believe this itself is a myth and one which needs to be resisted. The trend was most probably exactly the opposite: an early manifold of separate traditions, Galilean, Jerusalem and Pauline which gradually came together, often through acrimonious adversity and only loosely relying on the historical background of a common founder. None of these foundation strands relied substantially on actual sayings of Jesus, but they all subscribed to oracular revelations which came to be attributed to the nominal founder through a number of transport vehicles: a sort of a metempsychosis of the Thomasian school, revelations of the risen Christ among the Paulines, and cryptically as <em>memoirs of the apostles</em> in the Pauline-converted Nazarenes after the first Jewish war. The last mentioned were not really reminiscences of what Jesus said but middle-of-the-night oracular visitations by him (described in the Clementine Recognitions, II.1) assigned to historical figures around him as guarantors of their genuineness.<br />
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This does not exclude the possibility that some of the gospel sayings actually go back to Jesus, the historical founder. But it appears that except for a possible handful most were supplanted by wisdom sayings, moral maxims and rulings on internal disputes which were attributed through the processes just named.<br />
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To someone not chained to brain-dead theology of pastors who file court cases against Moslem squatters in their empty churches, or new-age gurus who <em>define progress</em>, as Orwell did, <em>in the manner of blue bottles feasting on a dead cat</em>, what we believe as a culture with our own traditions does matter. What we admit as facts will forever be informed by beliefs. <em>What these beliefs are defines who we are</em>. In my own perspective, which is neutral to the factual facets of Jesus existence, there are some big questions that Q packages as dogma but leaves untouched by analysis. One of them is the lack of assurances that what is assigned to Q truly represents older, coherent Palestinian traditions and not often rhetorical devices of Matthew custom-made to promote agenda of his community in the difficult tugs-of-faith with the Paulines.<br />
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Why should it be believed, for example, that one of the emblematic Christian sayings <em>‘love your enemies’</em> actually originates in Jesus of the Q traditions and not in Matthew’s creative adaptation of Paul. He might have <em>wooed and wowed</em> the Paulines just as Mark would have in adopting the Son of Man appelation and the populist ethos of the Nazarenes in which the Jesus after receiving the Spirit from above dined with sinners (,an idea markedly un-Pauline). After all, Romans 12:20 loves ones enemies the Christian way, i.e. by being kind and solicitous to them and by so doing consign them to hell. It is just hard to fathom that Jesus would have paraphrased the Proverbs 25:21 saying and twisted it the same way as Paul did even though both believed themselves in the eschaton. Read by a psychologist, the saying betrays unmistakably a desire to hide hostility. One cannot love one’s enemies, for if one loves them he would not call them enemies and if one calls them enemies it is not because he loves them. This is just one example where a saying assigned to Q might in fact have had its origin on the opposite side of traditions.<br />
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Another candidate for revision is Q 6:41-42 <em>‘the speck and the beam’</em> saying. It is possible to see much of the mysteriously choleric end of the sermon (chapter 7) of Matthew as a concerted attack on Pauline supremacism. As I mentioned, 7:1-2 <em>‘judge not’</em> appears to attack directly the ‘spiritualist conceit’ of the Paulines referencing 1 Cr 2:15. The speck and beam saying comes immediately after it and appears to pick apart, by the syntactic structure and cognitive elements, the lampoon of the Petrines by Mark in the two-step cure by Jesus at Bethsaida. Jesus first removes the physical cause of the man’s blindness, after which the men can see but do not see in a way that makes sense. It is then that Christ provides ‘<em>spiritual insight’</em> (through Paul’s gospel) after which the man sees clearly. This conceited assault on the Nazarene traditions of Jesus infuriated Matthew who brilliantly threw it back at Mark. Note the metaphoric accord between the Bethsaida cure and the Mount saying. The blind man says he sees <em>‘men ….as trees, walking</em>’ in the first step of the cure. Matthew suggests first to remove a large wooden object from Mark’s eye and then he would ‘see clearly’ (referencing διαβλέπω – in Mk 8:25) in the second step, the speck in his brother’s eye.<br />
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I do not believe that this is coincidence as the pair of images following in 7:6, the giving holy things to dogs and throwing pearls before swine, also appear to attack Mark head on. In the first instance Matthew ripped into Mark for dissing the traditional saying in the story of the Syrophoenician woman (Mk 7:27), and in the second as a brutally defiant retort to the demand in Mk 4:12 that the Petrines (whom the Paulines disdained as <em>‘psychics’</em> given to the passions of the flesh) repent as a condition of receiving the full insight of the gospel. There was only one gospel in Mark’s time and it was Paul’s. Matthew mocks Mark’s view of his group as Petrine psychic ‘<em>swine</em>’ and foresees the Pauline cries of Matthean trampling on his flawed gospel’s ‘<em>pearls</em>’ of wisdom.<br />
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As a third and final example I choose Q 14:27, which simply protests too much in arguing the theology of the cross does not originate with Paul, and the saying was not coined by Mark who allegorizes Paul. For if it were true that the saying about ‘<em>taking one’s cross and following Jesus</em>’ originated with prescient Jesus or his Galilean following then neither Paul’s blowing his top in Galatians, nor Mark’s accusing the Petrine following (still) denying the cross as the sign of Messiah makes any sense. But evidently that is not the case. One can subscribe to the ‘<em>cynic-stoic’</em>, or the <em>‘deuteronomic’</em> origin of the saying only if one is willing to overlook the obvious signature present in all the variants of the saying - Paul’s maxim of <em>‘mimesis’</em>, central to his key teaching of the wisdom of Christ (1 Cr 1:18-31), and made explicit in a command by him (1 Cr 4:16, 1 Cr 11:1) and those who took the imitation of Paul too literally ( Eph 5:1, 1 Ti 1:6, 2:14, 3 Jo 1:11).<br />
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I have sketched briefly some interpretive angles in which Q appears to be a theoretical straight jacket. The framework simply does not fit the texts once these are analyzed independently of received wisdom. The documents deserve better analytical tools than Q, which strikes me as outmoded, redundant and counter-productive as it bars new avenues and angles of research into the gospel sources and development. That finding pits my own approach against Doherty’s. His embrace of Q is not surprising to me as I long ago spotted his passion for dogma. As someone who grew up in communist Eastern Europe during History’s implacable march to the final victory of communism, I am not fazed by the banal discovery that dogma is worshipped by many atheists just as fervently.EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-47904193417409108542011-06-28T07:54:00.000-07:002011-12-25T05:55:57.142-08:00In the House of James<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">Among the puzzling things about the early Christian history few can match Eusebuis’ silence on the Pentecost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The</span> inaugural event of the faith,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the consecration of Christ church by mass action of the Holy Spirit, an event which instantly convinced<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>five percent of Jerusalem that the crucified Jesus was Messiah, did not make it into the encyclopaedic History of the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we discussed this at Richard Carrier’s FRDB chat group, a couple years back, some people felt that this was just too much of a tall tale to be considered a historical event by a former lawyer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was not convinced that was the reason as Eusebius had not shied away from <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>an even more improbable event, the exchange of letters between the Abgar, the Toparch of Edessa and the Saviour, in which Jesus in Jerusalem (then still alive), blessed the ruler in writing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the manner of John 20:29 and promised to send help. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>So, it was not as though the bishop of Caesarea’s history was immune to the eyebrow-raising kind of affectations .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Likewise,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the argument that the Pentecost was well known and did not need to be further harped on, strikes me as gratuitous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would sure seem odd if a history of the French Revolution recorded as its first important happening<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the creation of the Consulate, and it was explained that the preceding events, including the taking of the Bastille, were historically trivial clichés</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">There are probably two reasons Eusebius’s skipped the event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The larger one seems having to do with the challenge of Judaism as the senior faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bishop says in his introduction to his Church History that Abraham received Christ as the Word of God and predicted Christians as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nation</i> in whom all nations were going to be blessed. (Gen 12:3, 18:18).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christians were the true heirs to the faith of the patriarch of Israel, and they practiced faith as he had done. So, said Eusebius, the teachings of Christ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is not new or strange but, in all honesty, ancient, unique and true</i>’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To a fourth-century literate believer the ideas of Christ’s pre-existence did ring true and the new status of the faith as imperial religion would have convinced most doubters who did not happen to be Jewish. If Constantine chose the cross as the sign by which to conquer, then Christ talked to Abraham<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"> </span>. It seemed perfectly logical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, Paul seemed to have said as much himself (Rom 4:12-13). Justin Martyr argued along the same lines against Trypho, without even acknowledging Paul.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">Despite the efforts of Eusebius to put a best face on it, Christianity in his time was a modern faith, a fact no doubt often played upon by the main proselyte rival of Christianity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eusebius knew that, being a diligent church chronicler. He knew his church, its traditions and the texts accepted by the episcopal authority as sacred scripture inspired by God. The scripture, in this case <i>Acts of the Apostles</i>, gave an account of the church founding and it belied a notion that Christ’s faith stretched back millennia as Eusebius seems to have claimed. By the book, the church was founded suddenly, in Jerusalem, by the descent of the Holy Spirit on the assembled followers of Jesus of Nazareth, tried and executed there by the authorities shortly before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were multitudes present at the event and many were so impressed with what they saw and heard, that they joined on the spot, swelling church body from the original one hundred and twenty believers to over three thousand<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Acts 1:15, 2:41).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contrary to Isaiah 66:8, quoted in the History,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the traditional account did declare the church was consecrated in a mass baptism, and born in a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, Eusebius’ history gave no hint of any act or event that would account for its coming into being.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">The second reason for Eusebius’ wanting different beginnings for his church, is that the Pentecost was embarrassing the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Eusebius' time, the church was becoming<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rome’s official religion, alas with only a fraction of Romans confessing Christ. The intellectuals of the empire were mostly pagan, and held the new religion in disdain as superstitious nonsense. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>In a few decades after the Church History was written, Julian the Apostate would mock the Christians “<strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">The idea of an incarnation of God is absurd: why should the human race think itself so superior to bees, ants, and elephants as to be put in this unique relation to its maker?... Christians are like a council of frogs in a marsh or a synod of worms on a dung-hill croaking and squeaking ‘for our sakes was the world created.</span></i></strong><strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">’”</span></i></strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition, there were internal dissensions and challenges to the imposed theological doctrines, which the church sought to suppress in search of unity and uniformity of belief in the cultural manifold of the empire.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">Speaking in a tongue, or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">glossolalia</i>, was a well known phenomenon in Mediterranean antiquity, and understood as one of the manifests of an individual being possessed by a god or a demon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within the new Christian milieu, different individuals and groups claimed their own unique visions of the Redeemer based on the presence of Holy Spirit in their congregations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Possessed by the Spirit, the leading figures in the groups entered into <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">unio mystica </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>with Christ and claimed revelations came to them directly from the risen Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not good news for the church administrators. Already John gospel warned against<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">kleptēs ka</span></em><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">i <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">lēstēs</span></em> </i>(‘a thief and a robber’), who climbs into the sheepfold to preach by means other than the door, i.e. by church-authorized access (Jn 10:1)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later in the second century, Irenaeus, the first of the Church heresiologists, expounded on the viles of certain Marcus, a magician and deceiver of the flock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It appears probable enough that this man possesses a demon as a familiar spirit by means of whom he seems able to prophesy </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #260101; font-family: "Times New Roman";">and also enables </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #260101; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">as many as he counts worthy to be partakers of his <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Charis</span> themselves to <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">prophesy</span> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #000066; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(</span><span style="color: #000066;">i.e speak in tongues</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #000066; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">)</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #260101; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. He devotes himself <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">especially to women</span>, and those such as are well-bred, and elegantly attired, and of great <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">wealth</span>, whom he frequently seeks to draw after him</span><span style="color: #260101;">…(Against Heresies 1.13.3)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="color: #260101;">The difference between authorized testimonies by the Holy Spirit and mindless ravings of the demon possessed, was a point of radical distinction for Irenaeus, the late second century church father and the bishop of Lyons.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">By Eusebius time, the authority of the Spirit was all but gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Spirit was too wild and unpredictable; the church at last suppressed a big challenge in Montanism, a movement which directly ran counter to the apostolic authority. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The bishop himself had unkind words on Montanus in which he revealed distaste for wanton prophesying<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and tongue-speaking nonsense.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 85.25pt 10pt 35.45pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Montanus, they say, first exposed himself to the assaults of the adversary (the Satan) through his unbounded lust for leadership. He was one of the recent converts and he became possessed of a spirit, and suddenly began to rave in a kind of ecstatic trance, and to babble jargon, prophesying in a manner contrary to the custom of the church which had been handed down by tradition since the earliest times. …Some that heard his bastard utterances rebuked him as one possessed of the devil,…remembering the Lord’s warning to guard vigilantly against the coming of false prophets. But others were carried away and not little elated, and thinking themselves possessed of the Holy Spirit and the gift of prophecy.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 85.25pt 10pt 35.45pt;">(Eusebius, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chronicle</i>, quoted in Charismatic Chaos, John F. McArthur Jr.,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1992, p.86)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">I am sure Saint Peter would have been fooled by the ‘custom of the church’ and the elation of the Montanists which looked so much like that of those possessed at the Pentecost.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 106.5pt 10pt 35.45pt; text-indent: -7.1pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">……these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.. </i>Acts 2:15-17</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">But as we know, the last days did not materialize; instead of Christ’s parousia , the Church came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Montanus and his two prophetesses Maximilla and Priscilla did not succeed in renewing the ethos of living on the edge of time, in the advent of the second coming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There would be no more homage paid to mass exhibitions of spiritual empowerment from above<br />
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Incidentally, the Pentecost event never happened anyhow. The mighty inaugural arrival of the Holy Spirit seems to have originated as an argument against Paul, who warned against wholesale displays of ecstatic verve such as he saw among the Corinthians believers:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If, therefore, the whole church assembles and all </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad? </i>(1 Cr 14:23)<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Such hypothetical could have hardly come from someone who knew the church he was ostensibly part of was founded by the very event he was warning against.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Even though the Pentecost event did not occur historically, the legendary mass action of the Holy Spirit on the congregation is nonetheless very important for the understanding of the headset of the Jerusalem messianists. The story informs us how the Jacobite community, that venerated Jesus, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>viewed itself even though, it is a record a from a number of generations later made by a different community for its own internal purposes.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">In the proclaimed happening, all members reached the ecstatic state as it was orchestrated from above in a fulfilled promise of the risen Lord to baptize his congregation with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). Whether or not they all received this baptism in one place at the same time, they event testifies to the belief in the reality of the spirit and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>its accessibility by all the church members without distinction. All were deemed capable of achieving ecstasy, and bring themselves into states of enormous euphoric excitement that gave them utterance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> T</span>he ecstatic state was not only tolerated by the community but the principal sought-after, unmediated, blissful communion with God, liberating the sectarians from the humdrum of daily cares of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, for the promised transports to God through Spirit and the sense of empowerment such excursions brought to members of the community, the converts were willing to part with whatever property and material goods they individually had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The novices recruited from all walks of life;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the thing they had in common was dissatisfaction with the world, engulfing them at times in waves of intense despair.[1] Some of them experienced sudden breaks from melancholy into rapturous happiness, and exalted grandeur, with intensity of living, and understanding of the world, as they never knew, or thought possible. The glorious ecstasies would alas leave them and they would be left as they were before, unhappy and afflicted by debilitating spiritual sickness, that kept turning heavens above into the skies of doom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they wandered around they found many like themselves, living at the edge of Abaddon, reaching<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>dizzying heights of glory only to be brutally cast down and left to totter in fear of the end, wondering what it all means.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Enter Jesus of Galilee</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">In plotting the probable earliest historical background against the myth-making of the Acts, a few things traditionally neglected need to be considered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have already indicated (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Notes on Jesus Historicity</i>) that some of Paul’s verses are best interpreted via recent historical figure. The earliest of the gospels, Mark, was written with aims similar to Paul, to discredit the earthly discipleship of Jesus and its false promise of a messianic kingdom on earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark leaves us an important self-dating clue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In chapter 13, plotting the Pauline parousia (13:26-27)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s Jesus warrants that<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> this generation shall not pass</i>, till all these things be done. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Mark worked with a double-tracking time system; that of the time of Tiberius and his own, and he freely mixed events from those two time frames.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The little apocalypse, like so may plots in his gospel, lampooned the Petrine view of the coming messianic kingdom (into Jerusalem <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">below</i>) and their puerile view of it, through the apocalyptic themes borrowed from Zechariah (14).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this decoy to work Mark’s writing could not be removed beyond the living memory of Tiberius reign.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>If then Mark wrote<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>~70CE,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul’s conversion and activities would have been earlier than ~37CE ( the Aretas IV. marker in 2 Cr 11:34) and this means the Jerusalem missions proclaiming Jesus would have been in place some time prior to that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On this schedule, it does not seem at all probable, that a community of believers in an executed wrongdoer<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>would have been able to establish itself in a hostile environment like Jerusalem (where their Galilean ways, and northern accent would have caused instant<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>frictions) without some kind of a prior larger community support and protection.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 0.2pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>In the most probable scenario, Jesus walked into Jerusalem some time 28-30CE with a small retinue <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>and shortly after was either killed outright in the precinct of the Temple or executed later for an uproar he instigated there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus’<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> miraculous escape from death in the Temple had at least two versions, John’s attempted stoning of him (8:59) and the Markan account where no reaction follows <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">immediately</i> to his destructive public rage in the Temple, as it certainly would have been the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the latter account, when Jesus indicates to the arresting party later that he is simply giving up to fulfil the scriptures (14:49), he is acting out a script.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Faithfully, this</span> type of <i>mythologem</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> repeats itself in almost any apologia for a fallen leader by his surviving followers, who first deny he was killed (if it is possible) and then admit the death with stipulations that their hero won a short reprieve from death before succumbing to a pre-ordained fate. You may count in among them Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad, the Báb, founder of the Baha’i faith, Juro Jánošík, the Slovak highlander hero, and the Sikh militant Jamail Singh Bhindranwale who was killed in the storming of the Amritsar Golden Temple in 1984.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will likely soon be joined by the latest martyr, the myth of whom still lingers in the first phase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The leader of the Tamil Tigers, Velupillai Prabhakaran was ambushed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and killed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in 2009. His corpse was displayed publicly by the Sri Lankan military.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a case of mistaken indentity, say the Tigers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If Jesus preached messianic kingdom, as not many people would dispute, then his killing by the authorities would have outraged the community of messianic ecstatics in Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The disciples would have found their way to the congregation and would have been sheltered<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by the group. It may have been even that the Jerusalem <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">notzrim</i> learned that some men were taken with Jesus and demanded their release, and this would have been done to placate raw emotions, and lessen the guilt if Jesus indeed was released by the Sanhedrin to the Romans who subsequently killed him with minimum ceremony, or even without trial (as Philo told us Pontius Pilate was in habit of doing).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cephas and the Zebedees would then become a part of the assembly and eventually sent out to raise money for the brothers in the diaspora.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>Based on Heb 3:1, it appears the group’s apostolic seers connected the Galilean Jesus’ ignominous death in midrash with Zechariah 3, and he became venerated as one rehabilitated in heaven, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>as a high priest an intercessor for the coming of messiah. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The imagery is striking:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 134.85pt 10pt 2cm;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 134.85pt 10pt 2cm;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?"</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 134.85pt 10pt 2cm;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 134.85pt 10pt 2cm;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel." And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments; and the angel of the LORD was standing by.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 134.85pt 10pt 2cm;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And the angel of the LORD enjoined Joshua,</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 134.85pt 10pt 2cm;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 134.85pt 10pt 2cm;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men of good omen: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 7;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Zech 3:1-8</i></div><div class="MsoNormal">In this scenario then,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus (Joshua) would <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>have been apprehended by the messianic cult, not as a Messiah himself but as an instrumental in-between, an apostle (Heb 3:1) and the high priest after the order of Melchizedek (Heb 6:20, 7:17)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">James the Just in Epiphanius and the Early Witnesses</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></b>I observe with amusement that Robert Eisenman in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">James the Brother of Jesus</i>, sifting through the mass confusion of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nazarene, Nazoraean, notzrim, Nazara, Nazirite, Nazaret, Naassene, Nazareth</i> seems uninterested in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nasaraeans, </i>a sect no-one seems to have known <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>anything about until they appeared in Epiphanius’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Panarion</i>. The bishop of Salamis identified them on the list of heretics as</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 78.15pt 10pt 35.45pt; text-indent: 0.55pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">….. "rebels," who forbid all flesh-eating, and do not eat living things at all. They have the holy names of patriarchs which are in the Pentateuch, up through Moses and Joshua the son of Nun, and they believe in them - I mean Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the earliest ones, and Moses himself, and Aaron, and Joshua. But they hold that the scriptures of the Pentateuch were not written by Moses, and maintain that they have others. (Panarion 1:18)</i></div><div class="MsoNormal">The lack of interest of Eisenman is understandable because he has vested interested in re-dating of the Qumran scrolls to make them speak of the 1<sup>st</sup> century Christians. The Nasaraeans, who look like an invention of Epiphanius , on the other hand are said to pre-date Christ (Panarion 29.5.7) and worship a different <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus (Joshua of the Old Testament).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>This is a fascinating piece of the puzzle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Medicine Chest</i> of Epiphanius deals with Christian heresies, why would these deplorable folks even be mentioned if they do not qualify on account being earlier than Jesus Christ ?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, in the section where Epiphanius reveals this group was before Christ he makes a point to separate them from the ascetic ‘nazirites’, the first-borns consecrated to God, like Samson and John the Baptist. What were these heretics rebelling against, if their distinguishing characteristic was that they venerated the patriarchs, Moses and Jesus namely, and abstained from meat just like James the Just, whom the bishop describes as the paragon of holiness ? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Does it have something to do with their belief that scriptures were written by the Holy Spirit ?</div><div class="MsoNormal">If it was just Epiphanius, then fine, he got it wrong or his sources were unreliable. But it isn’t:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all the written accounts of James have a strange property of contradicting the beliefs about him as the first Christian bishop in Jerusalem and the brother of Jesus of Nazareth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of them.</div><div class="MsoNormal">James is first registered in Paul’s letters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, if you read my previous essays in the blog (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How Many Were the Twelve, Through the Galatians Darkly</i>), you would know that I do not consider two of the mentions to be an authentic Paul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem (Gal 1:18-24) is highly suspect as Paul has no reference to James and Cephas from the first visit, when he goes to Jerusalem the second time</div><div class="MsoNormal">Paul’s 1 Cr 15:3-11 also is a later interpolation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was inserted by the Nazorean Petrines to combat Mark’s claim on the primacy of Paul’s gospel’s proclamation of the resurrected Christ. The passage lists James as one of those of whom Jesus was seen after his death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, despite almost all documents agreeing on an undisputed leadership of James, in this inventory of Jesus appearances,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his was listed low, after Cephas, the Twelve and some five hundred brethren who had seen Jesus at one time.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The only genuine reference to James in Paul is in Gal 2:12, where men come from James to Antioch and Cephas out of fear of the great leader withdraws from Gentile tables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you read my essay on Galatians you would see I dispute the generally held view that James the “pillar” refers to James the Just.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latter simply was too dominant figure by all accounts, and his authority over the messianic groups extended far and wide, for Paul to have referred to him as “so-called pillar”, and claimed that he “added nothing” to his stature of apostle.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Outside of Paul’s corpus , chronologically ,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the first mention of him comes from the Gospel of Thomas:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 106.5pt 10pt 36pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">GoT(12) The disciples said to Jesus : "We know that You will leave from us. Who is to be our leader ?" Jesus said to them :<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“From wherever you are now, You are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being."</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">This is an oracle of Jesus, which speaks, as it presumes <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>an unknown locale of the disciples. Jesus “leaving” the disciples refers to the cease of the spirit phenomena through which they “see” him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The saying then directs those who have had the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus</i> experience and possess the oracle to go to James the Just, in Jerusalem, once the oracular powers leave them. James is the divinely mandated protector of the Jesus oracle. This saying would have made no sense if it dated after James’ death in 62.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evidently, even if the reader of this does want to maintain it is real Jesus who speaks,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>then it would need to be explained why he is Jesus referring to his brother<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by a nickname he acquired after Jesus’ death as a leader of his church.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">The third historical notice -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>no less controversial - comes from Josephus Flavius in whose Antiquities (xx.9) James the Just was described as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the brother of Jesus, called Christ</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The genuinness of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the writing has been disputed by many as the appellation <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">him called Christ</i> - ος λεγομενος χριστος)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is hardly thinkable to describe a relationship for Josephus, who notoriously did not suffer gladly all manner of fools and deceivers believing themselves to be messiahs. Second,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>appellation itself is a copy of what Jesus is called in the gospel of Matthew three times and in gospel of John once. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>As two if these turns of phrase in Matthew come from the mouth of Pontius Pilate, it looks like the naïve interpolator believed that this is how non-believers would have refered to Jesus of Nazareth.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">James in the Acts and Hegesippus</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>If the treatment of James in the documents quoted above seems to contradict the officially held view that he was Jesus kin and the first bishop of a Jerusalem Christian assembly, then the Acts of Apostles account of him is nothing short of mind-boggling. James the Just, the universally recognized leader of the congregation, is nowhere seen until the twelfth chapter. He appears in the story literally out of nowhere, in a casual remark by Peter, who had just been liberated from Herod’s prison by means of a literary contrivance, about whose real nature, the storyteller avers, he seemed to be confused. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Peter asks that the news of his liberation be passed onto “James and the brethren” whereupon he disappears from the Acts except for a cameo appearance at the “Jerusalem conference” (15:7). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>James himself only speaks once in the Acts at the same gathering, giving a compromise ruling on observances among Gentile converts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only other mention of James comes as Paul reports to him and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the elders</i> on his third missionary journey. Nothing is heard of James on that occasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In roughly thirty years that the Acts cover, the leader of the congregation and no doubt its public face in Jerusalem has no role to play. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Nothing of historical substance is remembered of him. By my reading of the Galatians (Through the Galatians Darkly) there was no “conference” and Paul did not get to see James when going to Jerusalem.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>Interestingly Luke’s Acts do not seem to know anything about James as Jesus brother. Acts 1:13-14 names two groups who pray in a house in Jerusalem, the eleven apostles as one group with Jesus’ mother Mary and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">his brothers</i> (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">και</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">τοις</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αδελφοις</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αυτου</span></i>) as the other group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The church doctrine after Jerome has been that James the Just was in fact James the Lesser ( the son of Alphaeus) who was not really a brother but Jesus’ cousin, since <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ο</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αδελφος</span></i>, can indicate that. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>But the problem is Luke does not indicate one way or another what specific relationship he means. The apostles pray as one group with Mary and Jesus <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kin </i>as another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since James the son Alphaeus is included in one group, he cannot be a Jesus kin by Luke’s reckoning:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if he Luke had known anything about the tradition he would have written instead <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>in 1:14<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and his other brothers</i> (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">και</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ετεροις</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αδελφοις</span><span lang="EL"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αυτου</span>)</i>.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>Like the Acts, perhaps the most extensive memento of James, Hegesippus’ account <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>preserved by Eusebius in his History, also disagrees dramatcally with the church’s later revisions of James’ position vis-à-vis Jesus and the nature of his assembly.</div><div style="margin: 5pt 99.45pt 5pt 42.55pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now some persons belonging to the seven sects existing among the people, which have been before described by me in the Notes, asked him: "What is the door of Jesus? " And he replied that He was the Saviour. In Consequence of this answer, some believed that Jesus is the Christ. But the sects before mentioned did not believe, either in a resurrection or in the coming of One to requite every man according to his works; but those who did believe, believed because of James. So, when many even of the ruling class believed, there was a commotion among the Jews, and scribes, and Pharisees, who said: "A little more, and we shall have all the people looking for Jesus as the Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin: 5pt 99.45pt 5pt 42.55pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">They came, therefore, in a body to James, and said: "We entreat thee, restrain the people: for they are gone astray in their opinions about Jesus, as if he were the Christ. We entreat thee to persuade all who have come hither for the day of the passover, concerning Jesus. For we all listen to thy persuasion; since we, as well as all the people, bear thee testimony that thou art just, and showest partiality to none. Do thou, therefore, persuade the people not to entertain erroneous opinions concerning Jesus: for all the people, and we also, listen to thy persuasion. Take thy stand, then, upon the summit of the temple, that from that elevated spot thou mayest be clearly seen, and thy words may be plainly audible to all the people. For, in order to attend the passover, all the tribes have congregated <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">hither</span>, and some of the Gentiles also."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin: 5pt 99.45pt 5pt 42.55pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The aforesaid scribes and Pharisees accordingly set James on the summit of the temple, and cried aloud to him, and said: "O just one, whom we are all bound to obey, forasmuch as the people is in error, and follows Jesus the crucified, do thou tell us what is the door of Jesus, the crucified." And he answered with a loud voice: "Why ask ye me concerning Jesus the Son of man? He Himself sitteth in heaven, at the right hand of the Great Power, and shall come on the clouds of heaven."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin: 5pt 99.45pt 5pt 42.55pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And, when many were fully convinced <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">by these words</span>, and offered praise for the testimony of James, and said, "Hosanna to the son of David," then again the said Pharisees and scribes said to one another, "We have not done well in procuring this testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, that they may be afraid, and not believe him." And they cried aloud, and said: "Oh! oh! the just man himself is in error." Thus they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah: "Let us away with the just man, because he is troublesome to us: therefore shall they eat the fruit of their doings." So they went up and threw down the just man, and said to one another: "Let us stone James the Just." And they began to stone him: for he was not killed by the fall; but he turned, and kneeled down, and said: "I beseech Thee, Lord God our Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin: 5pt 99.45pt 5pt 42.55pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And, while they were thus stoning him to death, one of the priests, the sons of Rechab, the son of Rechabim, to whom testimony is borne by Jeremiah the prophet, began to cry aloud, saying: "Cease, what do ye? The just man is praying for us." But one among them, one of the fullers, took the staff with which he was accustomed to wring out the garments <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">he dyed</span>, and hurled it at the head of the just man.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin: 5pt 99.45pt 5pt 42.55pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
</span></i></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 0px;">This story, if you read it carefully against the other documents cited here, makes mockery of the claim that Jesus had a brother by the name of James who founded a congregation in Jerusalem to worship his fallen kin as Messiah.<span style="font-size: 0px;"> </span>Whether Heggesippus account is historically grounded or not, it testifies to several important issues. One, even though the text is unclear some of the ‘seven sects’ likely refers to messianic groupings within James’ congregation or under his tutelage.<span style="font-size: 0px;"> </span>Two, his congregation was not brought together to worship or venerate Jesus exclusively , if his revelation comes after three decades of operating a house of worship in Jerusalem and sending missions to many regions in the empire. <span style="font-size: 0px;"></span>Three, and this is the most important issue: the Hegesippus account knows nothing about any kinship between Jesus and James. <b>Indeed, it would be absurd to claim that the authorities did not know for thirty years that James was a head of a clandestine cult preaching his brother as the messianic (Enochian ?) Son of Man, and upon the “just man’s” revealing his faith publicly, they promptly threw him down the tower, stoned him and beat him to death with a fuller’s </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span">This story, if you read it carefully against the other documents cited here, makes mockery of the claim that Jesus had a brother by the name of James who founded a congregation in Jerusalem to worship his fallen kin as Messiah. Whether Heggesippus account is historically grounded or not, it testifies to several important issues. One, even though the text is unclear some of the ‘seven sects’ likely refers to messianic groupings within James’ congregation or under his tutelage. Two, his congregation was not brought together to worship or venerate Jesus exclusively , if his revelation comes after three decades of operating a house of worship in Jerusalem and sending missions to many regions in the empire. Three, and this is the most important issue: the Hegesippus account knows nothing about any kinship between Jesus and James. <b>Indeed, it would be absurd to claim that the authorities did not know for thirty years that James was a head of a clandestine cult preaching his brother as the messianic (Enochian ?) Son of Man, and upon the “just man’s” revealing his faith publicly, they promptly threw him down the tower, stoned him and beat him to death with a fuller’s club.</b></span></span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Conclusion</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36pt;">In one of the believable observations J.D.Crossan makes in his voluminous, discursive account of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Birth of Christianity, </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>is that in the historical reconstructions historians <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have already made judgments about the relationships of all the early gospels, about dependence and independence between them, and about possible sources hidden within them</i>. This is undoubtedly true. My own views are based on the analytical finding that Mark as the first gospel is wholly a Pauline allegory (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mark’s Recursive Gospel</i>), an offer to the Petrine Nazoreans to accept the cross of Christ as the symbol of universal spirituality against clinging to illusory parochial hopes for the restorations of God’s rule in Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such reading eliminates the possibility that Jesus as the crucified Messiah was known and worshipped in Jerusalem.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>If then the accounts of Jerusalem in the Acts of the Apostles are understood as a myth of self-foundation of the Christian faith, as a retroactive fitting of facts and legends in support of such vision, a better historical grasp of the origins is surely needed.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>From my perspective, instead of Eusebius’ pre-existent Christ that was the foundation of the church, it was James’ pre-existent messianist community which sheltered heterodox beliefs, bound by the ecstatic experiences of the kingdom to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was James the Just, perhaps by proxy, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>who adopted the orphaned disciples of the Galilean Yeshua, and declared him a martyred prophet of the last days, rehabilitated in heaven. It was James the Just who sent Peter, John and James the Zebedee to proclaim this Jesus on missions to the Diaspora.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Their preaching of a martyr who ‘hanged on a tree’ but was seen in heaven as high priest, outraged the traditionalists in the Jewish communities, and pietists like Paul who deeply disliked and mistrusted the messianic fervour of the missions. They were not least bit inclined to root for restoration, which they thought hopelessly out of touch with the realities of the Roman empire. When Paul became an ecstatic himself, he did not change his overall view of the situation; he only declared his spiritual vision as the higher truth of Jesus’ sacrifice. In Paul’s vision there was to be no heaven on earth; there was to be resurrection in heaven for those who served God faithfully, and declared the risen Lord Jesus Christ as their guiding light.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>As I indicated earlier, Cephas and the Zebedees as the “so-called pillars” were not at all the leaders of James’ community. Paul writing as late as Romans (15:31) only had hope that his collection for the Jerusalem saints was going to break the opposition to him there and convince James and his saints of his worthiness as apostle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cephas’ apprehension of James’ emissaries at Antioch (Gal 2:12) bespeaks of high dominance of James, and the transference of his power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In analogy, Peter’s fear would have been that of a Soviet ambassador under Stalin, cowering before diplomatic couriers, who he knew were NKVD operatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His rank compared to theirs would have not mattered a whit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no doubt about it: James was the master of the house because he was its foundation.</div><div class="MsoNormal">P.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The introduction of James in the Acts despite looking disjointed, probably had a historical kernel. Herod’s random dispatch of James the Zebedee seems a ploy which gives itself away by claiming that the unexplained act <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pleased the Jews, </i>encouraging him to grab Peter also. In reality, this story may have originated in the arrest of the Jesus’ retinue fleeing from the Temple<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and in James the Just’s securing their pardon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The heinous act of Herod on James the Zebedee, serves as a way to introduce the great leader through the back door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could have been a literary manoeuvre as Luke might have been aware of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sources indicating James died during his mission in Spain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The later claims that James' burial grounds were in Northwestern corner of the peninsula created Europe’s most famous pilgrimage destination (Santiago de Compostela).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The church claims that his remains were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James,_son_of_Zebedee">translated to Galicia</a> in a series of miraculous happenings.</div>-------------------------<br />
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<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">[1] As no literary output outside of later Christian texts exists on the Jerusalem community of James, Qumran texts were used to analyze the apocalyptic confessions:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">[I am] as a sailor in a ship amid furious seas; their waves and all their billows roar against me; [ there is no calm] in the whirlwind that I may restore my soul…the deeps resound to my groaning and [my soul] has journeyed to the gates of death.</i><br />
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<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText">QH Thankgiving Hymns, in Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Pelican, 1987, p.183 <o:p></o:p></div></div></div>EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-34723608780302500712011-05-24T08:27:00.000-07:002011-09-19T07:47:24.430-07:00Notes on Jesus' HistoricityI remember a sprightly octogenarian years ago lecturing on the psychology of management. He asked us suddenly in what seemed like lunging off topic: “<em>can anyone tell me the difference between managing and obssessing ?”.</em> After five seconds of stoned silence and puzzled looks he offered: “<em>It’s actually quite simple: if you are managing, you consider options</em>”.<br /><br />When it comes to deciding about Jesus’ existence, very few people seem to be managing historical information. The opinions seem to more about role-playing and peer expectations, personal commitment and calculations of effect, rhetorical thumps, marketing strategies, juvenile struggles with authority, mistaking authority for argument, and plain old-fashioned talking through the hat. It is interesting to observe that it is not only the two opposing certitudes that are at loggerheads with the hazy factuality around Jesus of Nazareth but even some among the agnostics. It has become sort of a sport in some quarters to claim that nothing can be said about anything in the NT texts that even indirectly relates to questions of Jesus’ historicity. I had one gentleman learned in the languages of antiquity disputing that one may fairly infer from 2 Corinthians 5:16 that Paul knew about Jesus (in whatever form) through humans prior to his belief he received revelation from God about the purpose of his career and death. This sort of deconstructionist tactic was well handled by G. A. Wells. He was challenged by an interviewer who offered gratuitously that on what we know, “<em>whether Jesus existed is a trivial matter, not worth writing about</em>”. The most eloquent proponent of the non-existence theory to-date retorted: “ <em>the manner and origin of one of the world’s largest religions is no triviality</em>” (“<em>Did Jesus Exist</em> ?” 1986, p 216).<br /><br />So it would appear that in the query whether Jesus had an earthly career, the need to proffer assurances by and large displaces disinterested observation. Jesus, it appears, either must have existed, or could not have existed, or it is ridiculous to hold any beliefs either way. One cannot, by the looks of it, have a reserved opinion based on an independent assessment of the texts vis-a-vis external historical data surrounding them. To extract and manage information by schemas other than the ones approved of by one of the established schools of Jesus group-think, one is immediately scorned and dismissed. Indeed, I have been accused of <em>eisegesis</em> by all three.<br /><br /><strong>Where Jesus as myth was the received wisdom </strong><br /><br />The earliest of my troubles is worth while recounting: I grew up in communist Czechoslovakia where Jesus was Myth and that was the state-enforced wisdom. As a student at the Economic Institute, I tried to probe the Communist Party dogma in a philosophy seminar, not because I was religious, but because I was curious. Mind you, I was not curious but not yet to the point of reading the Bible. As a matter of fact, I was as good a commie atheist student as a senior in a Jesuit college would be a dyed-in-the-wool Catholic. My mom was a Catholic herself but she gave up on proselytizing me. My father and I hated it when she became devotional, because it was a sure-as-hell sign that she wanted to be sick and suffering; a martyr to an obscure cause. For my dad that meant no sex, for me no TLC. So, if I had believed in God and Freud, my Oedipus would have been partly to the father in heaven and his outlaw son to whom my mom clinged when she had the blues.<br /><br />But as I said, I became curious. What ignited my curiosity was a remarkable film by an Italian communist by the name of Pier Paolo Pasolini. When I saw his <em>Il vangelo secondo Matteo</em> (Gospel according to Matthew) I was instantly converted - not to Christianity, mind you, but to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ZQXJNH8q4" target="_blank">Pasolini's ethos </a>of seeing Christianity not as an ideological rival but a part of what our civilization is made of. When I say <em>Christianity</em> I mean the religion stripped off of the psychobabble and intimidation. Pasolini showed it could be done. It was a remarkable vision transcending silly cliches and worn out dogmas - the Church's and the Party's.<br /><br />So, when a while later I was spoon fed the final word on JC by dialectical materialism in my philosophy class, I had a dissenting point of view essentially arguing it was quite possible that Jesus in fact did exist and the religious humbug was hung on him later. This of course was contrary to the teachings of Bruno Bauer and Frederick Engels, who my <em>skripta</em> said proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was a literary invention. My argument, which was somewhat naively spun around the miraculous powers of the Slovak highlander hero Juro Janosik, who was a historical figure and whose trial and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG-_cZChaB8&feature=related">execution in 1713 </a>was properly documented, was dismissed as uninformed. Further, my obstinacy earned me a <em>pohovor</em> (an interview) in the dean’s office - essentially an attempt to bring back a stray bolshevik sheep by barking at it. Luckily for me, the assigned sheep dog was himself inclined to communist reformism (this was 1967, the year that brought in Dubcek as a party leader and Zdenek Mlynar as his chief ideologue, the latter a roommate at the Moscow Party Cadres School to a Stavropol party boss by the name of Mikhail Gorbachev). As an added stroke of luck, he ran out of cigarettes, and was in debt as he smoked mine. The interview went well. As I freely admitted I had no research interest in the matter, and read no Greek, my deviationism was classed as harmless: I never saw his report, but I imagine it said something to the effect that comrade S. would not be fooled by superstitious nonsense; he simply keeps his mind open as every smart <em>svazák</em> (young communist) should.<br /><br /><strong>What the NT academics believe</strong><br /><br />In a 1985 paper presented at Ann Arbor Michigan gathering , G.A. Wells, shrugged that his theory had been the object of '<em>amused contempt'</em> by the NT academics. At the conference itself – a gathering of biblical iconoclasts - Wells was attacked by Morton Smith, as an '<em>extreme Bultmaniac'</em>. (Bultmann himself, however, described the view that Jesus did not exist as silly). But most of the time he was simply ignored by NT scholars, or dismissed as a non-specialist in the field (He is a professor of German). Those who read his thesis claiming that most of the epistles and Paul especially knew nothing of the gospel Jesus, and the latter failed to attribute his own teachings to him, did not have much of a response. What they offered was a standard cliché that Paul did not have to acknowledge Jesus’ doings and teachings because the church was familiar with them. Whether or not Paul’s silence on the earthly Jesus, is a proof of him never existing, Paul’s refusal to <em>know Christ according to flesh</em>, and a desire to entertain nothing about him except his crucifixion, are surely huge issues in no way sustained by the traditional church doctrines and their academic offshoots.<br /><br />So what evidence does academia believe warrants Jesus’ existence ? I would venture that most of the external ‘evidence’ for Jesus has been largely discounted. Exhibits of such as Tacitus, Suetonius and Pliny the Younger, simply come too late and testify not to Jesus himself but to communal beliefs about him. Most academics would concede that. Only the incessant debates about <em>Testimonium Flavianum</em> seem to go on, one hundred years after Schweitzer made the final point on the Josephus ‘<em>witness</em>’ by condemning as useless and unseemly speculations on evidence that everyone knows was tampered with.<br /><br />But if the majority of scholars today do not advertise much the independent witness (-this has now become the hobby of the evangelicals, mostly) they do seem near unanimous that the internal evidence supports beyond shadow of a doubt that Jesus of Nazareth walked on the planet. They may have the widest disagreements among themselves as to what is and what is not historical and factual in the gospels, but on the lecterns and on the podcasts they sound very much alike in their affected shock and disdain of people who don’t think it is as clear-cut as that.<br /><br />The “assurance” factor in Jesus’ historical reality sometimes takes on bizarre shapes. David Boulton in his fine summary of the newest Jesus questing (<em>Who On Earth Was Jesus ?, 2008</em>) , takes to task E.P. Sanders, one of the leading mainstream N.T. scholars of the day, for his successive but conflicting certitudes as to what in the gospels he considers “almost indisputable facts”. In <em>Jesus and Judaism </em>(1985) he presented the following set:<br /><br />· Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist<br />· Jesus called disciples and spoke of there being twelve<br />· Jesus confined his activity to Israel<br />· Jesus was a Galilean who preached and healed<br />· Jesus engaged in a controversy about the temple<br />· After his death Jesus’ followers continued as an identifiable community<br />· At least some Jews persecuted at least part of the new movement<br /><br />By 1991, (<em>The Historical Figure of Jesus</em>) Sanders revised his stance, generously adding to the list and modifying the things of which he was certain everyone could be certain.<br /><br />· Jesus was born c. 4 BC, near the time of the death of Herod the Great<br />· He spent his childhood and early adult years in Nazareth, a Galilean village<br />· Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist<br />· He called disciples (omitting “and spoke of there being twelve”)<br />· He taught in the towns, villages and countryside of Galilee<br />· He preached “the kingdom of God” [but “healed” is omitted]<br />· He created disturbance in the temple area<br />· He had a final meal with his disciples<br />· He was arrested and interrogated by Jewish authorities, specifically the high priest<br />· He was executed on the orders of the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate<br />· His disciples at first fled<br />· They saw him (in what sense is uncertain) after his death<br />· As a consequence, they believed they believed he would return to found the kingdom<br />· After his death, his believers formed a community to await his return and sought to win others to faith in him as God’s Messiah<br />· [The statement that parts of the new movement were persecuted by at least soe Jews is omitted].<br /><br />I observe, and observe somewhat cynically, that since there were no earth-shattering discoveries in the years that intervened between the two lists, and given professor Sanders’ erudition, the revision was simply in posturing. The second list extends the “<em>assurance</em>” to items which are not even disguised articles of faith. A sober reader of the texts would observe, e.g. the uncanny textual agreements between Paul’s 1 Cr 11:23-25 and Lk 22:19-20, and then the quaint entree of the Last Supper motif in 1 Cr 10:16 (<em>The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?</em>) and would have to ponder how quickly in Paul’s writing the Eucharist <em>was prov'd from what was only imagined</em> in a mere chapter before.<br /><br />Similarly, we have no reliable evidence for the assertion that Jesus believers '<em>formed a community to await his return</em>'. The Acts have been notoriously unreliable as chronicles of historical events. Gospel of Thomas portrays James the Righteous (why would Jesus use a surname to describe his brother ?) as someone who would shelter Jesus followers after he is gone ! The foundational event at Pentecost was so embarrassing to the later church intellectuals that it was expunged from Eusebius’ History. Matthew’s derivation of Jesus epithet of ‘<em>Nazoraios</em>’ from ‘<em>Nazareth</em>’ (2:23) has no way to account for the fact that John the Baptist, was a ‘<em>Nazoraios</em>’ too. ( A Mandanean sect in Iraq-al-Arabi calls itself ‘<em>Nasoraij d’Yahya’</em> to this day.). It is more than probable then that the Nazorean house catered to both Jesus’ and John’s following, something forced Luke to deal with by making Elizabeth and Mary relatives. And what about Hebrews 6:20 calling Jesus a '<em>forerunner'</em> and a high priest (in heaven) after the order of Melchizedek '<strong>for ever'</strong> ? Isn’t the idea that Jesus entered the Holy Place, <em><strong>once and for all</strong></em> (Heb 9:12), to act as an intercessor and mediator for a new covenant somewhat at odds with the thesis that all believers thought of him as Messiah and awaited his return ? These are just some issues which professor Sanders was either unaware of or hastily discounted when arriving at historical certitudes.<br /><br /><strong>Why I am not a Jesus Myther</strong><br /><br />First off, let me tell you that I do not consider the theory that Jesus never existed inherently implausible. As a matter of fact I believe it is a close call. I can imagine a scenario in which Jesus was originally a ‘<em>code name</em>’ for the oracular properties of the spirit visiting on Jamesian ecstatics, telling the wiser ones (the Thomasians) how to manage the spiritual fevers and others (the Petrines) that the psychoses were previews of the world to come (in the euphoric phase) and the end of the existing world (in the annihilation mess that followed) . I can imagine Paul encountering the crazed preachers and seers of the latter group, and militating against them until he himself became one, in acquiring the experience of the intoxication by the Spirit. It is certainly not beyond pale that he developed the mantra of the cross from some as yet unknown mystical source, or distilled it from vague Platonic ideas penetrating into his social setting.<br /><br />(Glaucon in Plato’s Republic, Book II, 361e5: ‘The just man…will be scourged, racked, chained, have his eyes burned out; at last after every kind of misery he will be impaled’ (tr. by W.H.D. Rouse – some translators prefer ‘crucified’)). It is worth noting in this regard that in 1 Thessalonians, the earliest Paul’s letter by the reckoning of most, the cross did not yet figure as instrument of salvation.<br /><br />I imagine also better Jesus Myth theories can be built, if their authors are a little bit more circumspect. G.A. Wells has my respect and admiration for steering the debate from vague, generalized, and often misleading assertions of mythical imports and ripoffs which were alleged to account wholly for the appearance of the Christ figure. He has constructed a fine model extracting plausible conclusions from the early Christian texts themselves read in their historical context. He has carried himself with remarkable poise and dignity. However, in attempting to stay within the existing scholarly paradigm of NT studies, he in my reckoning, misjudged the import of some of its analytical tools, most importantly the assumptions around the putative Q document. Q is a purely theoretical construct which at the break of the 20th century replaced a futile search for the Matthean oracles of the Lord. Over the decades, Q has become something of an industry, the document taking on refined stratification, with dozens of new titles and scholarly articles appearing annually further elaborating it. It may seem unbelievable, but it is true, that the massive, sustained, world-wide effort that goes into the science of Q has no other utility than to justify the opinion that Luke did not know Matthew.<br /><br />To my mind, it makes no sense for a mythicist to participate in the Q propagation as the activity has only one real goal: to connect the gospels – which arrived late and show a great deal of creative literary composition – to some authoritative source from which they are copied, a document (text – not oral traditions) that would lead right to the deepest stratum of Q, the hallowed <em>Urquelle </em>called <em>der golden Mund Jesu</em>. Wells was finally persuaded that he could not hold onto the reality of the Q thesis and maintain at the same time the assumed textual sources – reverently transferred – did not ultimately lead to Jesus as the origin of at least some of the sayings.<br /><br />Earl Doherty, who attached a bold new theory of sublunar career of Paul’s Christ to Wells’es earlier arguments, has likewise defended Q’s necessity to the detriment of his cause. Unlike Wells, however, Doherty seems oblivious to the paradox in his stance even though it has been harped on by more than one conservative website. Why would anyone who wishes to dispute the historical existence of Jesus want to rely on an imaginary document that was not known to anyone in the ancient world: not the orthodox church, not the heretics, not to the pagan critics ? Isn’t the shoe on the other foot ? Should not Q be the prime example of vested interest in illusory objects adorning the ivory tower of contemporary NT studies ?<br /><br />The other thing I have noticed about both, Wells and Doherty, is their reluctance to set aside NT passages which are very dubious to the point of being silly and can painlessly be demonstrated to contradict what the source says elsewhere. E.g. if Paul presents consistently the image of himself as one divinely appointed to testify of God's Son, then a passage in which he assigns to himself the role of reprieved scumbag on criteria otherwise unknown in the corpus, needs to be set aside - even in the absence of a textual variant. One has to have that level of confidence, if one wants a new theory !<br /><br />For myself, I feel reasonably comfortable there was a historical person of Jesus. On balance it still makes more sense then to read the epistles and gospels with a single historical referent pointing to an obscure and thwarted prophetic figure who became posthumously revered in a Jerusalem messianic assembly as a martyr and intercessor for a coming rule of God in Israel. It strikes me as better to explain Paul’s ‘silence’ on Jesus deeds and words as his rejection of Jesus’ messianic teachings assumed to have been propagated by his followers out of Jerusalem after his death (likely in several flavours). Paul created the Jesus Christ heavenly persona for a theology that rejected parochial Jewish expectations for God’s kingdom on earth. He and the Jesus missionaries out of Jerusalem were proselytic rivals. Paul’s attempts to find acceptance for his ideas in James’ inner circle appear to have been unsuccessful.<br /><br />What specifically do I consider in Paul historical reference to Jesus ? Those of you who have read my preceding essays know by now that I do not credit as genuine certain passages in Paul which are usually cited by the traditional theologians as proof of Paul’s acceptance of Jesus as an earthly <em>dominus</em>. Rom 1:3, 1 Cr 11:23-26, 1 Cr 15:3-11, Gal 1:19, Gal 4:4, all appear to be later insertions into Paul’s letters to harmonize his views either the emerging orthodox doctrines or make them more explicit in support of the same. I take seriously Paul's proscriptions on discussing Jesus in flesh, (1 Cr 2:2, 2 Cr 5:16).<br /><br />There are however several genuine Pauline passages regarding the crucifixion and temporal placement of Paul’s Jesus which will be hard to crack for any mythical theory.<br /><br />Gal 3:1 - <em>O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? </em>It is difficult to imagine that the aggressive tone Paul takes could reference a mythical scenario. Only if the execution was real and historical, can the appeal to Paul’s previous teachings sustain the insult (!) he lobs at the defecting acolytes.<br /><br />Gal 6:12 - <em>It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that would compel you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.</em> Again, if there was no historical “cross of Christ” Paul’s impeachment of the judaizers would not make sense. If Jesus was a myth everyone would have known he was a myth, and whether there was a cross in the myth would have made no difference to anyone capable of rational thought. That the judaizers would be trying to avoid persecution for an event which did not take place on earth or within living memory, just does not play out, at least not in any way that I can see. On the other hand, if Jesus was executed for breaking the law (implied by Rom 8:4, Gal 3:13), then idolizing him publicly carried risks with it – and Paul’s pointing to the hypocrisy of his proselytic rivals with respect to the law which killed their idol – and which they don’t keep anyway - could be counted on to make an impact.<br /><br />1 Cr 15:20 - <em>But now (νυνί) Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.</em> It is possible, as G.A. Wells believes that Paul thought Jesus lived a long time ago, left no trace, and it was only in Paul’s lifetime that he had risen. It is just not very convincing that (at least) two opposing sects during one generation suddenly invoked his name and began to vie for converts.<br /><br />1 Cr 2:2 I <em>decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.</em> The qualifier <em>καὶ τοῦτον ἐσταυρωμένον</em>, implies that Paul did not want to hear anything about Jesus before his crucifixion when coming to preach to Corinth. Again, if “Jesus said this and Jesus did that before he was killed” was a myth and Paul knew it then I am at a loss to grasp what difference it would have made to Paul’s pitiful condition to let people talk about the hero’s mythical exploits and mythical causes of his mythical downfall leading to his mythical death. But, if the obverse is true – if Paul in the throes of a persecutory stage of mania (See <em>Origin of My Own Interest in Early Christian Psychology</em> in the 2010 blog) suggests that the phantom visitor of the Corinthian mystics can be placated by acknowledging him as <em>an ordinary recently living human</em> empowered by God post-mortem, then it is reasonable to assume Paul found relief in the schema himself, that his Jesus Christ mantras actually had a way of reducing his own agitated psychosis. And it is equally probable that Paul’s fame as a ancient precursor of <em>logotherapy</em>* was established because his technique seems to have worked and with some people similarly afflicted as Paul. It worked as it provided (at least some) relief to what seemed to them as a meaningless, bottomless cycle of suffering. For the therapeutic hypno-suggestion to have worked, <em>Jesus</em> had to have proximity to the sufferers – similar to that of Paul – proximity in their social status, education, reputation in the community at large (1 Cr 1:18-31). It is my view – and I do not hold this to be more than an opinion of one person - that Jesus’ proximity would have been temporal as well, given the underlying belief that the end was near.<br /><br />/* - <em>Logotherapy</em> was a psychotherpeutic technique pioneered by Victor Frankl. He used paradoxical formulas and self-hypnosis – evidenced in Paul and Mark - as a way to relieve suffering in his patients. Dr Frankl developed his ideas and methods while a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, as a way of coping personally with his predicament. Frankl wrote (in <em>Man's Search for Meaning</em>) that he was enriched by his Nazi death camp experience because it taught him things about himself and other people that he would have had no way of knowing had he not been subjected to the protracted struggle for the bare object of his existence.<br /><br />Frankl's approach, I believe, has tantalizing relevance for Early Christian psychology. It provides a vital key to the effects of paradoxical structures of cognition present in Paul's theology and Mark's narrative - the importance of finding the 'euangelion' (glad tidings) in the suffering and humiliation they received at the hands of fate and other people.EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-82453033338744294332011-04-30T09:23:00.000-07:002011-08-26T08:01:02.703-07:00How many were the Twelve ?Paul left us an enormously interesting account of himself, his struggle with mental illness, and his uncanny ability to engage it creatively and communally. Some people may want to challenge this perception of Paul but since Paul himself makes no bones about it and in fact proudly declares it as sign of his election<em> (</em>1 Cor 1:27<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">)</i>, their argument largely rests on their poor understanding of what this illness was. As I have already pointed out Paul had recurrent episodes hypermanic highs through which he was apparently incapacitated. He recalls – with certain fondness one such period in the Galatians :
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<br /><i>Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh (δι’ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς) I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, [even] as Christ Jesus.</i> Gal 4:13-14
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<br />This is the KJV rendering of the verses which captures the ambivalence of the original thought. Paul preached in Galatia first through infirmity of the flesh, and the temptation which was in (..) flesh, i.e. Paul being out of control (!) was not despised (as we may safely assume was the case elsewhere) but accepted as sign of his apostolic election. The <i>infirm flesh </i>here should not be read as physical illness but Paul's agitated confusion, an illness of the soul, as witnessed by others. IMHO, it has nothing to do with bodily ailment, as some translators intimate.
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<br />Paul also tells us elsewhere that when he is out of his mind (or insane, ἐξέστημεν), it is for God and when he is compos mentis it for his flock (2 Cr 5:13). It is in his return to senses to testify of his prophetic transports, his visions of the Lord and the Lord’s instructions for the coming universal mayhem, that Paul asserts his apostolic authority.
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<br />The point to take home here is that Paul knew he was out of control at times – he also knew that other than those who were genuinely ‘undone’ by the metamorphoses of Paul’s appearance and behaviour he had little chance with his gospel. He speaks of this in the second chapter of 1 Corinthians, again recalling the initial contact with his charges there:
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<br /><em>When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling; and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1Cr 2:1-8
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<br />The fear and trembling in the passage alludes to the dysphoric agitation of the manic episode (usually the latter stages), and the inability to speak coherently, to pressure of speech (and likely to glossolalia). Again, the important thing to note here is the select audience (the mature - <em>hoi teleioi</em>) that receives Paul, as this clashes with the rather indiscriminate proselytizing by Paul proclaimed in the Acts, or for that matter, some of the more fantastic tales told later by those who thought they were Paul, like the author of Phl 1:12-13).
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<br /><strong>Who Were the Apostles in Paul’s time ?</strong>
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<br />Despite interpolations which often obscure the matter (1 Cr 15:3-11, 2 Cr 12:12) , there are a few sure indications of what the historical Paul thought of the title and its use. For his time , he places the apostles of a church as the highest authority, ahead of prophets, teachers, workers of miracles, healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in tongue. The nomenclatura of spiritual gifts in 1 Cr 12:28 is interesting as it reserves the three highest functions for guardians of intellectual and moral values. The genuine Pauline scripts are consistent in this weighing which makes poorly thought-out impersonations of Paul easy to spot. In the two examples above, the would-be Paul of 1 Cr 15:3-11 accepts a different hierarchy based on formulaic assignments of this title. And 2 Cr 12:12 seems to suggest, clumsily breaking the text’s flow, that the apostolic mettle is earned by producing miracles and mighty wonders, exactly the kinds of beliefs that Paul would discount and consider childish. Outside of these crude attempts to reconcile Paul to the later church, there is little doubt that Paul was working with a very different set of criteria for the apostolic honours. Whether one was or was not an apostle, i.e. one sent from God (as Jesus himself was according to Heb 3:1 !) was open to discussion in Paul’s time, not settled by scriptural authority.
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<br />Nor is Paul particularly persuasive that the apostolic figures and saints were Christian believers in the sense that became common later. Paul’s terminus technicus for the election of an apostle – i.e. one who truly receives the grace of God in losing one’s ordinary sense of self, is being <em>in Christ</em>. Adronicus and Junia, in Rom 16:7 are said to be <em>in Christ</em> before Paul, and apostles in their own right, independently of any doctrine that Paul may have been teaching. They too would have experienced the risen Christ in their bodies, and received from God wisdom of knowing what to do with it.
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<br />Paul’s sense of Christ comes then naturally, through the gift of spirit. For this reason it cannot be taught; it is partaken and shared as a mystical body. That Paul, in interpreting his mysterious illness as <em>‘the knowledge of the Son’</em>, considered this knowledge as an objective, irreducible reality cannot be doubted. But Paul did not believe in the ‘<i>reality</i>’ of miracles the same way as his opponents. Miracles, gifts of healing, speaking in tongues were manifestations of the Spirit which needed to be subordinated to the proper understanding of the underlying faculty. That this faculty could be, and was, abused, was a given to Paul. Famously he says, referring to the photic phenomena occurring in the ecstatics during the peaks of excitement (the <em>‘body full of light’</em> that the Matthean Jesus promises on the Mount), that even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cr 11:14). The allusion is likely to Isaiah 14:13-14, in which Lucifer (the ‘shining one’) promises to ascend to heaven and become like the most High. In the ‘real’ Paul’s nomenclatura, the apostolic title was a badge of highest moral authority in the churches, not an exclusive club that was decreed by Jesus for the inner circle of his retinue. So, even if there was such a body Paul would have not credited it.
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<br />However, my point is that there was no such gathering, and that the Twelve were not originally conceived as apostles but an allegorical cipher – a corporate spiritual witness to Christ, of which only Judas was fleshed out and assigned a role in the fugue-and-passion mystery of Mark.
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<br /><strong>Did Paul consider Peter an apostle ?
<br />
<br /></strong>The textual evidence from Paul is two to one against such a notion. In the only indisputably Pauline verse of the three, 1 Cr 9:5, Paul places Peter (Cephas) outside of the apostolic circle. ‘<i>Do we not have the right</i>, Paul asks mischieviously, <i>to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas </i>?’ The two other verses in the corpus that have a bearing on the question are Gal 1:19 and 1 Cr 15:5, both of which I consider extremely problematic as genuine Pauline script. 1 Cr 15:5 belongs to the passage which Robert M.Price analyzed under the heading of <i>Apocryphal Apparitions</i>. The verse asserts the primacy of Cephas (Jesus first appeared to him) but places him outside the circle of the Twelve. It may seem very strange to the traditionalist that the first apostle should be standing alone – and indeed some have argued that Paul must have meant ‘<i>the rest of the Twelve</i>’ in the context. Unfortunately, if one wants to be orthodox in one’s reading one would have to account for not one but two extra disciples to whom Jesus appears in Galilee compared to Matthew 28:16-17. Paul might have not written the passage of 1 Cr 15:3-11, nonetheless this would be an early interpolation which evidently predates Matthew gospel (or its gaining wide currency), and may become a very interesting exhibit in reading the evolution of the gospel narratives. It may indeed be the first scriptural riposte to Mark’s express denying access to Jesus in his resurrected state to his earthly disciples. (Incidentally, that denial was not in that the women running from the tomb tell ‘<i>nothing to noone</i>’, but in the failure of the disciples to grasp the ‘Christ’ nature of Jesus on the stormy lake and on the mountain where he transfigures before the three senior members of his entourage).
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<br />So there are the genuine Paul and an early interpolator in 1 Corinthians arguing against the notion that Peter (Cephas) was a duly authorized apostle in Paul’s time, something that is much strengthened by Paul’s condemnation of him in the Galatians. There does not appear a common super-structure supporting Paul and Peter working toward a common purpose, as they did so vehemently in mythic retrospect.
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<br />Gal 1:19 names Cephas, ‘<em>an apostle</em>’ by implication, in Paul saying after naming him that ‘<em>of the other apostles’</em> he saw none save James. I have already expressed grave doubts about the genuineness of the passage describing Paul’s first visit in Jerusalem (see Through the Galatians Darkly). It seems indeed incredible to me that Paul would go to Jerusalem the second time without ‘<em>remembering</em>’ who the top leaders were (ie. having to assign them a vague new descriptor) given that he was received by them in the past.
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<br />On the whole then, I would say the support of some authoritative apostolic office going back to Jesus looks doubtful on Paul’s witness. Indeed, if Paul had to contend with leaders who had been established by dominical authority, he does not show it. At Corinth, some people supported Cephas, some Apollos, some Paul (I read his <em>‘Christ party’</em> as a rhetorical confirmation of his own ministry as the true one). In Galatians, he condemns to hell people who do not conform to his version of the gospel, in which he would not have counsel of any other Jesus than the risen one.
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<br /><strong>Mark’s Twelve were not Jesus’ disciples
<br /></strong>
<br />So firmly planted is the notion of the twelve apostles as an integral part of the synoptic narrative that ideas such as mine no doubt instantly stir a whiff of incredulity. ‘How can you deny that in Mark, the twelve were his earthly disciples ?’, I am being asked, ‘they are there, named and all !’.
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<br />To my mind, however, there are many problems with the notion that the list of names in 3:17-19 is genuine Mark, and that it fits his authorial intent. Mark narrates a mystery of the spirit’s incarnation in which the reader of the gospel was expected to participate (as per the central koan of 4:10-12). The authority that Jesus gives to the twelve would clash with the empowerment by the spirit if it was restricted to twelve ‘individuals’ around Jesus. That is why I do not believe this was Mark’s purpose. The ordination was then not of specific individuals but of a mystical body called ‘twelve’ who themselves experience his incarnation and therefore receive Jesus’ ‘authority’. That this authority was never given to Peter and the Zebedees (whom if you read the essays of the blog, I consider to be the later ‘so-called pillars’ in Jerusalem) should give pause to a diligent student of Mark. The three are frightened by the spiritual transfigurations of Jesus, implicitly (on the stormy lake), and explicitly (on the mountain) linked to resurrection. Their incomprehension of Jesus simply does not make sense on Mark’s terms if he intended them on the inside of his mystery. Indeed, to Mark, they were unspiritual idolaters of Jesus.
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<br />One interesting aspect of the Twelve, which I believe bolsters my thesis, is that the named disciples (who were later imported into Mark’s gospel after the fashion of Matthew) do not – with the exception of Judas Iscariot – initiate any action or interact with Jesus in events which would describe them individually. For this reason I prefer to look at them, collectively, as witness of Christ in Israel and through the pre-ordained ‘<em>deliverance</em>’ by Judas, the apocalyptic judgment over the land. Further, Mark's narrative focus on the inner circle of three (or four) disciples, looks highly suspect if the inner core numbered <em>twelve</em>. This is particularly not credible for the Transfiguration, an explicit manifest of the risen Christ in the original Mark (who knows no post-mortem appearance of Jesus in flesh) in the company of the two prophets who had visions of God on the holy Mount. If only three of the Twelve received the vision what about the rest ? It is difficult to argue <em>'omission</em>' by Mark here, since the Twelve were sent to testify about Jesus in chapter 6, and their empowerment by Jesus assumes of necessity the <em>mystical knowledge</em> of him such as is demonstrated by the Transfiguration. When (or how) did the other nine receive the vision ?
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<br />Another incident of apparent splitting of the Twelve involves the Zebedees craving ‘perks’ in the messianic kingdom. The <em>remaining disciples</em> are scandalized. Mark 10:41 says ‘the <em>ten</em> began to be indignant with John and James’. The verse would of course be much more understandable if it said ‘<em>the twelve’</em> which is what I believe it said in the original. Unfortunately, we do not have a textual variant which would confirm my suspicion, only a strange coincidence in Jesus repeating before the <em>ten</em> in 10:44 what he told the <em>twelve</em> in 9:35, “<em>the first among you must be the servant of all”.</em> Why would Jesus not include the Zebedees to remind them of their lapse in the Pauline maxim (1 Cr 9:19) he gave them ? What does ‘among you’ mean in 10:43, if the audience is only ‘ten’ ? House divided ?
<br />
<br />There are other indications that the Twelve were not meant simply as fleshy bodies, that Jesus selects to be with him and sends out on missions. Peter and the Zebedees had been abducted by Jesus in the first chapter and Jesus is said to have had disciples prior to the ordination. In 2:15, “<em>many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples</em>”. They are addressed by the Pharisees in the next verse: we need to note therefore that in the construction of the Markan narrative the disciples are selected by, and accompany Jesus before the Twelve are launched.
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<br />Another interesting aspect is the renaming of Peter in Mk 3:16. The gospels do not agree on when this happened. Matthew seems to follow Mark, in that it happened around the time of the ordination although Matthew does not specifically point to an act of naming. Neither does Luke. Luke 5:8 records ‘<em>Simon Peter</em>’ pleading with Jesus in the boat during the big haul, before revealing that ‘<em>Simon</em>’ was named ‘<em>Peter</em>’ by Jesus in 6:14 as he selects the apostles. Matthew, similarly first reveals that Simon was called Peter first by the boats. Whether they were jumping ahead of the story is debatable since John also has Simon receiving his moniker as part of getting acquainted (Jn 1:42). That the re-naming happened at Simon’s and Andrew’s home address seems to have a strong tradition in the early church would be supported by Tatian’s Diatessaron which follows John. I believe that Mark had other purpose for renaming Peter which relates to the latter's failure to respond to Jesus' crisis of faith and his abandoning Jesus in the hour of his trial. Jesus addresses sleeping Peter 'Simon' in the Gethsemane, the only direct address of Peter in the whole gospel. This 'mystery' in my understanding relates to the mysterious <em>doubling</em> of Simon (Simon Peter vs Simon of Cyrene) as the bearer of Christ's cross. 3:16 likely had nothing to do with him being named, or renamed, as the first of the Twelve. The text in 3:14-3:17 shows some interesting variants, which appear to have been attempts to settle the issue of the Twelve that the original script created.
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<br />Mk 3:14-17 (NRSV) “and he appointed twelve, <strong>whom he also named apostles</strong>, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. <strong>So, he appointed the twelve</strong>: Simon (to whom gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is Sons of Thunder).
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<br />Mk 3:14-17 (KJV) “And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the [son] of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder….”
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<br />As you can see, the King’s James bible omits two textual variants (bolded in the NRSV text) which appear to bridge a later understanding of what the gospel says. In the first instance, it asserts that the twelve were ‘<strong>named apostles’</strong>; in the second it repeats in verse 16 the appointment of the twelve made just two verses earlier. Why would such inserts be necessary ? What is unclear about the twelve being <strong>‘named apostles’</strong> ? Obviously, to most of us, who know the four canonical gospels and operate with a sort of harmonized version of them this is not an issue. To a second-century reader, who had no such luxury, the texts needed to be explained and clarified, especially in places where disagreements existed over them. I showed you on the examples from Paul’s letters above that they did not support overwhelmingly that Peter (Cephas) was thought of as an apostle. Now, behold, a Greek reader in Second century Alexandria sees mark having jesus calling whoever he will appointing the twelve and renaming Simon to Peter. There is no clue in the text that these two activities are related. Koine Greek has no punctuation. How would the reader know that Mark intended to connect the ordination and Peter ? Especially, (and note this well !) if the construct in 3:16 makes it grammatically impossible … and to Simon he gave the name Peter. Simon here is dative. So what happened ? At the risk of being accused of recklessness: I think someone had the bright idea to connect Peter to the Twelve by other means, by explicitly linking the appointment and the renaming. Later, someone had even a better idea – to make Mark more synoptic with Matthew and create a Mark’s own version of the apostolic inventory, alas forgetting the problematic grammar, which would relate the accusative case of the eleven apostolic names back to verse 14 – except of course,… Peter’s !
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<br />So the question that arises here is, did the <em>'named apostles'</em> in 3:14 of the Alexandrian text represent a 'timid license' for actually creating the later inventory in 3:17-19 ?
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<br />EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-60374695934571463492011-04-03T07:29:00.000-07:002014-11-10T08:01:09.022-08:00Paulinisms in Mark<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o /--><o:p>Here is a table of Pauline maxims, locutions, metaphoric or allegoric parallels as they appear in Mark.</o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mark<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Paul<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1:1 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>αρχ<span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span> του ευαγγελιου…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phl</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;"> 4:15 </span></i><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>εν αρχη του ευαγγελιου…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i>The reference to the prophet
Isaiah in Mk 1:2 is commonly taken to mean Isaiah 40:3 in the verse </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">following: it is
misleading; the invocation of Isaiah relates to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">αρχ</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span>, </i>the builder of the community, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and the skilful <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">τεκτον</span></i><span lang="EL"> </span>in Isa 44:13 which recalls Paul’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cor 3:10 </i>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">According
to the grace of God <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">given to me, like a skilled master
builder (</span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">α</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">ρχιτ</span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">ε</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">κτων) I laid a foundation, and another man is</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>building upon it’.</span> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1:10-12</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when he came up out of the water,
immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ε</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ς α</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">τ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ο</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ν</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">) like a
dove; and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee
I am well pleased." The Spirit immediately drove him out into the
wilderness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gal 1:15-16</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when he who had set me apart before I
was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son
to me (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">εν εμοι</i>), in order that I might
preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note the invasive
nature of the annunciation in both cases. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1:22</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 1:20 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the
world?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This verse in relation
to Paul seems the most natural ‘explanation’ for the barbaric Greek, gaffes
in</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>reading the tanakh and
the ‘primitive’ narrative style Mark adopted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2:17 </i>Those who are well
have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the
righteous but sinners. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 5:8 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But God shows his love for us in that <u>while
we were yet sinners</u> (<span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">οτι</span><span lang="EL"> </span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ετι</span><span lang="EL"> </span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αμαρτωλων</span><span lang="EL"> </span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">οντων</span><span lang="EL"> </span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ημων</span>)
Christ died for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">5<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2:19<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>And Jesus said to them, "Can the
wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have
the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 Cr 11:2<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">for I betrothed you
to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the ‘eating and drinking’ was done by the
‘guests’ at the wedding not the ‘pure’ (i.e. ascetic)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">‘bride’ to Christ.
Allusion is to the “marriage” of God and Israel in Joel, the Song of Solomon,
etc, an </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">old motif but one for
which Paul created new reference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">2:21-22</span></i><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one sews a
piece of unshrunk cloth on an <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">old
garment</span>; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the
old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">new wine into old wineskins</span>; if he does, the wine will burst the
skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh
skins."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">2 Cr
5:17</span></i><span style="color: black;"> Therefore, if any one is in Christ,
he is a <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">new creation</span>; the <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">old has passed away</span>, behold, the new
has come.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Possibly
also same tradition as Heb 6.4</span></i><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>For it is impossible to restore
again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the
heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit<span style="color: black;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">7<span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">3:21-22</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when his family heard it, they went out
to seize him, for people were saying, "He is beside himself (</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ἐ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ξ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">έ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">στη</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">)."
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by
Be-el'zebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons."<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 1:27-28</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but God chose what is foolish in the world
to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to
bring to nothing things that are<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2 Cr 5:12 </i>For if we are
beside ourselves (</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ἐ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ξ</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">έ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">στημεν</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">) , it is for
God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 12;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">8.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">3:28-29</i> "Truly, I say
to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies
they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has
forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 12:3</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore I want you to understand that no
one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus be cursed!" and
no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 13;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this appears a bit of an inverted extension
of the original Paul’s maxim by Mark’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>community. Paul does
not say that those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit are to be cursed, but
in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">the refractory logic
that Mark uses the Holy Spirit proceeds from God and therefore those who </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">blaspheme against the
manifestation of God in humans (despise them and molest them) are God’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">enemies and will not be
forgiven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 14;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">9.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4:3-20</span></span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">"Listen!
A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and
the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had
not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil;
and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered
away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and
it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth
grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a
hundredfold." <br />
And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." ………<br />
<br />
And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will
you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the
ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan
immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them. And these in
like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the
word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves,
but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on
account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown
among thorns; they are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world,
and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and
choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown upon the
good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit,
thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Rom
10:15</span></i><span style="color: black;"> But they have not all obeyed the
gospel; for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from
us?" <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(birds ate the seed...)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Gal
1:6-7</span></i><span style="color: black;"> I am astonished that <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">you are so quickly deserting him</span> who
called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel-- not
that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to
pervert the gospel of Christ. (rocky ground....)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Gal
5:17</span></i><span style="color: black;"> For the desires of the flesh are
against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for
these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would.
(thorns...)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2 Cr 9:10</i> He who supplies
seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources
and increase the harvest of your righteousness. (the promise of good soil…)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 15;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">10.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">4:10-11</span></i><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>And when
he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning
the parables. And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of
the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 2:14</i> The <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">unspiritual</span> man does not receive the
gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to
understand them because they are spiritually discerned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 16;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">11.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">4:12 </i>so that they may
indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest
they should turn again, and be forgiven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 11:8 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>as
it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not
see and ears that should not hear, down to this very day."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 17;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">12.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">4:14<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>The sower sows the word <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 3:6 </i>I planted….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 18;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">13.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">4:22 </i>For there is nothing
hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to
light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 4:5</i> Therefore judge
nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the
hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 59.3pt; mso-yfti-irow: 19;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; height: 59.3pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">14.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; height: 59.3pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6:3</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Is not this the carpenter (τ</span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">ε</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">κτων), the son of Mary and brother of James and
Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And
they took offense at him.</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; height: 59.3pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 Cr 3:10</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">According to the grace of God given to me, like a
skilled master builder (</span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">α</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">ρχιτ</span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">ε</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">κτων) I
laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(see note to parallel 1)</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 20;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">15. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">6:52 </i>for they did not
understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened (</span><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">α</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">λλ’ </span><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">η</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ν α</span><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">υ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">τ</span><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ω</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ν </span><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">η</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> καρδ</span><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ι</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">α
πεπωρωμ</span><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ε</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">νη).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">8:17-18</i> And being aware of
it, Jesus said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no
bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not
remember?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">2 Cr
3:13-14 </span></i><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">not
like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not see
the end of the fading splendor. But their minds were hardened (επωρωθη τα
νοηματα αυτων); for to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same
veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 10:17 </i>For we [being]
many are one bread, [and] one body: for we are all partakers of that one
bread.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 21;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 452.1pt;" valign="top" width="603">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the two verses lock with
Paul and provide additional clue to Jesus’ rule of 4:12; the incomprehension
of the outsiders (and the disciples were not the ones who addressed Jesus in
4:10) is partly due to their clinging to the law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 22;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">1</span>6.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">7:6-7</i> And he said to them,
"Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This
people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do
they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eph 4:13-14</i> …until we all
attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to
mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so
that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in
deceitful wiles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 23;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">17.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">7:10</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your
mother'; and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die';<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 1:30</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>slanderers, haters of God, insolent,
haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">disobedient
to parents</b>,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 24;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">18.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">7:18-19 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Do you not see that whatever goes into a
man from outside cannot defile him, since it enters, not his heart but his
stomach, and so passes on?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 10:27-29 </i>Whatsoever is
sold in the shambles, [that] eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For
the earth [is] the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. If any of them that
believe not bid you [to a feast], and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set
before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 14:14</i> I know and am
persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is
unclean for any one who thinks it unclean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 25;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">19.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">7:21-22<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>For from within, out of the heart of
man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting,
wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gal 5:19-21 </i>Now the works
of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry,
sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party
spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned
you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 26;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">20.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">7:36 </i>And he charged them to
tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phl 2:11 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 27;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></i>Humorous take on the phenom of pressured speech and glossolalia,
which appears in highly</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>excited
pneumatics (motif repeated from Mk 1:45) . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 28;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">21.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">8:2-4</i> "I have
compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and
have nothing to eat; and if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will
faint on the way; and some of them have come a long way." And his
disciples answered him, "How can one feed these men with bread here in
the desert?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">10:38-39</i> Are you able to
drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I
am baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus
said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism
with which I am baptized, you will be baptized”;<span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 10:3-5</i> And all were
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and all ate the same supernatural food and
all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural
Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of
them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 29;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">22.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">8:12</span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> ….</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"Why does this generation seek a
sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 1:22</i> For Jews demand
signs</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">…</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 30;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">23.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">8:14-16</i> Now they had
forgotten to bring bread; and they had only one loaf (<span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ενα</span><span lang="EL"> </span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αρτον</span>) with them in the boat. And he
cautioned them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(<span class="wordglowoff">τ</span></i><span class="wordglowoff"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span>ς</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <span class="wordglowoff">ζυμης</span> <span class="wordglowoff">των</span> <span class="wordglowoff">Φαρισαιων</span> <span class="wordglowoff">καὶ</span> <span class="wordglowoff">της</span> <span class="wordglowoff">ζυμης</span> <span class="wordglowoff">Ἡρωδου</span></i>)"
And they discussed it with one another, saying, "We have no bread."<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 9pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 5:8 </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven,
the leaven of malice and evil (</span><span class="wordglowoff"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ζυμῃ</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <span class="wordglowoff">κακιας</span> <span class="wordglowoff">και</span>
<span class="wordglowoff">πονηριας</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">), but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 10:16-17</i>… The bread
which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because
there is one bread (<span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">οτι</span><span lang="EL"> </span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">εις</span><span lang="EL"> </span><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">αρτος</span>), we
who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 31;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note: </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in this clever spiritual pun Mark
literalizes Jesus as ‘one loaf’ creating a confusion among the </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">idolaters in the
boat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ’leaven of the Pharisees and
the leaven of Herod’ seems to be a Markan </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">paraphrase of Paul’s
‘leaven of malice and evil’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 32;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">24.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">8:33<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>he rebuked Peter, and said, "Get
behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men."<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gal 1:7<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>But even if we, or an angel from
heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to
you, let him be accursed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gal 2:11<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>But when Cephas came to Antioch I
opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 33;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">25.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">8:34 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</i>If any man would come after me, let him
deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.…..”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 11:1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 34;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">26. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">8:38</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For whoever is ashamed of me and of my
words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man
also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy
angels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 1:16</i> For I am not
ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who
has faith…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cr 2:1</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the
testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom…. I was with you in weakness and in
much fear and trembling; and my speech and my message were not in plausible
words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 35;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">27.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>9:2 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus took with him Peter and James and
John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was
transfigured (μετεμορφ</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ώ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">θη)
before them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2 Cr 3:18</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we all, with unveiled face, beholding
the glory of the Lord, are being changed (μεταμορφο</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ύ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">μεθα) into his likeness from one degree of glory to
another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 36;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">28.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">9:35<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If any one would be first, he must be last
of all and servant of all<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cor<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>9:19</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For though I am free with respect to all, <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I have made myself a slave to all</span>, so that I might win more of
them.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 37;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">29.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">9:49</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">For every one shall be salted with </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">fire</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">,</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 3:13</i> Every man's work
shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be
revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 38;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">30.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">9:50 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>… be at peace with one another (ε</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ἰ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ρηνε</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ύ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ετε </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ἐ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ν </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ἀ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">λλ</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ή</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">λοις).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Th 5:13</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>….be at peace among yourselves (ε</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ἰ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ρηνε</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ύ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ετε </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ἐ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ν </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ἑ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">αυτο</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ῖ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ς).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 39;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">31. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">10:11-12</i> And he said to
them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery
against her</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">; </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and
if</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">she divorces
her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">1 Cr 7:10:11</span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To the
married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">wife</span> should not separate from her husband (but if she does, let
her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband)--and that the husband
should not divorce his <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">wife</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 7:39</i> A wife is bound
to her husband as long as he lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 40;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">32.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">10:19 </i>You know the
commandments: 'Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear
false witness, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Do not defraud </b>(μ</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ὴ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ἀ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ποστερ</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ή</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">σ</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ῃ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ς),
Honor your father and mother.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 7:5 </i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Do not defraud</b>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(</i>μ</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ὴ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ἀ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ποστερε</span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ῖ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">τε),.....
i.e. refuse each other sexually…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 41;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note: </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">: </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark incredibly replaces the 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
commandment of Moses “thou shalt not covet…” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(ο</span><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EL;">υ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">κ </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">ἐ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">πιθυμ</span><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EL;">η</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">σεις..)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by Paul’s maxim to thwart the temptation to
covet by not denying spousal </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">privileges !<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 42;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">33.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">10:22</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You lack one thing; go, sell what you have,
and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 13:3</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if I give all my possessions to feed
[the poor]….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 43;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">34.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">10:39 </i>…</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The cup that I drink
you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be
baptized;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 12:13 </i>For by one
Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or
free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 44;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">35.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">10:44</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and whoever would be first among you must
be slave of all.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cor<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>9:19</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For though I am free with respect to all, <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I have made myself a slave to all</span>, so that I might win more of
them.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 45;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
</td>
<td colspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 452.1pt;" valign="top" width="603">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Note: </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This verse seems to assert Paul’s primacy
over all other apostolic authorities<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 46;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">36.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">10.45<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>For the Son of man also came not to be
served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gal 3:13</i> - Christ redeemed
us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us--for it is
written, "Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree"--<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 47;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">37.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">11:15-17 </i>…</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">he overturned the
tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; …..And
he taught, and said to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be
called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of
robbers."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 6:19 </i>Do you not know
that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from
God? You are not your own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 48;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">38.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">11:16 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>and he would not allow any one to carry
anything through the temple.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 Cr 4:7 </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 49;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note: </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Passion play plot is built around Paul’s
idea of one’s body as temple of God (this is<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>actually confirmed by
John 2:2). So the supposed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">malentendu </i>of
Jesus ‘destroying and rebuilding the temple’ in three days is a Markan ploy
in asserting the resurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 50;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">39.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">11:23<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Truly, I say to you, whoever says to
this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his
heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for
him. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 13:2 …</i>and if I have
all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 51;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">40.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">12:17</i> Jesus said to them,
"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things
that are God's." And they were amazed at him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 13:7</i> Pay all of them
their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due,
respect to whom respect is due, honour to whom honour is due.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 52;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">41.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 4.2pt 4.2pt 4.2pt 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">12:31
</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">The second is this, 'You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than
these."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 13:9 </i>The commandments,
"You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal,
You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this
sentence, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 53;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Mark
12:31 repeats Paul’ selection of Lev 19:18, as having overriding importance
among the</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Commandments<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 54;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">42.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">13:21-22<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>And then if any one says to you, 'Look,
here is the Christ!' or 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. False Christs
and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if
possible, the elect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2 Cor 11:12-13 </i>And what I
do I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would
like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we
do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves
as apostles of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 55;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">43.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">13:37 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what I say to you I say to all: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Watch !’ <span style="font-size: 10pt;">(γρηγορε</span></span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ῖ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">τε</span>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">14:34 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said to them, "My soul is very
sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch." <span style="font-size: 10pt;">(γρηγορε</span></span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ῖ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">τε</span>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">14:38</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watch <span style="font-size: 10pt;">(γρηγορε</span></span><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ῖ</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">τε</span>) and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 Th 5:6 </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Therefore
let us not sleep, as others </span><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">do,</span></em><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> but let us watch
(γρηγορῶμεν) and be sober<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 56;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt;">‘Watch! ’
relates back to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Th 5:2<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>For
you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a thief in the night, ie unexpectedly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 57;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">44.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">14:12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed
the passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where will you have us go
and prepare for you to eat the passover?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cor 5:7 </i>Cleanse out the
old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For
Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 58;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">45.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">14:21<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>For the Son of man goes as it is
written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">παραδ</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ί</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">δοται)</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> ! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 4:25<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>who was delivered up (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">παρεδ</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype",serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin;">ό</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">θη</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">) for our trespasses
and raised for our justification.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 59;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">46.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">14:22-24</i> And as they were
eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and
said, "Take; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had
given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to
them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 10:16<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>The cup of blessing which we bless, is
it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is
it not a participation in the body of Christ?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 60;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1 Cr 11:23-25 is not
from Paul’s hand. Mark was likely the originator of the Last Supper symbolism,</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>inspired by<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul’s 1 Cr 10:16. Matthew and Luke adapted
it from Mark. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The improbability of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1 Cr </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">11:23-25 being genuine
Paul is that it effectuates the 1 Cr 10:16 questions, and thus becomes its </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">own fulfilled prophecy,
and that the verses mimic too closely Luke 22:19-20.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 61;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">47.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">14:29-30<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Peter (<span class="wordglowoff"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ο</span></span><span lang="EL"> </span><span class="wordglowoff">δε</span> <span class="wordglowoff">Πετρος</span>) said to
him, "Even though they all fall away, I will not." And Jesus said
to him, "Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows
twice, you will deny me three times."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 9:33<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>as it is written, "Behold, I am
laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them
fall (<span class="wordglowoff">πετρα </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="wordglowoff">σκανδαλου</span>);
and he who believes in him will not be put to shame."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 62;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note: </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It appears that it was Mark who hellenized <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cephas</i> as<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Petros</i> in order to create this allegorical </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">pun on his name.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 63;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">48.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">14:36</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said, "Abba, Father,….”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 8:15</i> …you have received
the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gal 4:6</i> …God has sent the
Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 64;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul invokes ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Abba’ </i>in witness of the Spirit of
God’s Son, i.e. spiritual witness rather than historical <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as in 1 Cr
11:23-25<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in a note to 45 above.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 65;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">49.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">14:48</i> And Jesus said to
them, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to
capture me?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Th 5:2</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For you yourselves know well that the day
of the Lord will come like a thief in the night<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 66;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>scene is an ironic reversal of the saying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-size: 19pt;"><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype;">Λ</span></span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 19pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";">η</span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-size: 19pt;"><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype;">στ</span></span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span lang="EL" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 19pt; mso-ansi-language: EL; mso-ascii-font-family: "Palatino Linotype";">η</span></span><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype;"><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-size: 19pt;">ς<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>replaces </span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 19pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">κλεπτης</span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-size: 19pt;">
to make a point about<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype;"><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-size: 19pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the two men crucified with Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus will be counted among the ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lawless</i>’ (ανομο</span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span lang="EL" style="font-size: 19pt; mso-ansi-language: EL;">ι</span></span><span class="lextitlegk1"><span style="font-size: 19pt;">,
Isa 53:12).</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 67;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">50.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">14:58</i> "We heard him
say, 'I will destroy this temple that is made with hands(<span class="wordglowoff"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">χειροπο</i></span><span class="wordglowoff"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">ι</span>ητον</i></span>), and in three days I will
build another, not made with hands(<span class="wordglowoff"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">α</span>χειροποιητον</span>).'"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 6:9</i> Do you not know
that your <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">body</span> is a <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">temple</span> of the Holy Spirit within
you, which you have from God? You are not your own;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 Cr 5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed,
we have a building from God, a house not made with hands(<span class="wordglowoff"><span lang="EL" style="mso-ansi-language: EL;">α</span>χειροποιητον</span>),
eternal in the heavens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 68;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">51.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">14:63-64<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>And the high priest tore his garments,
and said, "Why do we still need witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy.
What is your decision?" And they all condemned him as deserving death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">15:14-15</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Pilate said to them, "Why, what
evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify
him." So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them
Barab'bas; and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 1:23 </i>…we preach Christ
crucified, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">an offence to the Jews, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">and folly to the Gentiles<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 69;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">52.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">14:72 </i>And immediately the
cock crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, "Before
the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he broke down
and wept.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gal 6:12 </i>It is those who
want to make a good showing in the flesh that would compel you to be
circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross
of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 70;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">53.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">15:34</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a
loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being
interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2 Cor 13:4</i> For he was
crucified in weakness but he lives by the power of God.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 71;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">54.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">16:1-2,8</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when the sabbath was past, Mary
Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salo'me, bought spices, so that
they might go and anoint him….And they went out and fled from the tomb; for
trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any
one, for they were afraid.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 6:3-4 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you not know that all of us who have been
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were buried therefore with him by baptism
into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, we too might walk in newness of life.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 96.7pt; mso-yfti-irow: 72;">
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; height: 96.7pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 26.7pt;" valign="top" width="36">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">55.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; height: 96.7pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 8cm;" valign="top" width="302">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">16:6-7</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said to them, "Do not be
amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is
not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and
Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he
told you."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black rgb(0, 0, 0); border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt 0px; height: 96.7pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: text1; mso-border-left-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor: text1; mso-border-right-themecolor: text1; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.3pt;" valign="top" width="300">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1 Cr 12:27</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now you are the <span class="criteria"><span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">body</span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><span class="criteria"><span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">of</span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><span class="criteria"><span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Christ</span></span>
and individually members <span class="criteria"><span style="color: windowtext; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">of</span></span> it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 73;">
<td colspan="3" style="background-color: transparent; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0) black black; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: 0px 1pt 1pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor: text1; mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor: text1; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 478.8pt;" valign="top" width="638">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note: </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two verses recall the hidden Malachi 3:1
reference from Mk 1:2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘You seek
Jesus<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nazarene’ evidently
paraphrases ‘the Lord whom you seek’ (ὁ κύριος ὃν ὑμεῖς ζητεῖτε) in the
Malachi </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">verse and extends the
wordplay on the temple as the invisible body of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 74;">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">56. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">16:8 </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they went out and fled from the tomb;
for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to
any one, for they were afraid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rom 8:15<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear (<span class="wordglowoff">παλιν</span> <span class="wordglowoff">εις</span> <span class="wordglowoff">φοβον</span>), but you have received the spirit of sonship.
…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the circular design
of Mark the ‘fear’ caused the women to say nothing, and the gospel <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">falls
back</i> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to 1:1 apparently
without resolution. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, it is the
text of Mark pointing to itself as “the </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">beginning of the gospel”
which does the proclaiming of Jesus rising from the dead , not the discipled</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who do not understand Paul’s doctrine of the
resurrected Messiah (8:32, 9:10,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>9:32,
10:37, 14:29) </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">that Jesus tries unsuccessfully to teach
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-9865678753331044002010-08-16T16:37:00.000-07:002011-07-25T08:35:37.313-07:00Through the Galatians DarklyI have long held that if the genuine Pauline epistles were all had to go by in assessing the early Christianity, some amazing things would probably be easily agreed to by most students of the first Jesus movements. For example, it seems clear not only that Paul was the only apostolic figure who preached the crucified Christ, but also that he believed Jesus to be Christ precisely because he was crucified. In other words, it seems that the Nazarene missions of James initially did not think of Jesus as Messiah at all, precisely because Christ crucified would have been an <em>obstacle</em>(<em>σκανδαλον</em>) to them, just as he was to the other Jews.'<br /><br />Galatians is a case in point. Paul claimed that his was the only true gospel, and cursed those who preached to his flock something other than he did (Gal 1:7-8). That he meant specifically missions from Jerusalem in which Cephas figured prominently, of that there is little doubt. Mind you, there is a number of exegetical theories arguing that Paul opponents were really not Jerusalem missionaries but home-grown Judaizing Christians, spiritualists or gnostics, but most scholars would not be swayed by exegesis of stand-alone passages or verses, around which these theories seem to be spun (e.g. W.Luetgert, J. Munck, J.Tyson, W. Schmithals). But, to my mind, the text is emphatic that Paul’s rivals come from Jerusalem or rely on the authority of its assembly. Paul’s poetic association of Sarah and Isaac with Jerusalem above (4:26) cannot be meaningful if the missions from James’ earthly abode are not referenced by it. Similarly, in 5:10, the ‘whoever he (the malefactor) may be’ (οστις εαν η) , would have no impact if the judgment were not invoked for an individual or corporate authority.<br /><br />But if Paul had a deep, unbridgeable difference with the Nazarenes, why would he insist on collecting money and goods for their saints around the Mediterranean ? There are two answers to that, I believe. The shorter one is, <em>‘Jesus Christ’</em>, the longer <em>‘Paul’s psychology’</em>. Let us look at Paul’s motives of going to Jerusalem in the first place, and the structure of the Jerusalem church as it is revealed to us by the epistle to the Galatians.<br /><br /><strong>How many times was Paul in Jerusalem ?</strong><br /><br />Galatians records two visits of apostle Paul to Jerusalem. As I have hinted in the previous blog (Paul’s Conversion – 9/8/2010), the first journey in 1:18-24 looks doubtful. It appears that Tertullian, in Adversus Marcionem (5.3.1) had no knowledge of the first visit. He refered to Gal 2.1 saying <em>[Paul] writes that after fourteen years he went up to Jerusalem, to seek the support of Peter and the rest of the apostles, to confer with them concerning the content of his gospel, for fear lest for all those years he had run, or was still running, in vain—meaning, if he was preaching the gospel in any form<br />inconsistent with theirs. </em>Similarly, Irenaeus alluded to the same verse in Adversus Haereses (3.13.3) without the adverb <em>‘again’</em>. (This relies on H.Detering’s Latin text of Irenaeus, which misses <em>‘iterum’ </em>in the verse. www.hermann-detering.de/DetGalExpl.pdf). In the case of Tertullian, the failure to cite the omission as an example of Marcion’s <em>‘mutilating’ </em>the Pauline text is surprising, as he evidently knew a version of Galatians which contained 1:18-24 (1:21 possibly excepted) and quoted from it (ref. to 1:18, 1:24 in Prescription Against Heretics, XXIII.). Among the possible explanations, the one which would be fair to Tertullian is that <em>The Prescription</em> was written after a critique of Marcion (against the Chronology of bishop Kaye).<br /><br />Apart from the likely textual witness, there is a truly mind-boggling failure of the NT exegesis to observe that Paul on his second visit has no reference to Cephas and James from the first visit. In Gal 2.2, Paul avers he went by revelation to lay his gospel <em>privately</em> (ιδιαν) before those who <em>‘seemed to be leaders’</em>, or <em>‘those of repute’</em> (τοις δοκουσιν). But that does not make sense, does it ? Paul had a revelation, but could not connect it to Cephas and James, whom he ostensibly met eleven years prior, and who he then should know himself were the leaders of the church, i.e. the persons with whom to do business in Zion. Instead, Paul wrote this verse as though he anticipated the outcome of his visit (no doubt to fulfil the revelation), i.e. getting to talk to people who were going to be pointed to him as having some - undetermined - influence in the church. In other words, the fact that Paul had to rely on directions from casual informants to get to talk to James, Cephas and John, belies most decidedly any previous personal contact with the Jerusalem assembly.<br /><br />Therefore, I discount the report of the first visit which appears motivated by a desire to show that Paul had a much earlier dealings with the church, made perhaps to harmonize his own writing with the legends of Paul in the Acts, where he is a frequent visitor to Jerusalem (chapters 9, 11 , 15, 18 ,21).<br /><br /><strong>The tale of two James’es</strong><br /><br />Let us now turn our attention to the structure of the Jerusalem community as it is revealed through Paul’s writing. It is interesting that Paul was to meet James, the Lord’s brother, during his first journey to Jerusalem (Gal 1:19). I say that in consideration of the use of the title, which stands in sharp contrast to Paul describing seemingly the same person later as simply one of those who <em>'seemed to be pillars'</em>. We do have Paul referring to brothers of the Lord elsewhere (1 Cr 9:5) so the appellation existed in his time. The question whether it meant a designation of kinship to the Nazarene Jesus, or whether it denoted some liturgical function, seems to be a rhetorical one, since one cannot presume the use of non-titular Lord to denote kinship to a human – now matter how venerable - among Jews who worshipped in the Temple. The term <em>'brothers of the Lord'</em> appears to be a cultic designation, akin perhaps to <em>les Templiers</em>, the abbreviation of <em>Les chevaliers du Temple</em>, whose actual full title was <em>Le pauvres chevaliers du Christ et du temple de Salomon à Jerusalem</em>. In analogy, the brothers of the Lord, were likely a truncated familiar version of a title, nonetheless one of respect. One possible full title that comes to mind is <em>οι αδελφοι εν τη διακονια του κυριου, brothers in the service of the Lord</em>.<br /><br />Irrespective of the authenticity of Gal 1:18-24, and the appellation in 1:19 belonging to him, James the Just was venerated by the community. One glimpse of the unparalleled respect he commanded as the leader of the Jerusalem community of saints is provided by the Gospel of Thomas :<br /><br /><em>Jesus said to them, "Wherever you are, you are to go to James the Righteous, for whose sake heaven and earth come into being." GoT(12)</em><br /><br />This saying predates the death of James (62 CE) as the instruction would serve no purpose after he was gone. Other notable witness of James the Just, the cameo by Hegesippus in Eusebius’ Church History, also describes him is a saintly ascetic man who by all appearances was peerless. One could safely assume that a community which apprehended its leader on those terms would not likely proclaim him as a part of <em>‘collective leadership’</em> or tolerate the profaning of his name. This of course prefigures the assessment that James the Just was one of the <em>‘so-called pillars’ </em>whom Paul met but who added <em>‘nothing’ </em>to Paul’s stature as apostle. If that were true – i.e. if Paul went to Jerusalem by revelation and achieved what he sought to achieve, i.e. acceptance of himself as bona fide apostle by the highest authority in Jerusalem, why the bitter, disrespectful tone in Paul’s writing ? In the next verse after the identity of Paul’s interlocutors was revealed (2:10), they urged Paul and his co-workers <em>‘to remember the poor’</em>, the very thing that was on Paul’s mind. Some exegets, notably J.D.G. Dunn, read the aorist active infinitive (ποιησαι) as indication that Paul has already delivered on this intent, however that instantly obscures the function of the pillars’ reminder. I would stand by the standard translation. Who are these poor ? I dare to presume that they are the ‘poor saints’ that Paul provisions in Rom 15:26. Herein, a big surprise !<br /><br />In my reading of Galatians Paul went to Jerusalem for the first time after fourteen years from his conversion. The number of years coincides with the time of writing sections of 2 Corinthians, (2 Cr 12:2) which are overwhelmed by Paul’s concern for his apostolic status. It appears Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, and offer James the Just his material support for his recognition of him as fully approved apostle of the church. However, he did not make it past the initial screening, because his doctrine of the Law fulfilment in Jesus Christ was judged completely unacceptable (Gal 2:4-5). Paul was instead handled by the three pillars of the church material support (Cephas and the Zebedees), i.e. its missionaries, who themselves travelled and collected money for the poor saints. With them he would have made a deal for his mission to the Gentiles (which was perhaps not as exclusive as Paul made it sound). It appears that there was some promise (or belief of Paul that such promise was made) on behalf of the three, to intercede on behalf of Paul with the church leaders to grant him an audition. This is what I believe can be gleaned from Rom 15:31.<br /><br />Very well then, when Gal 2:9-10 are cross-referenced with Rom 15:26, 28, 31, a very interesting picture emerges. One, <strong>the James of the pillars is not James the Just</strong>. Two, <strong>the ‘seeming pillars’ do not belong tp the Jerusalem saints</strong>. Paul speaks of the pillars (and the Judaizers, in general) in a disrespectful, off-handed manner (no doubt coloured by what happened later), which would hardly be possible to deploy in reference to James the Just. At the same time, he deems it important to record the request of his interlocutors for material support, which again Paul dismisses as superfluous because he himself intended to support the third party, identified as <em>‘οι πτωχοι’</em> in Galatians (2:10), and ‘<em>οι πτωχοι των αγιων των εν Ιερουσαλημ’</em> in Romans (15:26). I much prefer the straightforward translation of the Romans’ double partitive by William Barlow in KJV (independently supported by Luther, Calvin and Blahoslav of the Czech Bible of Kralice) which renders the Greek as <em>‘poor saints (which are) at Jerusalem’</em>.<br /><br />At any rate, James, Cephas, and John asked Paul for the support of the saints, from which they are excluded by the context. In Paul’s letters the term saint denotes purity and freedom from sin. The Judaizers themselves do not keep the law – hence the charge of hypocrisy against Cephas and his mission at Antioch. But it is hardly credible that Paul meant to include James the Just himself was an impious law-breaker, who wanted to glory in the Galatians’ flesh. So, if Paul wanted to collect for James and his <em>poor saints</em>, it may be safely assumed they were not among those against whom he riles. Paul needed the acceptance of James the Just to silence his detractors, and as it is apparent from Galatians, the missions from Jerusalem formed a big part of that problem.<br /><br />What is on the other side of the ledger ? Could James the Zebedee have been still around for Paul to meet ? I am frankly surprised at the degree of consensus that exists among NT scholars on the identity of James in 2:9, given that the only historical markers here come from the Acts in which the execution of James the Zebedee (12:1) precedes the <em>‘conference’</em> (15:4-29), the latter which does not track with Galatians at all. But in fact, there are echos of Gal 2 all over Acts 11, including Peter’s following orders from above to break <em>kashrut</em>, men coming from Jerusalem to Antioch, and Paul with Barnabas going to Jerusalem, though not with just a promise of aid but delivering it. The objection then has more to do with traditional beliefs of Paul connecting with the highest echelons of the Jerusalem hierarchy, than anything that could be described as historical evidence for it.<br /><br />However in reality, not just Paul but the <em>'pillars'</em> themselves did not figure as the church top leaders. Their being on top surely looks like a part of the myth of self-foundation of the Christian church in Jerusalem as proclaimed by the Acts. But as we shall see (in one of the future blogs) there is another, much more realistic scenario of the Jesus cult beginnings in Jerusalem. James the Just’s assembly acted as the shelter and protector for a variety of messianic and apocalyptic cults. Jesus’ entourage was adopted into the church and sent to proclaim Jesus as the prophet of last days. The <em>pillars</em> were Jesus missionaries of James. Similarly, there were disciples and missions of John the Baptists in the assembly and in the Diaspora. It is only later, after the first Jewish war, when Christianity consolidated outside of Palestine, that the church of James began to be portrayed exclusively as ‘<em>Christian’</em> church, and James the Just as Jesus’ brother. Figures like Cephas and the Zebedees rose in prominence as chief figures of James’ assembly, eventually displacing him in importance as the gospels came to be written with the focus shifting exclusively on the Nazarene Jesus.<br /><br />But Paul tells us something else: the pillars urged him to support the poor saints, a body of venerated church sages to which they evidently did not belong themselves. That Cephas, specifically, ranked much lower than James the Just is also apparent from the incident at Antioch. He ate with the Gentiles until certain men came <em>‘from James’</em>. Then he quickly distanced himself. Cephas could be thought of as a high-ranking church dignitary, if he were not a member of mammalian species where males are organized in functional hierarchies. At issue here is his yielding to members who presumably were of lower ranking than he on fear that a faction within the church (the circumcision party) would have prevailed in a showdown before James. It is hard to grasp that Cephas, an established leader within the church and a former confidante of Jesus would have not have a standing that would protect him from petty tyrannies of subordinates. If the organization was built as a memorial cult of the Nazarene Jesus, and he was on record saying things like ‘<em>nothing a man eats can defile him’</em> (Mk 7:15), Cephas would have been well within his rights to eat whatever he pleased, even before the Holy Spirit told him so on the roof of a house in Joffa. It appears then, that if Cephas changed his behaviour at a mere sight of men coming who had audience with James, then James was a highly dominant figure over him and an undisputed head of an assembly which was built on different values than Cephas was accustomed to. The incident is best explained by his conforming to expectations established wholly outside of his assigned competence. His craven retreat from the Gentile dining halls also explains why Paul did not have to bother to distinguish between James <em>‘the pillar’</em> (in 2:9), and James the Just (in 2:12). James the Just was a name that presumably needed no introduction in the circles that Paul moved. His authority was understood by all who had association with the sectaries.EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-11264038039199517452010-08-08T19:44:00.000-07:002014-11-10T09:23:08.881-08:00Paul's ConversionOnly a few of the stories in the gospels and Acts can compete for high drama with the ambush of Saul by Jesus on the road to Damascus. Saul, ‘<em>still breathing threats and murder’</em>, receives commission from the high priest in Jerusalem to arrest Jesus followers in Damascus (Acts 9). As he and his party draw near their destination, a flash from heaven knocks Saul rudely to the ground with a public audio feed demanding to know why Saul is persecuting the assaulting party. (In the repeat of the story in chapters 22 and 26 it is the video that goes public and the audio only feeds to Saul). The voice identifies itself to Saul as <em>'Jesus whom you are persecuting'</em>, and instructs him to enter the city and wait for further instructions. To assure Saul’s compliance, and underline the Risen One’s displeasure with his adversary’s persecutory lust, Saul is blinded, and made unable to feed or hydrate himself. Given what Jesus later tells the reluctant healer Ananias (9:15), it is clear that Saul (soon to be renamed to Paul) is pressed into service under duress, and with no real options.<br />
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The tale of Paul’s conversion in Acts is most likely Luke’s invention. It has a Lukan signature prominently displayed also in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31), the disembowelling of Judas' (Acts 1:18-19) and in Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-5:11), namely – as I have already hinted above - <em>persecutory lust</em>. I see no other motive for telling such stories than Luke’s rather exquisitely sadistic relish in justice. Be it as it may: Paul’s encounter of the unpleasant kind on the road to Damascus has sunk deep as Christian lore, and remains firmly planted in the minds of not only the regular church-goers but also the most sophisticated theologians.<br />
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In their <em>Search for Paul</em>, J.D.Crossan and Johanthan L.Reed, more or less take the Damascus incident for granted. They operate on the unquestioned premise (one supplied by Luke with no real support of contemporary sources) that the church of James the Just proclaimed the Nazarene Jesus as Messiah, and that Paul opposed the apostles violently for reasons unknown. The authors state that the account of Acts agree with Paul (Gal 1:17) in that Damascus was <em>the inaugural apparition, revelation, conversion and vocation for Paul</em>. Unfortunately, this noble effort at harmonization will not work. Not only Gal 1:15-17 does not in any way support the Acts story, it blatantly contradicts Luke :<br />
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<em>But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus (εις Ἀραβιαν και παλιν υπεστρεψα εις Δαμασκον ). </em><br />
<em><br /></em>Paul knows nothing about a mission to Damascus to round up Jesus believers. He receives his commission directly from God, does not consult with any man, and goes first to Arabia (Nabataea) and then returns (!) to Damascus. Further, and that I hold is of crucial importance in assessing Paul’s change of heart, he does not experience his revelation of Christ in the first instance as a hugely dysphoric, expiatory ordeal. Paul is called by God, through his grace (δια της χαριτος αυτου). That does not square with Luke’s account of heavenly Jesus robbing Saul of <em>joie de vivre</em> as a first thing in the process of introducing himself as a loving deity to the Gentiles. It is curious how even highly respected exegets miss on such important details in attempts to align the texts. Not all of them, of course. E.P. Sanders e.g. (Paul, Oxford 1993) states plainly that the Galatians 1:15-17 flatly contradicts Luke’s tale. But not so one of the leading Pauline scholars of the day, J.D.G. Dunn. He sees '<em>the three Acts accounts'</em> as confirming what Paul himself says : God revealed his Son in him, in order that he might preach him among Gentiles. Dunn believes that Paul’s gospel was <em>'shared'</em> with Jerusalem (J.D.G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1998, p.178). The problem, if not quite the devil, however is in the details.<br />
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<strong>Did Paul Persecute the Church ? </strong><br />
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I am not altogether convinced Paul persecuted the church. For one, a singular church of Christ (that thought of itself that way) did not yet exist. Also, the verses in the genuine Paulines in which Paul admits to persecuting <em>‘the church of God’</em> unfortunately all appear in passages of dubious authenticity (1 Cr 15:9, Gal 1:13, 1:23, Phl 3:6). They bear marks of later heavy-handed attempts to make Paul look like an apostolic figure converted to Christ through the confluence of personal revelation and the agency of the church as it developed later. But the mechanics of the conversion as shown in Acts look contrived and false. Paul received the Holy Spirit from God and not through church ordination (9:17). Paul had absolute certainty about his commission, and its provenance and it was not dependent on men in the least. Galatians, especially speak to Paul’s independence from Jerusalem. True, Paul went to Jerusalem but clearly it was to seek approval for his doctrine and the confirmation of his apostolic status, not to be tutored (Gal 1:17, 2:2).<br />
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The two passages in Gal 1 which mention Paul’s persecution (13-14, 18-24) look suspicious: the first breaks Paul’s expose of his credentials, uses a word not known elsewhere in the corpus (ιουδαισμος), and asserts he persecuted the church <em>‘excessively’</em> or <em>‘violently’</em> (καθ’ υπερβολην) trying to destroy it. The remarks, although not unbelievable in themselves, simply do not fit in the context. The digression to Paul’e pre-conversion status seems contrived, as is the church in singular (εκκλησια) coupled with the vehemence of Paul’s pursuit. The verses protest too much. There are similar issues with the other passage, the one dealing with Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem. Paul goes there to ‘<em>acquaint himself’</em> (ιστορεω) with Peter. This again is a strange hapax legomenon, as is the classing of Cephas, as an apostle, contra 1 Cr 9:5 and 1 Cr 15:5. The ου ψευδομαι oath in 1:20 only heightens the suspicions arising from Tertullian and Irenaeus, both apparently knowing a text of Galatians that lacked the mention of Paul’s first visit. The biggest issue that I see with the 1:18-24 passage however is that Paul on the second visit does not seem to know himself who to contact in Jerusalem and relies on forward references from the church. He ends up with three functionaries of the church <em>'reputed to be pillars'</em> (οι δοκουντες στυλοι). It strikes me frankly as incredible that Paul, having spent a fortnight with Cephas some time previous and naming him an apostle (by logical implication, 1:19) would not go to him directly as a known leader of the highest ranking. Surely, the grace given to Paul that Paul said Cephas thought worthy of fellowship, would not have had to wait eleven years after the two men first set sights on each other.<br />
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Paradoxically, it seems to be the epistle to the Galatians outside of these passages which suggests the likely origin of the legend that Paul persecuted the church of the Nazarenes. The tone of the letter is uncompromising: it is either Paul’s gospel or the flames of hell:<br />
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<em>…not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. Gal 1:7-8<br />I have confidence that you will take no other view than mine and he who is troubling you will bear his judgment …I wish those who unsettle would mutilate themselves Gal 5:10-12</em><br />
<em><br /></em>There seems to be a gentlemanly agreement among the learned exegets not to take Paul’s hostile outbursts and curses lobbied in the direction of the James’ missions on their face value. Most of the NT scholarship subscribes to the view that there was one mother church for all Jesus believers established by the mass baptism on the Pentecost (or a silent agreement among the disciples) shortly after Jesus was crucified. All looked to Jerusalem whence Jesus was preached as Christ. In these scholarly circles Paul’s apostolic agony tends to be discounted as a minor skirmish over observances. In my reading of Galatians, however, the issue central to Paul is his teaching of the crucified Messiah, which concept was alien to the Nazarenes in Paul’s time. They believed in Yeshua as an apostle of the last days, killed by lawless Gentiles and their temple priest collaborators (Acts 2:23, interpolated 1 Th 2:14-15). Jesus entourage was subsequently absorbed into a pre-existing congregation of James the Just whose assembly likely sheltered heterodox messianist beliefs and leaderless cults, among them the followers of John the Baptist. The martyred Galilean Yeshua was connected by midrash with the vision of Zechariah 3, and venerated in the church as a heavenly intercessor for the coming of Davidic messiah to restore Israel. This plan for the last days clashed head on with Paul’s revelation of Jesus as the resurrected heavenly messiah himself, who would in near future return and collect his faithful flock above ground. It was the resurrectional schema of Paul which came under attack in Galatia. Paul’s all-out counter, in which judgment was invoked, might have been the type of verbal assault that earned Paul the reputation as the persecutor of the Nazarenes.<br />
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None of this, naturally, excludes the possibility that Paul did speak out against the Nazarenes or other sects of apocalyptic messianism prior to his conversion. He probably did do that, as he was a man of strong convictions. The tradition that Paul was a Judaic traditionalist before receiving his calling appears genuine. I am persuaded of this by the remarkable schism on Paul’s pre-conversion view of Jesus in the NT texts. On the one hand, there is the unapologetic view written into the Gal. 1 passages and Philippians 3:6. Paul was a godly, upright learned Jewish tradesman, who was called upon by God to proclaim his revelation. This version of Paul is probably authentic tradition, as it fits Paul’s self-image he consistently presents elsewhere (Rom 1:1, 1 Cr 1:1, 7:20-24, 2 Cr 1:1, 3:5, Gal 1:15-17). There is no shame or even a shade of ‘<em>repentance</em>’ present in Paul’s conversion. Quite the contrary, it is very clear that Paul considered his ministry an election, a service for which he was called and for which he received adequate resourcing. Sharply contrasting with this image, is one of repentant Paul, written into the Acts legend of the Damascus encounter, 1 Cr 15:9, and what appears a shameless retroactive falsification of Paul’s mind in 1 Ti 1:13-14 (<em>‘though I formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him; but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me…’</em>). These, naturally, do not have much to do with Paul, the man who is the subject of my study.<br />
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To sum up, my scepticism touches on the level of hostile engagement against the Nazarene assemblies imputed to Paul by some texts. Let this be said plainly: there is no evidence in Paul’s writing that he was either violent personally, or encouraged physical violence against adversaries. It is unlikely that Paul’s conversion would have radically changed his behavioural patterns with respect to advocating or orchestrating the use of violence. Paul’s hostility would have been verbal and confined to denunciations of opponents.<br />
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<strong>What Did Paul Believe about Jesus prior to Conversion ?</strong><br />
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Paul was a hellenized Jew, who was born and lived in the Diaspora likely all his life. His social status was middle class, probably on the lower end of the middle. By Luke’s account he made a living as a tentmaker (σκηνοποιoς – Acts 18:3). Paul’s education is an unknown variable to most NT scholars, as Luke’s account of him as a disciple of Gemaliel (Acts 22:3) is best set aside as a story-teller’s license. For one, Saul’s blood lust against the Jesus sect that Luke swore by, would have been at odds with the teachings of Gemaliel and rabbinism generally. Nor is there in Paul a discernible trace of formal education, obtained through a public gymnasium or a private παιδαγωγος. Paul does not concern himself in the least with Greek philosophy even though the apostle certainly looks like someone keenly aware of his superior intellect, one with high intellectual ambitions, and one none too shy to display his learning. I am persuaded by an echo of the familiar tune of Frank Sinatra omnipresent in Paul letters, that their writer was self-sufficient in everything. As he apparently did it (all) <em>his</em> way, he would have been also self-educated.<br />
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As Paul was highly intelligent he would have easily dominated in most social settings where he put appearance. His learning and literacy would have been considered a mark of superiority in the circles he moved, regardless of pedigree. In this connection, one needs also to take into account the new situation that the translation of the Tanakh into Greek created. The Septuagint would have an effect similar to that of the Bible in the Middle Ages appearing in native languages of the European continent. The wider availability of the scripture meant that it could no longer be claimed by a small class of scribes and interpreters. It would have been accessible to bright urban autodidacts like Paul and his social milieu. ( Paul’s later missionary focus on the Gentiles interested in Judaism, would have also assured Paul’s supremacy as only the Jewish sages learned in the scripture would have been in a position to challenge Paul’s reading of the texts. And no doubt they would have found Paul outrageous. Start with the passages of non-titular Lord that the mystagogue abducted to make them seem to refer to his visions of a heavenly Redeemer.)<br />
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What Paul’s theology was prior to conversion is difficult to gauge. We may assume that he was conservative, and tending to a pietist variety of the faith. Paul’s manner also makes it quite probable that the <em>‘holier-than-thou’</em> attitude, so often present in his letters would have been a character trait preceding Paul’s career as an apostle of Christ. This Paul presumably did not have a friendly disposition to the missions of apocalyptic messianists from Jerusalem that he was encountering. He would have regarded the ecstatics, their ways and their beliefs them as plainly crazy (1 Cr 11:23, 14:23).<br />
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We are told by Paul that he once regarded Christ κατα σαρκα, i.e. from a vulgar point of view (2 Cr 5:16), which means he knew of Jesus from ordinary communication with other humans prior to receiving his revelation. This interpretation and the other apparently direct link to Jesus of the Nazarenes (1 Cr 2:2) was challenged by Earl Doherty on one of the discussion Boards. He stated that Paul’s adversaries believed in another version of the Christ myth, in which Jesus was not crucified. Unfortunately, he was not able to explain how Paul could have claimed that the Nazarene missions wanted to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ (Gal 6:12), if this cross was of a non-earthly origin. If the crucifixion was mythical and everyone knew it, then Paul’s injuction <em>‘will know nothing among you, other than Jesus Christ and him crucified’</em> equals in significance a taboo on discussing the deeds of Prometheus prior to his liver getting pecked out. Far worse though, accusing Cephas and his mission of fear of being persecuted for something they did not believe existed, would have reduced Paul’s apostolic reach only to the most destitute among the intellectual paupers.<br />
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Paul’s pre-conversion view of Jesus, κατα σαρκα, is summarized by 1 Cr 1:23 <em>For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,</em><br />
Paul, the urbane Hellenist, simply would not have accepted the proclamation of a prophet who was crucified by authorities as a criminal. It would have been folly to him. Why would God want to choose some illiterate Galilean peasant to incite a riot about the coming kingdom ? Besides, the authorities do not punish innocent people. In his conservatism, Paul could not even conceive of an unjust punishment (Rom 13:1-5). His view would have been seen as extreme even in his own time , but it is not one that is unparalleled in the history of religious thought. The Islamic theologian ibn Taymiyyah, who lived during the Mongol invasions of the Middle East, held similar opinions, saying famously that sixty years of tyrannical rule were preferable to one day of civil disorder.<br />
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Paul, the pious Jew, would have been outraged by the idolatry of the Nazarenes to an executed criminal proclaimed as a holy apostle of God (Hbr 3:1) and a martyr for his kingdom (Mt 23:37-39). This man was hanged on a tree (or the era’s equivalent punishment) and therefore demonstrated as one accursed of God. How could he become the heavenly intercessor for the coming of God`s kingdom ? The nomenclatura of the messianist sectaries would have no doubt offended Paul’s sense of righteousness cultivated by faithful observance of Jewish legalities and customs.<br />
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One final question on pre-conversion Paul concerns his own messianic expectations. I do not think they were strong, for a number of reasons. Paul had a tragic view of human existence which was not something brought about by his acquaintance with Christ. Much more likely it was the other way round. IMHO, it is unlikely that his belief that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cr 15:50, originated in the revelation of Christ. It looks rather an antithesis to the materialistic messianism which Paul had rejected. The Diaspora middle class that Paul counted himself in, would have been far removed from the popular clamour for a ‘<em>shepherd king’</em> a la David, to restore Israel as sovereign kingdom, free of injustice and oppression. Its focus would have been on the local community, with whatever temporal issues it faced. A few prosperous Diaspora Jews would have been overwhelmed by eschatological speculations. Similarly the intellectuals: Josephus, even though a proud Jewish patriot, would not have seen the rise of a restored kingdom of Israel, as displacing Rome’s power in its vicinity. Rome’s emperor would have done fine as messiah. Philo’s primary interest lied in the integration of Jewish monotheism into the overwhelming influence of the Greco-Roman civilization. His interest lied squarely in marrying the Jewish wisdom traditions to Greek philosophy, an interest which was alien to the messianist vistas of a restored kingdom. The reality of Rome’s power was driven home to all Jewish intellectuals who were familiar with it. Only a few harboured hopes for a supernatural intervention by God, in making it all happen. Paul would not have been among them.<br />
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<strong>The Ecstatic Experience as Conversion</strong><br />
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The wide acceptance of the road to Damascus incident as real history has had one interesting side effect. Paul has been classed as an epileptic, almost universally. This is not a modern view of Paul. Epilepsy has been called <em>St.Paul’s Disease</em> in Ireland for centuries. No doubt, the photism and collapse of Paul during the vision as described by Luke has led most to conclude that Paul suffered from Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE). This view is strengthened the story revealing that Paul, though blinded, was able to walk on his own. If Paul had suffered a stroke he would not have been able to walk far. Since TLE is known to produce strong religious conversion experiences, a little attention has been paid to Paul’s letters and the clues they provide as to his medical profile. In consequence, his assumed epilepsy has not been seriously challenged with the exception of those who caution that there is not really much to go on in a way of diagnosis. Despite the occasional disclaimer there has not been, to my knowledge, a serious interest from the medical professionals to assess Paul condition based on articulations he himself provides.<br />
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An historical review by D.Landsborough (Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 1987:50) <em>St.Paul and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy</em> provides a fair example of how the assessments are done. Paul’s personal data are lifted from the Acts, and the composite sketch relies on such verities as his inheritance of Roman citizenship, and his formal education received in Jerusalem. He is said to be the <em>'first man of letters in the early church'</em>. Paul’s self-described out-of-body journey to third heaven with the consequent attacks by Satan, is seen as bearing <em>‘a close resemblance to the psychic and perceptual resemblance of a temporal lobe seizure, albeit of spiritual experience for Paul’</em>. The author cautions that we do not know whether Paul showed any abnormal physical signs. <em>‘If this was TLE it is very unlikely that there were – ‘the story is all’ ‘</em>. He also cites C.H.Rieu assessment (Acts of the Apostles, Penguin 1957) of Paul as <em>‘a whirlwind of passions: ‘Hate, anger, depression, jostle with tenderness, love and hope, and all in extremes’</em>. The essay goes on to mention Galatians (4:13-14) acknowledging Paul’s preaching of the gospel on account of illness. The apostle’s not being <em>‘despised’</em> for his condition is taken to mean he was free from being spat upon (<em>morbus qui sputatur</em>). Spitting can be described as a superstitious reaction by by-standers to an attack of epilepsy, though the article admits that the rude treatment was not necessarily specific to that disease.<br />
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In the analysis of 2 Cor 12:1-9, a number of indicators are seen as the artifact of a seizure, a disembodied state, aura of depersonalization, and inability to describe the experience are in the view of the author due to an <em>‘ intensely esoteric, rapturous state associated with an elaborate auditory sensation whose details cannot be recollected’</em>. The writer believes that τη υπερβολυ των αποκαλυψεων (which his translation renders as <em>'wealth of visions'</em>) may bespeak of a number of experiences, which have a disagreeable sequel to them, described as a <em>‘thorn in the flesh’</em>, and interpreted as recurring unpleasant motor disturbances. The latter is also seen as possible reference to the inner experience of a grand mal seizure. Generally, it is affirmed that the conversion, the recurrence of attacks and the nature of personality changes, which a quoted source describes as ‘inter-ictal’ such as ‘increased concern with, and writing on philosophical, moral and religious issues’, diminution of sexual activity, aggressiveness, are consistent with the diagnosis of TLE.<br />
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It is interesting to observe how easily Paul matches the epileptic profile in studies like these. There seem to be almost no counter-indications. Paul’s self-described illness and states of mind seem to fit seamlessly into the Damascus incident.<br />
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Yet, we do have the evidence of R.M.Bucke (see the preceding blog The Origin of My Interest…) , a trained physician who would immediately have recognized the epileptic nature of Paul’s visionary experience (as he would have known his own). Paul describes himself as glossolalic (1 Cr 14:18) and apparently insists that this activity be controlled when the church assembles. It is hard to credit that Paul would have attempted to regulate tongue speaking if this activity was spontaneous and beyond the control of the sufferers. He classes himself as a member of the spiritualist assembly. <em>For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and all were made to drink of one Spirit</em> (1 Cr 12:13). The metaphoric intoxication by the Spirit is an important diagnostic clue, as it permeates the texts (e.g. the marriage at Cana, in John 2, the mass baptism at the Pentecost, Acts 2, Thomas 13 & 108). At minimum, this suggests that Paul’s ecstatic seizures, or seizure-like symptoms, were triggered periodically by protracted episodes of euphoric excitement. If we read Paul’s prominent displays of moodiness in this context, the diagnostic profile will soon tilt to issues of loss of control of moods, and the letters can be read as almost classical self-describing exhibits of manic-depressive illness. (More on Paul’s bipolar challenge in a future blog).<br />
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<strong>Does 2 Cor 12:1-9 describe Paul’s Conversion ?</strong><br />
As I have indicated already, there is a significant difference between the conversion experience as portrayed by Luke in Acts 9, and Paul’s own testimony in Gal 1:15-16. God called Paul through his grace and was pleased to reveal his Son in Paul. Some textual commentators say that the phrase οτε δε ευδοκησεν ο θεος, (but when God was pleased) is a later addition. If it is not, it shows Paul misallocating his affective tie to the event, projecting it as God’s feelings. At any rate, the phrasing shows that the revelation was received as a positive and ennobling transport by Paul contrasting sharply with the assault on, and abduction of, Saul by vengeful Jesus on the road to Damascus.<br />
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Gal 1:15-16 seems to be elaborated by 2 Cor 12:1-9:<br />
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1) <strong><em>I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.</em></strong><br />
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The lead-in verse is important in that it should take care of exegetical objections that what follows may not be the description of the inaugural Paul’s revelation of Christ. With this verse, it is really difficult to see why Paul should would omit reference to his first revelatory experience, if the preceding defence of his apostolic status vis-à-vis competition is not strong enough argument.<br />
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2) <strong><em>I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.</em></strong><br />
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Paul switches here to the third person singular to stress both the unreality of what he experienced and the loss of self in the euphoric ascent. It is also important to grasp Paul’s relating himself as in Christ even after all these years - which is to stress the lasting effect the conversion had.<br />
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3) <strong><em>And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—</em></strong><br />
4) <strong><em>and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. </em></strong><br />
<strong><em><br /></em></strong>Reaching a euphoric peak (the paradise), Paul could not distinguish between internal and external stimuli. The gnosis imparted was not permissible to speak about – although the question arises whether by this manoeuvre Paul seeks to convey the lack of communicability of the inner state brought about by sustained mental excitement.<br />
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5) <strong><em>On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.</em></strong><br />
6) <strong><em>Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.</em></strong><br />
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Paul asserts that he – as a mature individual with a sense of identity – has no claim on the theophany. This connects with Paul’s description of the son revealed in him (εν εμοι) in Gal 1:15. Paul observes this protocol in his letters distinguishing his personal view and the commands or revelations of the Lord. The border however becomes blurred as Paul seems to appropriate the mind of Christ (υμεις δε νουν Χριστου εχομεν – 1 Cr 2:16) for his group, and sees himself as the unchallengeable spokesman for it (Gal 5:10, Rom 2:16, Rom 16:25).<br />
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7) <strong><em>And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. </em></strong><br />
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Even though the <em>thorn in the flesh</em> (σκoλοψ τη σαρκι) does not specify the nature of the discomfort it is clear that in Paul’s mind it reduces the grandiose inflation of self-esteem which characterizes the initial phase of the transport, through torment and physical suffering. This is a most significant disclosure of Paul, as it captures the counter polarity to his euphoria, and grasps its function in returning Paul to reality.<br />
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8) <strong><em>Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me;</em></strong>9) <strong><em>but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.</em></strong><br />
<strong><em><br /></em></strong>Verses 8-9 confirm the cyclical nature of the process. Paul goes up to the pinnacle of euphoria where he is showered with glorious revelations and is brought down each time into decrepitude through a painful manifold of persecutory calamities (for an inventory see 2 Cr 11:23-33). To protect his ego from becoming too damaged in the falls from grace, he disengages himself from the glorious heights and assigns them to the risen Lord, of whose glory he is sent to testify.<br />
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I have found through many years of discussions most people seem reluctant to accept that 2 Cor 12:1-9 describes Paul’s visions and revelations (ὀπτασίας καὶ ἀποκαλύψεις) of the Lord. Even though Paul tells them it does, their upbringing and schooling makes them look subconsciously for an event resembling the road to Damascus. It is not there, ergo it cannot be the conversion experience ! I had a discussion on this with a very intelligent and knowledgeable historian of antiquity. He said he was not convinced that 2 Cor 12:2 describes the inaugural revelation of Christ to Paul. I asked him what reason Paul would have to omit the most important event of all, given the context of the defence of his ministry, in which the account was given. Why would he hold back ? He did not know. I suggested that the scepticism was simply an ingrained habit of thought which seeks to connect Paul’s letters to the Acts. He said <em>'maybe'</em>. But it appears there was no Saul on the road to Damascus. It is a literary, fictional adaptation of Paul’s onset of acute bipolarity, in which he began to experience the Spirit (as described in <em>The Doctor Who Could not Heal Himself – July 2010</em>).<br />
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<strong><em>How did Paul connect his experience to the Nazarene Jesus ?</em></strong><br />
This is probably the question of all questions. My view is this: Paul was doubtless shaken up by the experience once his first episode was over. We do not know whether he had at the beginning of his experience of boundless euphoria some discussions, agonized arguments, or thoughts on the subject which then carried on into the episode. It is most likely however that Paul became preoccupied with Jesus during the protracted period of agitation (the mean duration of hypermanic excitement is about six weeks) , and as it progressed in stages to mind-states totally unfamiliar to Paul, he began to ascribe the uncanny joy to the Jesus entity. This continued through the terrifying, persecutory stage of the episode, which Paul came to associate with Jesus’ death on the cross. It was no cheap metaphor. Eric Kraepelin, the German psychiatrist who defined the manic-depressive disorder, wrote <em>‘very commonly it is asserted that the disease is a greater torture than any other, that the patient would far, far rather endure any bodily pain than disorder of the mind’</em>. (E. Kraepelin, Manic-Depressive Insanity and Paranoia, tr. By Mary Barclay, Edinburgh, 1921, p.22).<br />
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Coming out of the episode, a part of which was hugely exhilarating but which then morphed into a nightmare of living hell, Paul must have been scared stiff. He realized how totally defenceless he was in his <em>madness</em> , and he would have defined his behaviour as such once he regained his faculties. He was now like the ecstatic freaks which he previously despised.<br />
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Reflecting on his own states of <em>non-compos mentis</em> and physical afflictions after the mystical peaks, he paralleled them with the reports of Jesus' sayings and doings, and decided that the earthly Jesus was <em>"led"</em> by the same spirit as he, Paul, was and that he followed the spirit as it led him inexorably to the cross. The kingdom Jesus believed could be brought to earth from heaven by God in the messianic age (as Paul received it through the grapevine from the disciples' following) were delusions, but delusions planted by God (2 Cr 5:21). Paul reasoned that if Jesus was deluded by God and crucified because he, in his delusions was made to break the Mosaic law, then his death could not signify but the absurdity of human life. But if Jesus' death had a hidden meaning, and his apparent madness that caused his violent end was actually designed by God to show Paul (and through Paul) that Jesus' and Paul's own madness was not what it seemed to others then there was hope. If the delusions of grandeur, were actually how God worked and the ecstatic peaks of pleasure and fulfilment a revelatory preview of the life in Jesus Christ that comes after one has faithfully served God, then Paul was not mad and Jesus was Lord. If Paul could dissociate his ego from the grandeur he was experiencing he would retain a measure of sanity and win salvation by proclaiming the glory as Christ's. Whatever else can one say of Paul, he convinced enough fellow pneumatics of his and their special commission, and they in turn found enough following in their communities for it, that they built a solid believer base. That base was Paul's proof that he had seen the Lord.EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-82524142018077846172010-07-27T09:35:00.000-07:002011-05-26T07:39:53.528-07:00The Origin of My Interest in Early Christian PsychologyIf you read my blogged essays in sequence, you have probably guessed by now that I live with a bipolar challenge myself. My interest in the early Christians relates to my first hypermanic episode I had at the age of thirty-seven. During my recovery, still hanging onto some delusional schemes, one of the things I could not get my head around was the quasi-religious content of much of the phantasms during the two months that I was out of service. The auto-suggestions, which now looked idiotic and frightening to my intellect, because surely I was out of control, came seemingly out of nowhere. I was religion-free. Prior to the transport, I had no history either of involvement with a church or intellectual interest in religious texts. Throughout my life I have been a voracious reader, in history, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and good fiction. Before the onset of acute bipolarity I did not read in religious studies. Other than the Bible, which I read with Isaac Asimov’s <em>‘Guide’</em> as a historical document, maybe the only two authors that had remotely to do with religious ideas were T.D. Suzuki and Alan Watts. Oh yes, one more. Once, when I forgot to pack a book or two to read on a 6-hour flight I picked up ‘<em>Holy Blood Holy Grail’</em> in an airport bookstore. It looked like the only eligible title among the Harlequins, Micheners, Get-Rich-Quick-manuals, Hollywood biographies, diet scams and other assorted trash. Actually, I don’t know why went for the Baigent crew title. Maybe because it was a bestseller; maybe because I thought it was a comedy like Monty Python’s.<br /><br />After my episode, I saw four psychiatrists. None of them wanted to discuss anything that was important to me. I had the strangest bodily feelings during the episode; at one point, during the peak of the euphoric excitement my body filled with light and dissolved, as it were; it was the most incredible thing I ever experienced. I wanted to remember that state. I was afraid of losing the memory of being like that. That fear was as strong as that of reliving the horrors the brain produced after the sea of light that poured into my body out of nowhere. One of the shrinks I saw said he could not help me with that. (Actually, he could have by explaining to me terms like 'photism' and 'synaesthesia'.) He told me that whatever I thought and felt during the feverish days was not at all important. <em>‘You will acknowledge it yourself once you get better’</em>, he said. <em>Get better ?,</em> I thought, ….<em>bud, you wouldn’t listen but have come down from getting the best. I have seen the world to come. What do you think you can give me to help me get better??</em> The idea that I could be restored by a cocktail of poisons to myself – not just to some sad joke of me as a briefcase-toting executive zombie - was absurd. It was more absurd than that God himself sent a Spirit to save the world from destroying itself, and then left me to witness its collapse, after being jeered at, spat upon and flogged by everyone’s stupid ego, including my own, and leaving me to my own devices to deal with the shame and confusion, in the aftermath.<br /><br />I felt I needed to hang on. Hang on to whatever it was that hit. In the deepest recesses of me I felt there was something in that sudden shattering of the world I thought I knew. I was still crazy as a bedbug. Even after I cleaned my place of the witness of my phantasms, I wanted to remember everything. I believed. I had to believe this was not just a <em>random</em> thing, not just the creepy idiocies which appear as soon as you open your mouth about <em>your</em> visions or try to put them down on paper. There's got be <em>some sense</em> in this nonsense.<br /><br />I remember one of those dreadful panic attacks that threatened to kill me in those weeks. An indescribable fear descended on me and sent me into a frenzy. I was walking past a bookstore when another huge premonition of the End arrived. I stumbled in and fighting the paralysis the fear sent into my limbs I started to pull out books at random from a shelf. Then my eyes fell on Susan Sonntag’s <em>I, etcetera.</em> Trying to steady my shaking hand, I parsed the sleeve. There was a quote from Nietzsche: <em>what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.</em> Immediately relieved and resolved to find strength to live through the terror and the perplex, I walked out of the store with the prized promise. A few steps down the street a store clerk caught up with me: ‘<em>are you going to pay for the book ?’</em> Here is a confession: for a long time I believed that I was actually led to enter the store to find the relief in on the sleeve of that particular book. Yet, it was the paranoid thought process insisting that reality was being pre-arranged with myself as a focal point of God’s attention that not only sent me into paroxysms of terror but also provided the relief and the growing confidence that I can cope with my predicament and cope without drugs. Strange mess I was in. A few days later while taking bath I suddenly realized that Nietzsche, for all his wisdom, ended up in a lunatic asylum. I jumped out of the water. For ten minutes of eternity I could not find my breath.<br /><br />The last of the psychiatrists to whom I was referred after the initial diagnosis at a clinic near Montreal General, was actually a likeable fellow. I will call him Dennis here. In his forties, tall and balding, he had a cheerful disposition. He knew how to turn on a confident grin, which I am sure, was disarming to most of his female patients. <em>‘So, you are a computer programmer’</em>, he grinned after he’s taken down my story, <em>‘got the bug, worked nights and could not sleep…waking up in the middle of the night with some bright new coding solution to an intractable problem, eh….then went kind of depressed and couldn’t get it up, ….and then had a mystical experience,… who was in it ? Boddhisatva ? Come here, I’ll show you something…’</em>. He launched from his swivel chair and opened up a drawer of one of his filing cabinets. <em>‘Oh come, come , you want to see this!’</em> I got up, and he began rifling through his files. <em>‘Here’s one,</em>’ he said and pulled up a folder half way. <em>‘Don’t look at the name tags, I am trusting you….another one……m m m m, where are they ? Here my friend is another..here and here and here.... These are my programmers, all of them. Call it the hazard of the profession. They gave me pretty much the same story as you did, they got the bug, forgot to nap and their brain chemicals went out of whack. No problem, we know how to fix that’</em>. Dennis pushed down the folders, theatrically slammed the metal drawer, and seated himself breaking eye contact.<br /><br />I sat down and said, <em>‘Jesus’</em>. ‘<em>Sorry, what was that ?’</em>, asked Dennis who was jotting something important into my file. <em>‘You asked me who was in my mystical experience’</em>, I said. ‘<em>Yes, yes, of course !’</em>, he finished writing and started explaining that these things, (the mystical experiences which some manics have), are culturally conditioned. People who are Christians will have Jesus in them, Jews their prophet of choice, Buddhists Buddha, Moslems he never treated but he felt sure they had Mohammed in them. <em>‘But I am not religious,… normally’</em>, I countered, but already began to mess things up. A debate ensued in which Dennis determined that my mother was a Catholic like his, and therefore I had somewhere in my head stored up the Jesus lore from my childhood, which bubbled up during the episode of excitement. <em>‘Did you actually see Jesus ?’</em>, Dennis asked with what felt like a sly intent. I resented the patronizing tone, and his utter lack of ability to connect on a human level with whatever it was that made me come to him. The same thing as with the other shrinks. <em>‘No it was not like seeing a person’</em>, I was perplexed again, trying to explain my exile from right reason, <em>‘it’s nothing like that. It’s more like a strange presence that kind of gets hold of you’</em>. Dennis went on poking: <em>‘well did this presence which you say was Jesus, …did it talk to you ? Did you hear his voice ?</em> Again, I tried to assure him that I did not hallucinate a color print of a blond-hair guy with a nimbus around his head, a lamb in his arms, and a puzzled facial expression. Not that. I remembered having both visual and auditory hallucinations during the episode. Jesus was not in them. After a few days of excitement , I sometimes felt I was awake and dreaming at the same time. I tried to explain the in-and-out somnambulist state into which I had sank in place of the normal cycle of sleep and wakefulness, and how unreal it felt. It was like being in another world. But Dennis was not into it. He assured himself that <em>Jesus</em> left my skull, leaving my cognitive gear relatively intact. He asked me if I lost any weight. I told him I lost a lot through the two months of the ecstatic ordeal, but that I was more less eating normally now. <em>How much is a lot ? Twenty pounds ?</em> Dennis raised his eyebrows. <em>Well,</em> I replied, <em>I haven’t weighed myself but all my clothing seems three sizes bigger, and I still forget to eat at times.</em> <em>‘Forget,… you still forget’</em>, he muttered back. He shook his head sizing me as post-psychotic but still quite vulnerable . A mood stabilizing medication was in his opinion necessary. I looked depressed to him. My response was that I was going to think about it. When I saw him next time he was displeased with my decision and said he really could not do much for me.<br /><br />Many years later, I recalled my difficulty in giving Dennis a coherent account of the headspace which at the time freely associated my strange and different way of interacting with the world with the name <em>Jesus</em>. In a book comparing the experiences of the prophet Mohammed and Teresa of Avila (Maxine Rodinson: Mohammed) the Carmelite nun was asked by her confessor to explain her visions. She said she sees nothing during her mystical union with Christ. <em>'Since you see nothing'</em>, asked her confessor incredulously, <em>'how do you know it is Our Lord'</em> ? She replied that she saw no face, that she knew it was Our Lord and it was not an illusion....<em>'one sees nothing, within or without...but while seeing nothing the soul understands what it is and where it is more clearly than if you saw him....The soul hears no word, either within or without, but understands quite clearly who it is and where he is and sometimes even what he means to tell. How and by what means [the soul] understands, it does not know, but so it is; and while this is happening it cannot fail to know it'<br /></em><br /><strong>The Psychiatrist Who Helped</strong><br /><br />Finally, I did find a psychiatrist who answered many of my questions. He was from Montreal, which was coincidence I took as one of those confirmations there was some kind of Providential plan in all of my psycho extracurriculars. Actually, doctor Bucke was dead at the time I contacted him, having slipped on ice and succumbed to his brain injury back in 1902, many years before my own little brain figured out how the wet breast connected to the cooing noises above . It was Richard Maurice Bucke’s seminal work <em>‘Cosmic Consciousness’</em> which was the lithium I was looking for. Dr. Bucke believed that human mind was fast evolving, and that the great mystical experiences of such religious founders as Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, and great minds like Dante, Francis Bacon (who he believed wrote the Shakespeare plays and poems), Blaise Pascal, Spinoza, William Blake, Swedenborg, Diderot, as well as many of Bucke’s contemporaries, had the advance spiritual faculty which manifested itself as a sort of peak experience of cosmic gnosis, which eventually will be made available to the masses at large.<br /><br />The book helped to put me on the right track. First, of course, I was greatly relieved I was not <em>judged</em> insane by this doctor. He evidently did not think me too conceited in claiming I had Cosmic Consciousness since, evidently this thing was now made available to fairly ordinary eccentrics like myself. Some people may shake their heads on reading this, but they do not realize how important it is to someone who had the familiarity of <em>the frightful thing of falling into the hands of the living God </em>(Hbr 10:31). One is looking to find a workable external view to make sense of the experience. It just won’t do to say, ‘<em> don’t worry about it, take the meds and you will be ok. Think of it just like any other illness.’</em> Because, it is not like any other illness – this one is about who <em>you</em> are, and how <em>you</em> feel about yourself, and how people react socially to what <em>you</em> supply to them as your self-image. You need to integrate this experience because <em>you</em> own it: it is yours to figure out, because if you don't it will figure <em>you</em> out. Just like Thomas said in his gospel: <em>Blessed the lion whom the man eats for the man will be like a lion, and cursed the man whom the lion eats for the lion will be like a man. </em>(IOW, if you master the experience of madness, you will be empowered by it, but if it allow it to overtake you, you will be reduced to beastliness).<br /><br />Bucke wrote: <em>‘it seems that every, or nearly every, man who enters into cosmic consciousness apprehension is at first more or less excited; the person doubting whether the new sense may not be a symptom or form of insanity. Mohammed was greatly alarmed. I think it is clear that Paul was, and others to be mentioned further were similarly affected’</em>. Bucke uncompromisingly endorsed the experience of cosmic consciousness: ‘<em>the masters taught by it, and the rest of the world by them through their books , followers and disciples, so that id what is here called a form of insanity, we are confronted by the terrible fact (were it not an absurdity) that our civilisation, including all our highest religions, rest on delusions.’</em><br />Naturally, today I can tell you that Bucke’s ideas are dated, and that he as a psychiatrist was behind in the study of what in his time was known as <em>‘circular insanity’</em>. (as discussed e.g. by William James in<em> The Varieties of Religious Experience,</em> which came out some six years before Bucke’s book. ) They more or less follow the intellectual preoccupation of his time in which nearly everyone believed in eugenics as a way of improving the lot of humanity. This was as true of the racial theories on the Right, that spawned Hitler’s tutors like Count Gobineau and Houston Stewart Chamberlain, as of the communist Nirvana on the Left. Trotsky famously promised that socialism would breed, in a few generations, men with the body of Spartacus and the mind of Aristotle. But I would not be able to tell you all that, if I did not find someone or <em>a scripture</em>, i.e. a book in which I placed confidence when I was vulnerable because <em>it</em> could manage the unexplainable. And R.M. Bucke’s compilation was just that scripture for my recovery. Doctor Bucke’s most famous charge was Walt Whitman, who was both a patient and a family friend who on occasion lived with the doctor's family in his home. Whitman said he owed the doctor his life. To the doctor, Whitman was the most shining example of cosmic consciousness he encountered. Today, one of the foremost contemporary experts on the Bipolar Disorder Kay Redfield Jamison (herself a sufferer) classes Whitman as one of those <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Touched-Fire-Manic-Depressive-Artistic-Temperament/dp/068483183X">‘Touched With Fire’</a> of mania.<br /><br /><strong>The Beginning of my Quest for Illness as a Hobby</strong><br /><br />I actually said that once. Someone asked me once if I was questing for another historical Jesus. I said, <em>‘far from, if I am questing for anything then it is to convert my illness into a hobby’</em>. Bucke’s Cosmic Consciousness inspired me to extend my reading to books on mysticism, occult and religion. I started to get more focused on Christianity, around 1988. On rereading the New Testament that year, I noted a great number of interesting, uncanny, parallels between the symptoms of manic-depression and some of the happenings in the gospels. I kept tending to my mules (computers) while researching, but I had another episode in my first winter in Ottawa 1989, after the company I worked for as a divisional IT manager was sold and I was let go. The second hypermanic high was actually much more benign than the first one and had very little of the dreadful terrors I had experienced the first time. I came out of it without depression: on the contrary I felt quite confident, quit smoking cold turkey, got into tennis and running, and started to date again (He who is able to receive this, let him receive it). <em>Jesus</em> agreed to be put on the back burner, as I married, had two kids and suddenly found myself with a lot of other stuff to do. I more or less made vague plans to return to my hobby seriously once I retired.<br /><br />On a trip back to Montreal in the nineties, I ran into Lyn, a friend of my neighbour who knew me at the time I screamed of the coming mayhem in the streets and smelled of urine. She seemed genuinely surprised and kept glancing to my right during the first few words of greeting. <em>“What a beautiful little girl,”</em> she exclaimed about my precious Tamy in tow, <em>“ how old is she ? four?, ah what a cutie you are , is she yours ?”</em>. When she received an answer in the affirmative, she seemed to struggle with the next query that overwhelmed her. It didn’t take a mystic to figure out what she was thinking. “<em>So the thing you had, it’s ok now…right ?.... I hope. </em>”. Lyn, I remembered, was not exactly shy when working on her sensational reports to friends. I pretended I did not understand: <em>“What thing is ok ?”</em> . She just could not help it: <em>“well you know, Jiri, <strong>the imbalance</strong> you had when you lived in the house above Louise”</em>. I suspected this was still an unsettled account with my former friends. Whenever I met them, I could tell the brutality of my initiation into mysticism was still haunting them. <em>“Oh that Lyn,… that thing settled itself a long time ago”</em>, I smiled and as she sighed a sigh of relief, I turned to Tamy and putting on quickly the grimace of the <em>lutin méchant</em> she so loved , I sang with a runaway pitch: <em>‘Naaaaaaw, daaaddy’s still nuuutty as a fruuuitcake”</em>.EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-22211004855531171892010-07-23T15:12:00.000-07:002011-12-27T07:05:29.945-08:00The Strange Case Of A Religion-Obsessed AtheistNOTE: this essay was first posted on "infidels" in 2007. I am including it here to provide a general overview of my ideas and beliefs about beliefs:<br />
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THE STRANGE CASE OF A RELIGION-OBSESSED ATHEIST<br />
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Review of Christopher Hitchens' <em>God is Not Great.</em><br />
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If professing atheism is, as I believe, wishing upon the Impotent, then Christopher Hitchens’ newest book title is a muezzin’s call.. Normally, a book with a title <em>God Is Not Great</em> would leave me stone cold, as it connotes a buzz between the ears believing itself to be thought. But two things raised my eyebrow as I was pulling a copy off the shelf at <em>Chapters</em>. One, it was written by Hitchens who is not dumb and whose compulsive trashing can be on occasion witty. Two, as a student of religion, or rather the psychology thereof, I was immediately drawn by the rendering of the title, namely the insistence on the small case ‘g’ for the deity, which was faithfully carried on the back of the book and the frontispiece.<br />
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However, as I leafed through the volume, the nature of Hitchens’ religious problem seemed clear and self-evident. Christopher is terribly oppressed by religion the way forsworn bachelors are terribly oppressed by women. Religious folks won’t leave him alone. They are not just trying to seduce him, they want to ruin him. <em>‘People of faith’</em>, writes the poor persecuted man, <em>‘are in their different ways planning your and my destruction, and the destruction of all the hard won human attainments…Religion poisons everything’</em>.<br />
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The first observation a reasonable person, whatever his or her confession (or indifference to one), would make about such a statement is that it is hopelessly overstated. Hitchens does not live in Kabul or Peshawar, not even in Hillsboro, Tennessee. By a huge margin, <em>people of faith</em> do not <em>plan</em> anyone’s destruction. If hell is part of their eschatology, the lot of them leave the actual planning and execution to the Almighty. As they would have it, Mr Hitchens will go to hell because he has earned the passage. Most of today’s faithful do not express ill-will beyond that. Why there is a violent minority of religionists(which tends to swell at times), I will consider at a later point, but for now let me be as reassuring as I can be that it is a folly of clinical proportion to believe that religion causes passenger planes to crash into skyscrapers or high powered rifles to fire into abortion clinics.<br />
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Hitchens’ hopeless confusion about the object of his study reveals itself almost immediately. <em>Religion kills</em>, he states confidently in the title of chapter two. But if one proudly claims atheism as one’s personal creed, as Hitchens does, the statement has a way of contradicting itself. If religion is man-made (as he never tires to repeat) and God does not enter into his view of the universe, then something other than God causes (or better, <em>‘accounts for’</em>) religion. If there is goodness and badness in humanity outside of God, for that which impels men to do good and bad things in the name of God, one cannot invoke or blame God (or religion) for things that are done mistakenly in his name or as his will. The point that loud atheists like Hitchens do not grasp is that if <em>God</em> does not exist as God, <em>God</em> definitely exists as a religious metaphor. But metaphor for what ? If it is not God who commands men to love their neighbour (and sometimes kill him) in the name of God, then what is it ? I absolutely confirm that atheists are capable of doing good, and in fact most are as fit to be taught morals as most theists are. But I also observe that secularist creeds and ideologies are as likely to be invoked in oppressing the mass of humanity, and unleashing death and mayhem. So the challenge for an atheist of is not in resizing God for his genocidal assault on Pharaoh’s Egypt but in the understanding of human imagination that would have God not only unleash the pestilence but first harden the ruler’s heart as a way of justifying the actions of the Omnipotent. Voltaire was of course wrong about the need of inventing God. If God did not exist, only human imagination would have to be invented. God (or other name for the image of the untouched sacred) would naturally suggest itself to it. However, since the paranoid beliefs that are always present in justifying murder, can exist without referencing the sacred, one cannot claim that it is religion that kills. One would be more <em>à propos</em> in saying that killing is paranoia’s mistaken method of trying to get rid of itself.<br />
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So, the intellectually honest atheists will find that it is not religion that kills, even if the killings are done ostensibly for religious reasons. In his seminal essay on the Levellers during the English Civil War, German pre-WW1 socialist Eduard Bernstein showed how religious metaphors in history often mask social justice issues. In Nothern Ireland, sectarian strife which had Left-Right political axis from the start in the early 1970’s, later morphed into warfare between rival drug mafias. The sudden Catholic revival in Poland of the 1980’s had near zero religious content (in the cities, anyhow). At the bottom, it was a nationalist movement against communism and Russia’s hegemony. Europe’s most enduring ostensibly religious conflict, the Thirty Year War in the 17th century, was at the root a dynastic clash, an attempt to control the House of Habsburg’s continental ambitions by Europe’s other powers. In this strife Catholic France was allied with Protestant Sweden. While the anti-reformation crusades were for real, the principle of <em>cuius regio, eius religio</em> withstood the test and the Westphalian Peace confirmed the ascendancy of the dynastic secular state over Church dominated empire. In Europe then at least, one would have to go as far back as the expulsion of Huguenots from France to find a large civil or international conflict based chiefly on religious disputes.<br />
Hitchens supplies religious motives to conflicts where either none figure or figure as transparent mannequins for other issues. The chapter on religious kill opens with the indictment of Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic whom the author casts as <em>Orthodox Serbian mass murderers</em>. The idea itself is silly beyond belief, and normally would shock coming from someone like Hitchens, who is bright, curious, and a well-travelled individual. But the problem may be that Christopher also has a short fuse, likes to strike a pose, and prefers taking sides to diving for a detailed analysis. So it should come as no surprise that his views on former Yugoslavia do not exceed for informed content the daily cheerful briefings by Jamie Shea on the progress of 1999 NATO bombing of Milosevic patrimony back to the stone age. In reality, the two Bosnian Serb leaders, though serving the same cause while detesting each other, had no religious motives for their actions. Karadzic’ photo-ops with Orthodox priests equal in religious significance the snapshots of the Clintons emerging from a Sunday church service. His outrageous shelling of Sarajevo drew ire even from Milosevic (with missus badmouthing him publicly), so I am ok with the <em>mass murderer</em> epithet. I am not so sure though that Presbyterianism was the poison that made Bill Clinton order the bombardment of Serbian power grid, water treatment plants, markets, passenger trains and hospitals. Mladic, originally a stalwart communist, became disenchanted, and embraced the Serbian traditional hard-drinking form of nihilism, on the way becoming the most shining exemplar of the VJ necrophilia. Incidentally, every informed school kid in Bosnia knows that Karadzic had nothing to do with Srebrenica. It was all Mladic’ doing at the time when the psychiatrist-poet-embezzler-demagogue was laying low, reeling from the charges of war profiteering. The general did not even bother informing the disgraced politicos in Pale (i.e. Karadzic and Krajisnik) that he was going in.<br />
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Curiously, about the only truly religious man in the war, Alija Izetbegovic, Hitchens has nothing to say. Yet it was he who dreamed a strange dream of an Islamic state in the Balkans. When the news reached him of Serbian heads cut off by bin Laden’s mujehadeen whom he invited to fight in Bosnia, he is said to have shrugged them off. ‘<em>O Alijah, o honoured, you drive the Americans crazy !’</em>, sang the mujehadeen. Indeed he did. For the record though, it was the Americans not Allah who told him it was ok to tear up Tito’s Bosnian constitution and withdraw from the Lisbon agreement. The Americans knew they were setting up a regime led by a man, who as far back as 1940’s Ustasha Sarajevo, edited a sophomoric rag called ‘<em>Mujahid</em>’. Without them, Alija would have been day-dreaming to his dying days. Without them, Karadzic would have had to find a fighting cause other than Bosnian <em>moslem integrism</em> to finance his gambling habit by war booty.<br />
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Overall, much as Hitchens wants to make of the religious links of the ethnic Balkan tensions, he has no real argument. The sudden religious fervor of notorious bandits, (like Arkan), does not fool anyone with a thinking hat. The link of the chetnik politicos (the Radical Party of Seselj) with the Serbian church actually predated the Bosnian war, would be best seen as a cynical but futile ploy to break the <em>“godless”</em> Milosevic’ political stranglehold on the country. It was they and not Milosevic who desired a <em>‘Greater Serbia’</em> in preference to Slobo’s pious (read <em>twisted</em>) socialist dream of reformed Yugoslav federation where noone would beat up on the Serbs. Hitchens also poorly grasps the historic relation of the Croatian Catholic Church to the Ustashe state. While at the start, the Church was enthusiastic about the mass conversion of Serbs, it quickly distanced itself from the official ethnic policies, and was sharply critical of both the Jasenovac camp atrocities and the murderous spree of Pavelic’ notorious gangs like the <em>Black Legion</em>. If the Nazi German charge d’affaires submitted a number of diplomatic notes of protest to the Ustasha primitive view of the art of genocide, the Zagreb archbishop did one better. Aloise Stepinac intercepted Ante Pavelic on the stairs of the cathedral and refused him entry with the words: <em>‘It is written, “thou shall not kill”’.</em><br />
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In a similar simplistic fashion the Lebanese civil strife of the 1970-80’s is presented as an inevitable quarrel between many indigenous religious <em>“serpents”.</em> In actual reality, the relatively stable Lebanese entity was rocked in the 1970’s by two very secular political play makers. One, after its bloody expulsion from Jordan, Yasser Arafat’s PLO made Beirut the base of his operations against Israel. Two, Hafez Assad started to play out his ambitions of a pan-Arabic leader from Syria. It was only later that the Iranian theocracy began to assert itself (when the U.S. would not). Among the many things that Hitchens’ book is wrong about, are the origins of the Hezbollah. It did not spring up as a result of Israel’s invasion but from a complex new political situation brought about by Iran’s intervention in the Lebanese Civil War. It did not organize the <em>“Shia underclass”</em> which was already organized as the <em>Movement of the Disinherited</em> with its own militia, the <em>Amal.</em> Hezbollah merely deployed Khomeini’s ideology and his material support in the attempt to dominate the Lebanese Shia. To that end, it continues to engage in a struggle with Amal (allied more closely with Syria). On occasion, the feud between the two parties has turned bloody even though no visible divide exists in their religious beliefs or practices.<br />
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It is not just that Hitchens ignores obviously secular motives in conflicts; he simply does not grasp the uses of religious symbols and identities for secularist ends. For example, he tries to squeeze some ideological milk from such trivia as Assad’s Alawi connections or the nominally Christian origins of the Baath party founder, not to mention the earth-shattering discovery that Stalin spent a few years as a teen in a Tiflis seminary. Those who think Saddam Hussein was a secularist, are ‘<em>deluding themselves’</em> by Hitchens’ reckoning. Unfortunately, the delusion seems to be widespread and include not just the Islamists themselves, who hated Saddam as infidel, and were not at all fooled by his ostentatious displays of a newly-found faith late in his reign, but also the Middle East experts who never changed classing his profile and ambitions as closest to Nasserism. No apparent reason to think of Saddam’s videos of ‘private’ prayers differently than Yasser Arafat’s finding the Koran once seriously tested by Hamas.<br />
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The obsession with religion poisoning everything of course has an even greater challenge. What such an idea logically assumes is that nothing outside of religion in humanity is rotten before it is touched by religion. I am not sure Hitchens really means that. (He seems to be contradicting himself freely and often). Like the Book of Genesis on the wife of Cain, he stays silent on the origins of non-religious forms of hatred. The Nazi idea of anti-Jewishness had racial origins, not religious ones – the difference of course being that one could not convert from being a Jew in Nazi Germany. In Rwanda, the basis of genocide was tribal hatred, in Japan-occupied China a homegrown, fanaticized version of the<em> Volksgeist,</em> in the Ukraine and Cambodia <em>the quickening of the class struggle</em>, in the traditional Indonesian pogroms on Chinese trading quarters - frankly and unabashedly – the joy of looting. Bottom line: nowhere in these assaults on humanity at large, religion figured as primary mover or motive. The silence of Vatican on Nazi atrocities was of course shameful and stained the church. The enlightened pontiff John XXIII. admitted as much. But whatever one can say about that, one cannot reasonably hold that religion, Catholic or other, poisoned Nazism, fascism, racism or communism, or addled the rapine instinct. The finding that Rwanda was the most Catholic of all African countries, is as irrelevant as the degree of civilization preceding Hitler in Germany. While the descent into murderous chaos in the country can be ascribed to many factors, none of them had to do with religious beliefs of the opposing sides – both of whom actually favored Catholicism. Neither the<em> evil</em> Old Testament, nor the <em>even more evil</em> New Testament, refer to Israel God’s enemies as <em>cockroaches</em>. That there were church officials implicated in abetting the murderous psychosis is certainly a fact that cannot be wished away or talked around. But these people were not the church and their actions were not its teachings. It takes a mind poisoned by something else than religion not to find an appropriate adjective for those few priests and nuns who betrayed the souls who sought refuge from the madness in their churches and its compounds.<br />
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<em>“When the Jews desire something they say God set their hearts to it, when they get it, they say God gave it to them, and when they think something, they say God told them”</em>, wrote Benedict Spinoza for the thinkers in pre-industrial Europe. In this view God existed as a way of expressing the existential reality of one’s passive reception of life. Spinoza brilliantly captured the paradox of his theism (cleverly exaggerating the religious affect) as the obverse of his rationality. It rests with the acknowledgment that our egos are overcome, overwhelmed – regularly, constantly. We don’t go to sleep; sleep comes to us. We don’t like things – they make themselves likeable to us (das gefällt mir /ça me plaît/это мне нравитъся). We get erections. We get lucky. We don’t chose our race, sex, nationality, class, name. It is chosen for us. Our health seems to operate independently of our will. Many things that I or we cannot control, come to play with us. This is as true of a cave dweller in the last Ice Age as of a proud contemporary shareholder in a machine-gun guarded Florida condominium. The latter may of course optionally insist on utter meaninglessness of the universe in the fashion of Christopher Hitchens. Yes, he may believe that have evolved through a completely random process of selection without any purpose built into nature and that Viagra is a proof that erections, like religions, are man-made. He can abstract himself – in the fashion his civilization presently insists on doing- right out of his <em>Existenz</em>. But what he, like his mentors, will not get is that it does not change his <em>Sitz im Leben</em>. Neither will he grasp the failure of his creed of Nihilism when confronted by the charms of Viet-cong, or the Islam of the swarms of ragged-ass suicide bombers who thwart the spread of American <em>Techné</em> as the <em>Ersatz</em> to meaningful life.<br />
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Hitchens, like the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, chooses to combat 4th and 7th century superstitions with the outmoded scientism of 19th century that died in the equations of Maxwell and Planck. In the emerging physics revolving around the wave-particle duality, the Cartesian divide of matter and mind collapses. There is no “physical reality” beyond the “reality that is observed”, and though one of the founding fathers of modern physics, Albert Einstein, disagreed formally with the quantum boys, in practical terms, the subatomic world destroyed the materialist foundation on which the Newtonian physics built. Paradox has come to dominate both science and philosophy.<br />
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It is interesting to observe how thinkers deal with this fundamental (or should I say foundational) absence of certainty. There will be some who will insist that the materialistic collapse is a proof positive that God exists, in the naïve understanding of God as a separate, finite, sentient and speculating being. They do not talk about God but a Giant Antropomorph. But such belief is illusory, resulting from an attempt to cogitate an intuition of a meaningful Whole, as a category (idealized humanoid) belonging to a spatio-temporal (or “local”) reality. When such a mental operation fails, a substitute is sought in which an idealized humanoid is asserted as not God himself but a family relation. But the problem is that nearly anyone who has some intellectual capacity intuits immediately that we are not talking local reality that these figures of speech are relating to.<br />
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On the opposite end of the extreme, atheism becomes a virulent creed. Alexander Gilchrist, William Blake’s first biographer, reported that ten-year old William upon reporting he saw angels in a tree was spanked by his father, “for telling lies”. When we read something like that most of us see an innocent child's phantasy of bliss and a brutal attempt to suppress it. The hard-nosed affect which pretends not to grasp that all religious speech is hyperbolic in nature has however more sinister face to it. A Mauthausen SS-commandant (in Volker Schlöndorff’’s movie <em>Der Neunte Tag</em>) screams maniacally at a prisoner priest just before ordering him hoisted on a makeshift cross: <em>Wo ist er ? Siehst du ihn hier irgendwo ? (Where is he (God) ? Do you see him here some place?)</em><br />
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Those clever enough to get the drift of this essay, will have already seized on my desire to show that the root of fundamentalism really is one and the same for theist and atheist forms of dogma. It manifests itself as a fanatical denial that God operates as a metaphor. Both camps treat God as something material, palpable and existing outside of creation. The atheist dogmatist of course nixes such an idea, but that does not prevent him of issuing scathing critiques and denunciatons of God. I am sure Hitchens does not even realize the logical <em>embarras</em> of assigning grammatically attributes (<em>not great</em>) to something he swears just isn’t there (<em>God</em>).<br />
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Yet this is no mistake. This just happens to be the grammar of the crusader. Richard Dawkins may protest all he wants that he is no fundamentalist (<a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1779771.ece">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1779771.ece</a>) , but the charge sticks. He <em>invades </em>Ted Haggard’s compound, and expostulates with the evangelist knowing full well the wily preacher has not the wherewithal to respond intelligently to his challenges (<a href="http://www.panopticist.com/video/richard_dawkins.mov">http://www.panopticist.com/video/richard_dawkins.mov</a>). Why would someone with Dawkins’ brains want to waste his time in this way ? The clip reveals an upset Dawkins accusing Haggard of all manner of iniquity, challenging him with sly innuendo (<em>“a quite a bit of money spent here”</em>) and absurd hyperboles (<em>“reminded of Nurnberg rally”</em>). There is an awful chip on his shoulder which he seems unaware of. There is <em>something</em> that colors his vision of Ted Haggard as a powerful, hugely harmful monstrosity, something that seems as intellectually inaccessible to Richard Dawkins as the concept of environmental pressure on a species is to Ted Haggard. Unless I am very badly mistaken, it was that <em>something</em>, that unseen inspired source of force and passion, within us and without us, against which we all are helpless, that the ancient Jews feared, sought to mollify and pointed to as YHWH.<br />
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There is a strikingly naïve assumption present throughout Hitchens’ book, namely that all people in all history and geographical locations have had at their disposal the mental organization which is routinely available to its readers. This mistake leads the author to bizarre judgmental posturing. One would not conclude when an infant shits outside of diapers that it is out of a wicked contempt for hygiene. By the same token one cannot hold that the biblical story of Isaac is one of child abuse. Anthropologists from fields all over the world report deadly assaults of parents on children that happen in a transitory fit of anger or on inexplicable inner promptings. These acts are usually followed by periods of profound sorrow and bewilderment. The ancient Hebrews, like all undeveloped cultures on the planet sought to cope with the violent impulse that was overcoming them, and which most - in a natural psychological maneouvre – sought to control by dissociating their reality-oriented selves from it. Unlike the Japanese culture which isolated the violent impulse as an undesirable mental happening (kikenshiso) and declared a taboo against it, the Jews imagined they would be spared of the mysterious Prompter’s anger if they, as a tribe, entered into a covenant with Him. Whatever one may think of this as survival strategy, one cannot equate it with a conscious desire to harm children.<br />
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The chapter on religion as <em>“child abuse”</em> seems particularly revealing in other respects as well. It opens with a motto from Brothers Karamazov, which Hitchens grasps so poorly he deploys for the indictment of religion the very phenom that haunted Dostoyevsky – i.e., the modern man without conscience. Ivan, to Dostoyevsky, stood as the classic prototype of the godless man, a cynical manipulator, a <em>manqué</em> of morality, inexorably driven to patricide. That Hitchens would present Ivan’s fallacious <em>et-tu-quoque</em> to Alyosha – his estranged inner self – as an argument against religion, comments more on the book’s intellectual grade than all the other mementos combined.<br />
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A page later Hitchens discovers, when contemplating James Joyce’s Father Arnall and his accounts of hell, that the intent of scaring kids with visions of eternal perdition is itself childlike. He then goes say that men were paid by the established religion to frighten (and to torture) kids in a like fashion. He then says there are other <em>‘man-made stupidities and cruelties of the religious’</em>. Driving himself into a logical corner, he admits that we cannot blame religion for the nastiness of mankind, or the impulse to torture. But lest he fail on his promise to cut God to size, he will blame religion for institutionalizing and refining the practice. In other words, religion cannot be blamed for the viciousness of humans but for providing the outlet for it. One wonders how Hitchens explains that nearly all the nastiness coming from religious folks comes from breaking the very rules of conduct which they declare as pleasing to God, and which they swear to uphold.<br />
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All of this charts an interesting progress of a train of thought to its eventual derailment: Is it religion that institutionalizes religion? Or is it just another instance of Ted Haggard naively representing (in the video clip above) that the eye somehow creates itself ? Does the self-righteous belief in hell for people who are judged not good, automatically extend to sending them there in auto-da-fes ? And if the answer is yes, what is it that attracts saints to religion ? Or if one does not believe in saints, how would one respond to G.K. Chesterton’s assertion that his choice (Catholicism) is evidently the superior Christianity as it admits all faith, even the respectable one ?<br />
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The solution that Christopher Hitchens offers for examples of respectable faith, appears to be a very simple one. He will deny it exists. So deep is the anti-religious bite he suffered that he would excise from his scathing critique of Mother Teresa, whom he dismisses as “ambitious nun”, any sort of acknowledgement of her humanitarian mission. She is portrayed simply as a political busybody and the focus of fraudulent miracle mongering (as though she cultivated beliefs of herself as deliverer of miracles). A space alien relying on Hitchens’ report of her could easily mistake her for Leona Helmsley. It is not hard to see where Hitchens gets his negative perception of the woman. She could indeed be indiscreet, and quite frankly, vociferous, in her political crusades. (In a speech here in Ottawa, in 1992, she demanded that doctors performing abortions be jailed). But with equal frankness, I have hard time grasping the poverty of spirit which would deny that Mother Teresa did enormous amount of good, especially among those who until her were untouched by human love. Despite her failings and intellectual frailty, she was a phenomenon. It cannot be denied without a making oneself a graceless lout.<br />
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If the conservative Albanian nun comes as easy pickings, another modern ikon, Martin Luther King, proves a nut impossible to crack. Not only Hitchens denies the the force of religious themes in King’s oratory, he engages in a futile, flakey speculations which have as aim proving that King was really not a Christian.<br />
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The page where Martin Luther King makes an appearance is preceeded by an assertion that all Christian churches warmly approved of slavery. Here, as elsewhere, Hitchens erudition fails miserably. In fact, on both sides of the Atlantic, English speaking churches the congregations were deeply divided on the issue of slavery. This division existed among denominations (with Catholics, Quakers, Unitarian, and Methodists showing strongly on the abolitionist side, while the Anglican/Episcopalian Church, and Southern Baptist Churches, on balance supporting it) and within the churches themselves, often causing whole flocks to separate. For example, Henry Ward Beecher’s famous Plymouth Church in Brooklyn grew out of the abolitionist schism among the Calvinists. So it is plainly rubbish to say that Christians, as a whole, approved of slavery. Quite the contrary, the earliest impetus for suppressing the slave trade came from the religious folks in England, and the leading parliamentary advocate for it, William Wilberforce was not just a regular Anglican (a precondition for a seat in Parliament at the time) but a religious revivalist who among other things established the first Christian mission to India. Likewise in the United States, the most vehement denunciation of slavery came from the preachers. Many historians commented on the Garrisonian style of political discourse as naturally bonding with the fiery sermons of the Quakers. Most Quakers of the time agreed with the tradition laid out in the church a century earlier by one Benjamin Lay: <em>slavery is a notorious sin</em>.<br />
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So, if Hitchens believes that Martin Luther King was driven into a hotbed of vicious racism, he is pathetically misinformed. In actual fact, the view that all humans are equal (before God), came first as a religious revelation to Paul of Tarsus. There were no secular humanists in his time who could grasp the idea that <em>all</em> humans were equal. There was no <em>“local”</em> context for it. It contradicted everything the Greco-Roman antiquity knew and observed about humans and their society. Yet Paul knew differently: <em>There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus</em>.(Gal 3:28). This was the Christian innovation, this was the promised land. For this reason, and no other, it made sense to Martin Luther King to march and make speeches in preference to preaching mayhem in the streets. He was a Christian. He lived among people who believed themselves Christians.<br />
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I have already conceded that atheists may be, and are, as moral humans as theists. Personally, the most morally fit individual I have met in my life was my uncle Mirek, who was a communist. “You cannot teach bastards to be communists”, he told me stoically when I confronted his creed, as I was leaving Prague shortly after the Soviets invaded in 1968. Like all heroes of my youth, my uncle was utterly unsentimental. He was forthright, unaffected, had a wicked sense of humour, unerring sense of fairness, and distaste for any kind of posturing. His creed was communism, I teased him, because it would happen whether people believed in it or not. It was a fix, not a proposition. He told me matter-of-actly that I was full of crap. He believed because to him exaggerated material self-interest was the root of evil, and it was common sense. Unless I could show him something better to believe, he stayed put and I should not waste his time. When I – a twenty-one year old punk - told him I believed in democracy, he gave me his patented mocking look, and offered me a tea cake with his favourite stopper to anyone getting on a high horse with him: <em>neserme se</em> (let’s not piss each other off).<br />
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If Marxism is an expression of will, as André Malraux wrote in <em>La condition humaine</em>, so are all other belief systems around which humans organize themselves. The first thing one should be aware of when attempting a critique of one set of beliefs, is that it is made only by another set of beliefs. They appear as ridiculous to another expression of human will. Many Marxists swear they find the Bible preposterously childish, yet they insist on the History`s inevitable march to one person - a German cigar-smoker by the name of Karl Marx, and his discovery of an ultimate philosophical method which could be applied to anything. (For Marx`s hilarious occultic dabbling in math see an appendix to Edmund Wilson`s <em>To Finland Station</em>.) So how is the belief in the finality of Karl Marx`s scientific method materially different from the belief that all creation was fixed in the past by God (or gods) ? The patterns of obsessive thought seem to find themselves across beliefs, do they not ?<br />
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Like Hitchens, I count myself a rationalist, and therefore I share in many of his observations. Like him I have a hearty dislike of religious ceremony. I take in this after my father. He was an agnostic from a Jewish-Catholic background, but as my Catholic mother told me when I was very sick as a child, he actually went to church. Knowing my father , I had a hard time believing it: <em>“Did he pray ?”</em> Mom said, <em>“ No, he went there because he didn’t want to lose you, but he was too stubborn to pray or kneel in the pew. I suppose he went there with the idea that his showing up there would be enough to attest he was genuinely confused on the subject of God’s existence, and that God, if he existed, would understand and feel compelled to take pity. When you recovered, he continued to blaspheme.”</em><br />
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At any rate, the point that really divides Hitchens and I on the subject is that I do not believe religion to be any kind of a danger to a civilized, rationally ordered society. I am convinced that the West operating with a sober, self-confident civil edifice would quickly do away with any of the fundamentalist accretions and revivals of primitive, intellectually and humanly inferior, forms of faith that we have seen in the recent past. As Christopher Lasch pointed out, civil disorders and revolutions happen whenever a vacuum of power is created. The re-appearance of militant, violent faith, coincides with a rapid decline in civilizational standards, and a positive self-image of the West. One quick example of this was the debate over the use of torture in combating terrorism. No self-respecting politician in the West in the last two hundred years past would have contemplated torture as an acceptable method of extracting information from political prisoners. It’s an abomination. It is at loggerheads with the elemental principles on which our civilization has been built. There simply cannot be a compromise on that point. The pictures from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo however do not lie, and that the problem has become endemic is attested to by the lack of public outrage to this manifest depravity. No, it is not religion that threatens to destroy what has been built up in the West; it is the narcissistic self-seeking that has come to displace almost completely the transcendent values that were once cherished and for which we suddenly find ourselves unable to find a new intellectual face. Beyond that, there is no real divide between the secular and the mystical, two aspects of our selves reflecting the two hemispheres of our cortex receiving, and responding to the gift of life. No Berlin Walls need to be invented for the two hearts of man of Goethe. Poetry(, religious or other,) does not kill. In a healthy brain, the corpus callosum will eventually take care of the poet should he or she reveal the ambition to rule the world. At any rate, that is in capsule my reading of the allegory that came to be known as the gospel of Mark.<br />
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October 2007EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-34664755398373229442010-07-22T11:13:00.000-07:002011-05-04T19:30:24.706-07:00The Doctor Who Could Not Heal HimselfMany historians of Christianity are convinced that along with the preaching of the kingdom, the historical figure of Jesus functioned as a talented healer. Most believe this implicitly as the figures of famous travelling physicians abounded in all ages and in most places on the planet. Schweitzer saw his mission in Lambarene as Christ’s calling, i.e. central to his view of Jesus as not just a preacher but an activist par excellence for a benevolent God. The late Morton Smith argued fervently (Jesus the Magician) that Jesus’ fame as a healing magician was that which assured him of his post-mortem following. Steven Davies (Jesus the Healer), went a step further, portraying Jesus as essentially a pre-modern psychotherapist, utilizing his own experience of the Spirit possession as a tool of his trade.<br /><br />I do not believe that the historical Jesus was a healer. My objection to that idea is twofold. Paul, in his discourse on gifts in 1 Cr 12, sees healing as one of a number of gifts of the Spirit, which proceeds from the risen Lord. It appears that Paul was quite blunt about his differences with other strands of the nascent Jesus traditions in matters of the messianic kingdom , the crucifixion, resurrection from the dead, tongue speaking, work ethic, lapsing morals, table manners, and the like, but no word from him about rival claims regarding successful cures in the name of the “other Jesus”. I find it hard to credit that if a number of other apostles went around exorcising demons and curing all manner of disease by laying on hands wholesale under a different gospel, that Paul would not have used the word <em>pharmakeia</em> more than once in the Galatians.<br /><br />It would also have been very difficult for Jesus to do healing miracles for whole cities (Mk 1:32), and somehow manage to miss on the enduring respect and bonding that would have naturally flowed from his sustained successes. For this and other reasons I prefer to read the Markan Jesus crowds as symbolic hyperboles of the growth of Mark’s own community transposed back symbolically to Jesus own historical time frame. A far-reaching fame assumes implicitly his patients collectively were ungrateful monsters who could not return his love and generosity as people of all times and places naturally will do when they receive relief from pain and suffering. If Jesus was preceded to Jerusalem by his reputation as a great healer, his death is not explicable. Inversely, if Jesus received his reward, and still referred to his contemporaries as a ‘<em>faithless generation’</em>, then something is not working right in the scenario. Reading the situation by the logic of Thomas A.Harris P-A-C therapy : if Jesus was Ok and the people he was helping were not Ok, a whiff of paranoia will linger about the stage props. The objection that Jesus believed himself an prophet of the last days only exacerbates the problem. The end of the world did not materialize.<br /><br />In a nutshell, this is then the basis of my scepticism. If the historical Jesus had a track record as a healer then Paul would have had to acknowledge his track record as a healer – one way or another. And the cures would have been remembered in ways different than the first narrative gospel portrays them. Mark speaks of them only in riddles.<br /><br /><strong>The Spirit as Manifestation of Manic Excitement</strong><br /><br />As I began to show in my previous essay (Mark’s Recursive Gospel), the writing is an allegory of the travail of Pauline Spirit of the risen Lord on earth, which begins with the revelation of the Sonship to (actually, in) Jesus of Nazareth on his baptism. From then on Jesus is not only a human but also the Spirit of the heavenly Christ as taught by Paul , who has come to, and was empowered on, earth. Jesus then has a double identity, with the spirit overshadowing (if not obliterating) the historical man of flesh and blood. The Markan community is not yet a Christian church, but a society of Christ mystics (and a group of supporters), who themselves become individually entered into periodically by the Spirit, lifted into dizzying heights of euphoric glory where they receive revelations and empowerment, only to be brought down and <em>humbled</em> by the Lord, in often horrendous bouts of agitated, depressive psychosis, which they experience as a torture of annihilation. After Paul, they liken the disassembly of the Spirit to the cross on which Jesus of the Nazarenes expired along with the grafted Spirit. The ministry of Jesus of Nazareth is built on a mystical cycle, in which the Spirit appears suddenly, easily dominates everyone and everything, then begins to doubt itself, then is overpowered and captured by the profane reality to be finally mocked, tortured and annihilated on the cross. This underlying allegorical cycle coincides with typical stages of a manic episode (see Goodwin-Jamison, Manic Depressive Illness, Oxford U. Press, 1990, p.77).<br /><br />For our purposes here, let us define the Spirit as the internal experience of altered consciousness which suggests to the excited subject an alien entity or an emanation thereof. This apprehended entity, in the early stages of manic intoxication, validates perceptions, and manipulates abstract objects outside of an orderly process of cognition. It is probable but not yet proven by neuro-physiological research that significant inversions of hemispheric dominance are triggered during some forms of severe manic excitation and sponsor the subjective <em>‘reality’</em> of a separate entity engaging in the proximity of or within the individual. It is in the nature of the disorder that a confrontation ensues between the former cognitive, verbal self and the newly constructed Spirit when the latter’s suggested delusionary schemes fail cognitive testing. In the increasingly dysphoric and chaotic communication with the Spirit, that will be now defied as an impostor, the subject feels persecuted and eventually, often through severe terror attacks, recaptures most of the former stasis of self. This would be the normal, desirable outcome of an episode of mania.<br /><br />There are roughly four functions of the Spirit in the gospel of Mark. By far the most prominent and important, is the glorious affirmation of the subject which converts depression and releases the sufferer from the bonds of physical ailments and mental anguish. Second, the Spirit is said to be Holy, as it is believed unconditionally by Mark’s community that it represents the obverse of a destructive demonic agency. It is recognized and deferred to as such by demons themselves, who being ‘demons’ are dumb and without the insight of wisdom. But they, paradoxically, are the only characters who in the story know the nature of Jesus. They are forbidden to speak by Jesus, as they are antagonists. Their silencing confirms Jesus’ divine status and mission. The Spirit also is the gnosis itself, which in Mark, is earned by faith (4:11-12) in the Spirit’s purpose, - to spread the word of God. In Mark, faith cannot exist without gnosis. They are two inseparable aspects of the kerygma.<br /><br /><strong>The Role of Humour In Mark</strong><br /><br />Now to the controversial part of my theory, the fourth function: On the successive parsing of the text and as I was finding more and more pointers to bipolar challenge in the author's habits of expression, I was being drawn closer to the element of the absurd in Mark. This was not just irony, I thought.<br /><br />As I was scanning the gospel for clues, I was puzzled by the Jesus’ command to the leper not to speak of the cure (1:40-45), but only to show himself as cleansed to the priest. I could not make sense of the cured man’s defiance and the result of his ‘speaking freely’ of Jesus prowess as a healer resulting in Jesus having to take cover in the bush. This was outrageous yarn, but one that I had seen before in modern prose. I could not quite remember in who, though. No, not Vonnegut ! He was brilliant and crazy as a bedbug, but he was brutally forthright: nothing in his writing was hidden or coded. It was not Chesterton either though he was close: perhaps one cannot quite be a happy glutton and a mystic at the same time. I knew I had seen elsewhere the constant Markan talking past the point, his perverse preaching of nonsense, yet a gripping and mesmerizing incantation, free from rules of logic and a meaningful discourse, yet through all the humbug pointing at something very deep, a malady at the soul’s darkest corner , which consumes life in […what, already ?] . I convinced myself that Mark was a convulsive, a haunted genius like Dostoyevsky. But who was his modern twin ? As I was passing to the cure of the paralytic, I almost had him. I read:<br /><br /><em>And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, <strong>they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay.</strong> And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."</em><br /><br />I chuckled and then it struck like a bolt of lightning ! Of course, this is Mark’s therapy for [Angst] and his cosmic literary twin, Franz Kafka. Through these absurd exaggerations, and foolish self-contradictions, the forging of failed fantasies as the fulfilment of a divine plan, claptrap about a god who nobody listens to, about a god who is defied by everyone, a god who will not be acknowledged when he descends among the pitiful creatures of flesh to do good and answer their prayers, a god who is senselessly accused on earth of being the superman that he <em>is</em> and they have all been waiting for to deliver them and who for <em>this</em> must be nailed by them to crude carpentry. This is madness : a cathartic release and breaking free from the paralysing grip of helplessness, the silencing of the whispers of the devil who appears as reasoned sanity that insists there will be no relief from the approaching stench of death that comes after the last drop of the bitter drink in the cup of meaningless existence.<br /><br />I grabbed The Trial from the shelf. Yes, yes: here it is, the yearning of the soul to be loved, recognized, to have the undivided attention of Grace. It would do anything for a chance to be in the presence of Grace ! But there is the deadening sense of one’s inadequacy, the sense one cannot reach it, or when standing before it, the fear of being judged as wicked, weak and unworthy. In a key scene of Kafka’s hero K. attends the first session of the court of inquiry that is to look into his <em>case</em>. He was summoned to appear before the Magistrate on Sunday. Sunday is the time of rest for everyone but the persecuted. (I am pointing this out for the learned exegets to consider the issue of the unreasonably extended working hours of the Sanhedrin.) After a frantic search for the hall of the Court (which is situated among ordinary apartments in a residential building), K. is shown into the Court hall through a laundry room:<br /><br /><em>K. felt as though he was entering a meeting hall. A crowd of people of all shapes and ages – they did not seem to bother about the newcomer – filled a middle-sized room with two windows, which just below the roof was surrounded by a gallery, also quite packed where the people were able to stand only in a bent posture with their heads and backs knocking against the ceiling…<strong>some had brought cushions with them to keep their heads from getting bruised</strong>. </em><br /><br />Not very many people find Franz Kafka’s nihilistic melodramas funny. I earned a reputation of a weirdo at university when my roommate’s girlfriend caught me rolling around in a Lazyboy with Kafka’s Short Stories in my hand gasping for breath over the Sermon from the Cage by the Hunger Artist. “<em>You think Kafka’s funny ?</em>”. She was incredulous. I told her “<em>as you can see - to some people, yes”. </em>The word got around.<br /><br />Max Brod writes in his biography of Kafka that Franz thought of his novels as private literature which was for his intimate circle only. He told Max – his best friend - that the stories and novels had no meaning to anyone who did not know him personally. He asked Max to destroy the manuscripts after he died. Brod relates how during his private readings from his exquisite and morbid imagination Franz occasionally broke down laughing, and as others joined, tears were streaming down his cheeks.<br /><br />Like Kafka, Mark knows the limits of the intellect because he knows the big helpless babe that lives inside the skull next to it. But Mark’s manic defense is stronger than Franz’es; it will break Paul’s injunction on telling stories about the paradoxical abasement of God in human existence. He will summon the courage to write up Jesus Christ, not <em>him crucified</em> but him <em>inter faeces et urinam natus</em> - the Jesus that Paul did not want to know anything about ! Mark will rewrite Paul’s gospel as a narrative that would shame God if he were to deny it is true. The story has to be absurd to be believed. If God wants to exist as a human, he will have to agree to be dissed, mocked and killed for no other reason than that he was born and must die! If one does not see raucous comedy in that, then one’s Christ will be an empty, pathetic peddling of salvation to the humourless.<br /><br />Like Paul, Mark knew that his ecstatic experiences were his credentials. He knew the polymorphous, perverse nature of his illness from the inside, but he found the gut to wrestle with the arbitrary madness of God. <em>Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. </em>The disobedience of those Mark’s Jesus cured or the witnesses of the cures to Jesus injunctions not to speak (1:43, 5:43, 7:36), is in reality a stubborn defiance of God. These are hilarious, self-pointing allusions to what psychiatrists today call <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_of_speech">pressure of speech </a>. Mark more or less gives away his playfulness in 7:36 :<br /><br /><em>And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. </em><br /><br />But of course, they could not obey Jesus because they acted under gross compulsions brought about by the state of mind in which their made <em>his</em> acquiantance. It's the kind of humour that I heard once from this terrific character rolling around the stage in a wheelchair in a Montreal comedy show: <em>'Not that I am complaining, dear God, but I always wanted to be a standup comedian !'</em><br /><br /><br /><strong>The Health Benefits of Mania</strong><br /><br />In Mark’s idiom the cures Jesus performs are allegories of the known beneficial health effects of a sudden mood conversion (from depression to manic states), ones we may safely assume were observable in antiquity by those who had the challenge and those around the sufferers who either were fearful of them, or amused by them or – much less frequently - believed either in the divine status the sufferers claimed for themselves, or in the reality of their connections to the highest places. The latter issued from those sufferers whose delusional schemes were more sophisticated intellectually, and thus better managed and calibrated to their social standing.<br /><br />I will argue in my writing that the original Jesus-professing communities were formed around a hard core of intelligent manics (pneumatics, ecstatics) who had a measure of insight into their condition and were able to control the more debilitating effects of the ailment by a form of communal therapy. Like the earliest Christians, the apocalyptic communities that preceded them, i.e. the Qumran and the James the Just congregation in Jerusalem (I will explain that one later) were formed with similar aims - to usher the elect visionaries into a messianic kingdom that will confirm their glorious visions. My focus will be on Paul and Mark, the founders of the two textual genres that shaped the early Christian movement, which was not yet a coherent religion but allied and competing communal networks by and (primarily) for people who were going individually through difficult personal challenges.<br /><br />The idea that madness (generically called ‘mania’) had beneficial effects and in fact that we humans are lucky to have different forms of it around was known well before the break of the ages. Socrates is quoted in Plato’s Phaedrus to the effect that some of our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness. He distinguished four beneficial manias: prophetic (patron is Apollo), telestic or ritual (Dionysius), poetic (the Muses), and erotic (Aphrodite). By the time of Paul and Mark, the highly educated people of Mediterranean antiquity had a fairly sophisticated, rational view of mental illness, but were not yet quite able to isolate physical from mental illness. Cicero, ahead of his time, actually did separate them (as <em>morbi animi</em> vs <em>morbi corporis</em> in the Tusculan Disputations) but old ideas persisted and he made no impression on the medical profession of his day and century. Old ideas faded away slowly. Hippocrates described epilepsy as an organic disease of the brain in 5th century BCE. It did not displace the popular notion of epileptic fits as attacks by a god. Both mania and depression were described medically but were thought of as separate disease until Aretaeus of Cappadocia (1st or 2nd century CE) showed they are sometimes a manifestation and phases of the same disorder. At any rate, even if medical view of the mood disturbances existed, it would not have made a large impact on popular image of the problems. The traditional belief complexes proved themselves much more resistant to new information than is the case in our own times.<br /><br />The word ‘<em>mania</em>’ occurs only once in the New Testament, in the response of Festus to Paul’s rambling testimony of Christ (Acts 26:24).( The governor ascribes the madness of the sage to his great learning, so as not to offend). To which, Paul answers, <em>‘I am not mad (μαινομαι) most excellent Festus but I am speaking the sober truth’</em>. Paul would have been convincing if this encounter happened, for I assume he would have looked sober and in possession of his faculties during that encounter. And this would have convinced Festus and Aggrippa of his harmlessness. The great secret of Paul success lied in the metamorphic nature of the illness, and his uncanny ability to control to a degree some of its debilitating effects, and thereby mesmerize his audience of people similarly affected with his Cosmic scheme. The common elements of their suffering, its periodic disappearance, and its sudden conversions into periods of explosive, unfettered joy and grandeur in Paul and his fellow prisoners of Christ, mystified also a group of well-wishers and God-fearers socializing with them who were convinced that these men and women were the chosen ones of God.<br /><br />The healing by these saints who had Christ in them, likely began with requests for their 'laying hands' on the outer group members who witnessed the bizzare and frightening displays of ecstasy, followed by a return of the saints to their senses. The stories of miraculous cures then spread and the communities grew.<br /><br />That Paul refused to be ashamed of Christ i.e. by the humiliating external view of his own bipolar challenge, was a great inspiration to Mark. Robert Price observes (in the Incredible Shrinking Son Of Man) the parabolic nature of the Markan healings. He asks smartly: <em>‘what are we to make of the fact that Jesus healing miracles fall well within the range of known somatization disorders, presumably susceptible to psychosomatic healings ? Does it mean that , having modern medical analogies, they do not rest simply upon myth and fiction ? If there had not been some kind of a reality check, wouldn’t the scope of Jesus’ miracle stories be much wider than it is ?’</em> The answer I believe is, yes ! If Paul and Mark were just the ordinary, garden variety of lunatics, they would have appropriated the manic glory for themselves, as was and is the fashion, because manics will be manics (and that only), until their demons are bound and their houses are plundered. Evidently that did not happen with a fourth-century physician Menecrates who thought himself Zeus. The demon was not bound in Al-Hakim, the millennium Fatimid caliph, crazed by the ‘command of God’ in his title, which had him order Christians to wear millstones around their necks and dishonest merchants in Cairo anally raped in public by a slave with a huge penis, on whom he bestowed the title “the machine of sodomitic punishment” (Joseph A. Massad, Desiring Arabs, U. of Chicago, 2007, ff. 303). Ron L. Hubbard, the father of Scientology, had a demon who knew of Mark’s plundered house. <em>‘Do you think you might be mad’</em> he was asked in an interview. <em>‘Oh yes’</em>, said he, <em>‘the only one who does not believe himself mad is the madman’</em>. Nothing , the sage said, seems nobler to the devil than his humble service to the devil.<br /><br />Jesus’ cures are a limited license because they are the things that the Spirit actually <em>does</em>; real cures that the mania, so despised by others, actually brings to the sufferer. Anyone who observed florid manics will be immediately struck by the enormous amount of physical energy they are capable of generating. Anyone who wrestled with them knows, they are veritable God's <em>dynamos</em>. And their bodies really are being “healed” by the strange excitement. Eczemas and other skin conditions (which were conflated with Hansen’s disease as ‘<em>leprosy</em>’ (lepra) in antiquity) disappear on short order, as many of them are simply physical manifestations of depression. The revved up cardio-vascular output takes care of many ailments, even serious medical conditions which may have been present for years. There is also a tendency in manics to wander around (so called <em>‘fugues’</em>), which takes them out of environments which may have caused, or contributed to, their poor health. Another well-known effect of manic excitement, is that the subjects experience a greatly elevated threshold of pain. This is the <em>‘authority</em> <em>to tread on serpents and scorpions’</em> that Jesus confers on his disciples (in Luke 10:19). The later annex to Mark records the picking up snakes and immunity from drinking <em>‘any deadly thing’ </em>(Mk 16:18) based on the manic experience of disappearing pain and greatly improved immune system. Naturally, there is a little bit of license about the 'any deadly thing', that one may drink, but it is not altogether a tall tale either, as the difficulty with putting down the shamanic Rasputin with <i>just</i> potassium cyanide well illustrated. In ordinary bipolars, being distracted by the Spirit, means above all that they are no longer consumed by minor aches and ailments, which are imaginary, or real but out of proportion to the severity of the underlying physical problems.<br /><br />The uncanny resistance of manics to pain was a well-known fact in antiquity, which among other things, tempted authorities go into extremes in their curiousity to find out the limit of endurance that would make a<i> furiosus</i> come to his senses. Josephus recounts the bloody scourging of Jesus ben Ananus by Albinus (Wars 6.5.3), in which the prisoner’s <em>‘bones were laid bare’</em>. And, <em>‘yet he did not make any supplication for himself or shed any tears but,…at every stroke of the whip his answer was, ‘Woe, woe to Jerusalem’’</em>.<br /><br />The healing of the paralytic in Capernaum and the narcoleptic Jairus daughter are examples of rapid remission of manic/depressive stupor. Her state before being raised by Jesus, would be a state of spiritual death as described by the Thanksgiving Hymn (1QH) at Qumran:<br /><br /><em>My spirit is imprisoned with the dead<br />for (my life) has reached the Pit;<br />my soul languishes (within me)<br />day and night without rest</em><br /><br />But this state of almost total helplessness also bespeaks of the things at their worst before getting out of control on the other end. Emil Kraepelin observed <em>"manic"</em> stupor as often the phase of the illness which immediately precedes a switch into madcap cheer. The modern compendium <em>Manic-Depressive Illness</em> cited above prefers “depressive” stupor to describe the severe psychomotor inhibition which the patient exhibits during this period of deep mourning:<br /><br /><em>The patient, usually, is confined to bed, is mute, inactive and uncooperative. His bodily needs require attention in every way; he has to be fed, washed and bathed. Precautions have to be made to prevent the retention of faeces, urine and saliva. In some cases all attempts at movement are strongly resisted. In other cases the muscles are more flaccid, and the body and limbs can be molded into any position. On the surface it may seem as if there was a total absence of feeling and emotions, but that is often more apparent than real, for after recovery many patients give a vivid account of the distress they have experienced. The idea of death is believed by some to be almost universal in stupor reactions, and may be regarded as a form of expiation for the wickedness for which they hold themselves responsible…..(ibid., 40)</em><br /><br />Jesus laying his hands on the deaf man with a speech impediment near Decapolis (Mk 7), is as I indicated one of the ecstatic stories, which had the function clearing the deck in roars of hearty laughter. Observe Mark’s taking the sufferer away from the multitude to perform his medical procedure <em>“in private”</em>. What would that accomplish, if other cures are public ? My take on it is that, by writing it like that (and in this case for an added effect, likely reciting it for a group) Mark wanted lay stress on the individual experience of the Spirit one-on-one. The description of Jesus expertly manipulating his charge, by plugging his ears (don’t listen to anyone but me !), spitting on him (so what of the outsiders who spit on you to make you feel worthless ?), and touching his tongue (transferring to him the utterance), would have the desired effect of making the initiated reader and hearer (!) of the gospel feel a special person, a Jesus’ intimate in the close circle of his <em>eklektoi</em>. By this sort of hyper-concretization of the Spirit as Jesus of Nazareth up close and personal, and the reader/hearer participating in (knowing thge mystery of) the tale, would have the healing effect of rebuilding the intelligent sufferer’s confidence in dealing with her challenges, internally and externally, by providing insight into her condition. The members of the community know the <em>‘reality’</em> of <em>‘Jesus’</em> and they are not thrown by Mark’s dissembling that is to fool or mock the faithless outsiders.<br /><br />Unfortunately, this holier-and-smarter-than-thou attitude of Mark speaks also of his spiritual limits. It seems to have been a trait inherited from Paul as charismatic groups have a tendency to take on the personalities of their leaders. Mark’s gospel and parables within it were aimed to injure the Petrine rivals, and often unnecessarily so. The two-stage curing of the blind man in Bethsaida, is another blatant example of a mean trashing of the earthly Jesus disciples. In the narration, it comes after the second feeding of the multitude which the disciples do not get – yet again. (I believe Werner Kelber solved the mystery of the second feeding – it was not Mark’s mishandling his sources speaking of a single event). Mark devises a two-stage cure of a blind man, who after the first phase can only see <em>‘men’</em>, who <em>‘look like trees, walking’</em>. This ridicules the Petrines’ lack of spiritual insight, which of course has to be corrected by the proper medicine by Jesus as Pauline spirit.<br /><br />In my reading of the battle of the gospels, this story infuriated Matthew, as he saw in it a brutish assault on his own traditions, and an exhibit of Pauline pompous gnostic arrogance. He would prove to Mark that that he and his mocking troopers own no monopoly on the Spirit and Jesus. The <em>judge-not</em> section of the Sermon, I read as Matthew’s focused attack on the Paulines’ false sense of superiority ( 1 Cr 2:15-16) in access to Christ through the Spirit. He bores into Mark for the Bethsaida two-step cure: <em>‘How wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye?’</em> <em>Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.'</em> Matthew then delivers a killer of a blow to the followers of Paul who would preach Christ to the heirs of Peter and demand their submission : <em>Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you..</em> If Jesus did not say that in fact, he could not have said it any better. For verily, trample Mark’s pearls Matthew did, and brilliantly so.<br /><br />My perspective assumes that the psychological touchpoints of the manic-depressive challenge have not changed in history. Most manics are both, genuinely convinced that they belong to an elite favoured by God or gods (or simply ‘superior’ if they are atheists), and in the same measure, accursed and abandoned by them or harassed by the devil, when they are low (or simply ‘done for’ or ‘emptied of purpose’ if atheists). The other thing to understand about this fairly common condition is that unlike other mental disorders, e.g. schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s, this one is not degenerative. When the manic excitement subsides, most often in a few weeks, the subject’s rational faculty returns, even if deeply affected by the experience of altered mentation. The subjects will realize as a rule after the first episode that they went off the deep end, and most will feel profoundly embarrassed about the way they carried on. At the same time, they are hooked on the intensity of the ecstatic highs and some are willing to pay any price to stay in the cycle. The first few months after the excitement subsides will be critical to establish the pattern of the subject’s response to the new challenge. The ancients did not have mood-control medication but they had brains just like ours. And our brains can be very resourceful when challenged in new and unusual ways.EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-56392612506137295062010-07-16T05:19:00.000-07:002012-06-03T07:08:44.027-07:00Mark's Recursive GospelIt has been noted by many that ideas in Mark’s narration have a strange quality to them. Paula Fredriksen, for example, believes the oddities of Mark’s expression are due to his lack of couth and education. Richard Carrier notes the gospeller’s bend on thwarting the expectations, both of the reader and the characters in his story. Ben Wetherington points to the inherent <em>veiledness</em> and <em>indirectness</em> in the Markan Jesus metaphorical speech. A related, interesting take on the strange feel of Mark’s logic and his testimony of Jesus, has been posted on CrossCurrents website. It comes from a Michigan professor George Aichele who sees in the gospel classical mythical elements that are processed by the reader’s belief or disbelief. But there is also something else in the earliest gospel, the professor says, an <em>“inexplicable residuum…an irreducible, opaque remainder of the text [is] not finally consumed and absorbed along with the rest.”</em> Mark seems to be as free of grammatical, propositional and story-telling rules as his Jesus was of gravity on the Sea of Galilee. Could the two liberties be related ?<br />
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The gospel stories self-validate and self-propagate athwart logic and meaning, and at times seem to veer off the deep end. I think professor Aichele’s is right: within the paradigm of the story, Jesus has unlimited authority and potential for doing good. Those attributes have certainly nothing unusual about them. When Jesus parries against the Pharisees who accuse him of effecting cures on behalf of the prince of devils this is strictly mythical business. The ‘house divided cannot stand’ is a clever riposte and one entirely predicated by Jesus being able to effect real, lasting cures, and not just hopes for them. The proposition that Jesus cannot –despite appearances – be an agent of a malicious entity, is sustained by belief in Jesus’ skills as a healer. Mind you, in real life, many gifted healers can perform remarkably well even though they are observed to be mentally ill. Wilhelm Reich, one of Freud’s star pupils, struggled with his manic-depressive demons since his twenties, but was successfully treating his patients even as his diary recorded the molesting of his dog by aliens. But that is not really important since Mark's story should be strictly believe-it-or-not. The same is true also about the occasional minor slip in logic. In one of them, 9:40, Jesus declares a rule of ‘<em>who is not against us is for us’</em>, in overruling his disciples and allowing someone who does not follow his group to cast out demons in his name. Unfortunately one cannot use the example given to formulate such a principle, as transparently the <em>‘not against us’ </em>attitude in the incident is one <em>‘for us’ </em>except that it was not authorized. But again, this minor glitch would fall within the explainable dimension and the belief/unbelief filtering process. This would not be an exhibit of opacity in Mark, if I understand professor Aichele correctly.<br />
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Jesus going into Jericho and coming out of there without incident in the same verse (10:46) would be. Morton Smith had an explanation for that one – a fragment of <em>Secret Mark</em> which records some action that took place there; alas, the letter of Clement to Theodore looks like a modern forgery to many experts. Luckily for my own theory, nothing is remembered also of Jesus’ visit to Bethany (11:11-12), ergo the question remains. If Mark was recording actual events which took place and were remembered what would be the purpose naming the locale of events without memories attaching to them ? Those are obscure intents. And there is more: people around Jesus can’t eat and it is taken as a clue by his family that it is Jesus who must be out of <em>his</em> mind and needs to be restrained. Clearly not an absorbable idea. To make things even more bizzare the canard that people around Jesus are so busy they can’t to feed themselves is advertised also in 6:31 and 8:1. When Jairus’ daughter rises from her death, Jesus orders casually that she be fed. Why would she not feed herself, if we dare to presume her happy to be alive again ? Further, the mourners in her house burst out laughing when Jesus minutes before offers that she is not dead but only sleeping. What’s with that ? And what’s with the throngs of people who physically converge on, and oppress, Jesus in the most unseemly fashion (2:4, 5:31), even threatening to crush him (3:9) ? Jesus tells his disciples in private to go by themselves to a secluded place to rest, but people from all over the place run there ahead of the party. The storyteller says there is one loaf of bread in the boat but the disciples (in the story he wrote) deny there is bread in the vessel – after arguing around it. Mark says Jesus said ‘what’s there to discuss ?’ Yeah, I suppose both have a point. Bartimaeus throws away his cloak when he is invited to join Jesus’ entourage. Obviously, that would be an important act to record for posterity. Jesus, after passing through Bethany of which he or Mark can't remember anything, curses a fig tree because it did not yield fruit to him a few weeks ahead of market. The mocking guards slap around Jesus cupping his eyes asking him to prophesy. What does that mean ? Well, Matthew explains that mystery, does he not ? He says the guards told Jesus to prophecy <em>who hit him</em>, i.e. to entertain them with a little <em>vaticinium ex eventu</em>. He even removes the captor’s hands from Jesus’ eyes to make it plain he sees no occult designs in Mark at all. Neither do I. These <em>events</em> or non-events, I will argue elsewhere were actually attempts by Mark to describe the uncanny <em>inside</em> of the spirit, that most of those to whom he wrote were as intimately familiar with as he was. But for now let us stick to the formal issues of all this strange stuff.<br />
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In the briefest of terms: Mark has raised a set of mythical props within his storyboard and then allowed the characters in it, including Jesus, to challenge them in order to defeat their rebellion and thus re-enforce his hypnotic narration of a mystery. Not certain you follow what I am saying ? Ok, let us play it out: imagine the family of Vivian, Lady of the Lake, appearing on the scene at the moment of her imprisoning Merlin in the tower she conjured up around him. They wave their hands and scream over one another: <em>“Hello, please excuse us, …no, please, no tower, no way Vivian can do that sort of thing,…please excuse her;....you are right,... she is not an architect, not an engineer ...no, she cannot be ... not yet the twentieth century...…yes, quite right,... she is out of her mind”.</em> That sort of intervention would surely look ‘<em>veiled</em>’ if Merlin at the same time was struggling to break into the tower’s armory. See what I mean ? This would <strong>not</strong> be the same kind of challenge offered by an antagonist to Harry Potter flying a broom in aerial combats around <em>Hogwarth</em>. This is not a challenge to a hero <em>within the myth</em>, but a challenge <em>to the myth itself </em>baked right into the myth.<br />
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Ok, let me then, before passing on to the gospel’s circular design, get back to the hypnotic suggestion of Jesus walking on the sea. It is my favourite example of Mark’s application of the re-referencing technique, seen in many places of the narrative: the disciples in an unsteady boat see Jesus passing by and think it is a ghost. Mark, a staunch Paulinist, mocks here the Jesus idolatry of the original Petrine tradition which refused to accept the cross, and venerated Jesus as a man of flesh and blood who was sent to them as the prophet of the coming messianic kingdom. So when the disciples scream in fear at the sight of Jesus as the Spirit strolling on water, “Jesus” changes his mind and levitates towards the distressed crew to reassure them that he is no Pauline ghost, and announces : <em>“It is I; have no fear”</em>. I can imagine Mark’s friends convulsing in laughter when reading this elaborate lampooning of Petrine miracle-mongering and their disdain for Pauline pneumaticism. Mark’s Jesus confirms Paul (1 Cr 1:23, Mk 8:12) in saying ‘no sign’ will be given, and he is not contradicting himself if one reads the story the way it is proposed here. There are no miracles in Mark - the paradoxical events are the allegorically rendered artifacts of altered consciousness and cognitive gaps brough about as the effect of <em>pneuma</em>. Even Matthew was evidently impressed by Mark’s cleverness if he returned it by ridiculing Pauline church’s high horse of being Christ’s imitators in showing that Peter ('flesh and blood' as they are) tried it on the sea and it did not work.<br />
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<strong>The core purpose of Mark’s gospel</strong><br />
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Mark’s Pauline mantle would be doubted in most exegetical circles and a number of reasons would be given for it. For example a number of Markan scholars believe that Mark, unlike Paul, was an adoptionist. I don’t think it was as clear-cut as that. Paul saw himself if not quite pre-existent, then definitely pre-destined for his mission, which was activated in <em>medias res </em>(Gal 1:15) as he gave up on material things and pleasures of this world. So, if the disciples of Paul were to be his imitators, as he was of Christ, then the prefiguring of the role of God’s servant and receiving a commission on it in mid-life would not be a contradiction to a Pauline.<br />
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But there are other elements of Mark that do not quite square with Paul’s outlook. The son of man does not figure in Paul’s writing, and undoubtedly originates in the Palestinian traditions which Paul purposely ignored. Neither is the central message of Mark’s Jesus, as I perceive it: <em>repentance</em>. Again, in my view of Paul and his saints, they repented by swearing to a puritanical orgiastic fantasy of themselves individually nailed to a piece of wood, which was not how the Palestinian tradents understood <em>metanoia</em>. Paul did not like to baptize because he was not into making people feel clean by rituals; he was sent to preach the gospel. He preached his gospel to a select audience of those who were mature and wise. The ideas and social graces of Mark’s Jesus are sometimes clearly estranged from Paul’s agenda. Mark's idea of the risen Lord socializing with publicans and sinners would have probably made Paul go glossolalic.<br />
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This is what I think happened in a nutshell. The war of 66-70 added Nazarene (Nazorean) exiles to the Jewish communities in the near Diaspora. Bitter squabbles and finger-pointing arose among Jewish factions and their Pauline Gentile auxiliaries, over the catastrophe of the loss of the Temple as the central symbol of Jewish identity. It was a three-way struggle between the Phariseic-dominated mainstream, the Nazarene sectaries and Paul’s churches. The Paulines had the advantage of independence from the Temple as the religious hub, as Paul tried but failed to gain access to it through James’ poor saints in Jerusalem. By all indications, he went alone, and his following built, and prided itself in, a separate, self-sustained base. In contrast, the Nazarenes – assumed a minority in the Jewish communities – were the ones worst off by far. They found themselves cut off from the rabbinical Jews who blamed their messianic obsessions for the mayhem, and from the Pauline swarms, which held them in contempt as the deniers of the cross and the perverters of Christ’s gospel, who received their comeuppance. Doubtless, they found it hard to proselytize in the proximity of either of their rivals. In this situation many were re-considering the proposition the Jesus himself was the Proclaimed as Paul taught and not just a proclaimer as Jesus saw himself.<br />
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In the other camp, after Paul was gone, his taboo on the <em>‘historical Jesus’ </em>(1 Cr 2:2, 2 Cr 5:16) rapidly lost its lure. Yes, naturally some of the things that would have irked and offended Paul, the lore of letting the dead bury their dead, or the son of man who has nowhere to lay his head, or the birds in the air whom our heavenly Father feeds with no effort required, the yoke that was light, or kids who hate their parents, would still remain beyond pale with Paul’s followers . But the natural human curiosity about the earthly career of the man who Paul taught visited them as the ineffable heavenly Spirit in their ecstasies, would have come sooner or later. And, they too had something to gain from uniting into a single church. Paul considered the followers his workmanship in the Lord, and the proof of seeing him. So an extended believer base meant Paul was right again and confirmed they did not just <em>see things</em>.<br />
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I believe this is how Mark came to be written. Behind his gospel was an original idea of uniting the two views of Jesus : the Nazarenes’ proclaimer of the coming son of man (not himself) and Paul’s Christ, which remained separated by the antagonism of Paul and the Nazarenes. It was masterfully conceived as a story of Jesus empowered by Pauline spirit, from its appearance at the Jordan to its extinguishment on the cross, in the death of Jesus the Nazarene. Throughout the gospel Jesus has a dual identity, which is at once advertised and at once hidden to those who do not understand what the presence of the spirit means or feels like. He speaks of the <em>heavenly</em> kingdom; they think it is coming to earth. Peter idolizes him as the Messiah but Jesus does not want anyone to know until he is dead.<br />
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This is again a hugely misapprehended smart-alecking of Mark: Jesus doesn’t want it known publicly that he is Messiah for a very simple reason: it has to be Paul (and his gospel allegorized by Mark) who will be <em>first</em> to proclaim Jesus as the Christ ! That is why an obscure entity called <em>many</em> censures Bartimaeus who calls Jesus 'Son of David' and not the disciples, who of course rebel against the gospel. Mark's irony here is in that the appellation comes from someone who is blind, <em>spiritually</em> blind to be sure. Mark rejects the Davidic descent of Jesus. First, the idea is lampooned in the story of a blind beggar, and then Jesus himself rejects Christ's Davidic line in a clever use of Psalm 110:1 in 12:36-37. His target would not be just the "scribes" but those Jewish Petrine exiles, who competing with Paul for converts, claim the Davidic descent the Nazarene Jesus. (I believe the idea of Jesus as a Davidic king 'kata sarka' is un-Pauline, and Rom 1:3, a later insert).<br />
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The reason many Markan scholars since Wrede have struggled to get a handle on the <strong>messianic secret</strong> is that they allow themselves be hypnotized by two suggestions. One is the Markan mystery mongering . Two, they have allowed themselves to be talked by the patristics into the dogma that "crucified/resurrected Christ" was the lingua franca of the church since Jerusalem. But Mark mischievously lets Jesus talk to the exterior of the story, re-referencing himself from the distance of forty years later (as in the example of Vivian I gave above) building the passion plot around the pig-headed refusal of the Nazarenes to accept the cross of Christ. To the disciples inside the story, Mark's Jesus says the son of man must die and be resurrected and Peter is upset because he wants him to be a different Messiah - the king on the throne of Israel. The future “pillars” don’t <em>get</em> the transfiguration on the mountain as the glory of the risen Lord (<em>2 Cr 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed (μεταμορφούμεθα) into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit</em>.). They reject Paul’s Jerusalem above, resisting the idea when it comes from the mouth of Jesus they know, and do not recognize his metamorphosis as the post-mortem spiritual transformation. It scares them, as it scared them on the lake and as the missing corpse will scare the women at the loop of the gospel. Leaving the mountain, the three can’t figure out what the resurrection from the dead is about (cf. 1 Cr 15:12-19) even though it was just demonstrated to them. They cling on to the hope of a messianic kingdom on earth which so enraged Jesus who evidently read the whole chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, if you get my meaning. The Zebedees could not be talked out of that idea: they wanted some of that Herod’s palace seating for private use after Jesus’ coup d’etat.<br />
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Mark’s gospel terms are harsh: he offers to the Petrine Nazarenes, in the proverbial wilderness, three propositions. One: you will repent and accept the cross of Christ as taught by Paul; two, you will accept the spiritual nature of Christ as taught by Paul and his resurrection (!!); and three, you will accept that there is but a single gospel (as per Gal 1:7-8) lest you be damned. In the three core verses 4:10-12, the gospel purpose and structure is laid out (KJV):<br />
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<strong>And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable</strong>.<br />
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On the principles shown, this is how the koan reads: When Jesus was alone, those who had access to him through the Spirit (from outside of the local time and place), i.e. not the Twelve (!), asked him about the sower parable.<br />
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<strong>And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all [these] things are done in parables: </strong><br />
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It is to you, the true faith of the sower ( 2Cr 9:9-10, 1 Cr 3:6), that the mysteries of the kingdom are revealed, to those on the outside, ἐν παραβολαῖς τὰ πάντα γίνεται - everything, i.e. the entire gospel, is made up out of (undecipherable) parables. In other words, <strong><em>the entire gospel is an allegory</em></strong>.<br />
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<strong>That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time (μήποτε) they should be converted, and [their] sins should be forgiven them.</strong><br />
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Repent ! Paraphrasing Isaiah 6:9, Mark demands through Jesus that the Petrines accept the gospel of the cross, and become faithful, as the pre-condition of their entering the kingdom !<br />
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The story unfolds to its inevitable conclusion and culminates in Jesus’ passion, as he predicts it (<em>vaticinium ex eventu</em>). Peter and the disciples run away as prophecied, and hush up the cross so as not to be persecuted for it (Gal 6:12). Jesus is captured by <em>men</em>, tried and condemned twice to be crucified: first, by the Sanhedrin offended by Jesus’ paradoxal self-proclamation and then by a bemused Gentile governor who thinks it is folly to crucify a harmless <em>furiosus</em>, but gives in to the mob to fulfill both ends of 1 Cr 1:23.<br />
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<strong>The Function of the Empty Tomb in Mark</strong><br />
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Even though the view is growing within the NT scholarly community that the abrupt ending at 16:8 is indeed what Mark intended, the meaning of the scene eludes the traditional exegesis. This would be the final example of obscurity in the gospel of Mark. I have outlined a reading of Mark here in which the gospel is open-ended . In the malleable design of the narrative and its recursive structure, this ending has the function of the loop’s end. As one of the humourous definitions of recursion says:<br />
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<strong>Recursion</strong><br />
If you still don’t get it, see ‘Recursion’.<br />
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In this intuitive paralogic, the meaning of the process is not spelled out but suggested by circumlocution. To get <em>‘Recursion’</em> you have to loop a few times through the definition, until you gain the insight that recursion itself is looping through the definition.<br />
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In an analogy with Mark’s gospel, the Markan insider would have grasped the scene’s import at once, as it stands as the second milestone in the prophecy of <em>Isaiah [sic]</em> which is fulfilled in a two-stage baptismal process. The scripture (of Paul’s Romans !) would explain what the <em>neaniskos</em> was doing in the empty tomb prior to the arrival of the women: <em>Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his (Rom 6:3-4).</em> The community would understand the spiritual pun of the missing body of the Nazarene Jesus. A reference to the “scripture” would yield Paul’s 1 Cr 12:27: <em>Now you are the body of Christ (σωμα Χριστου) and individually members of it.</em> Paul’s church was in the mythical Galilee where Jesus was to meet his disciples. The empty tomb fully supports Mark’s narrative design. It is the third instance of Jesus resurrectional transfiguration (the previous ones being on the lake, and on the mount).<br />
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I believe the bizzare ending of verse 16:8 in the majority of the manuscript was fully intended. The conjunction <em>γαρ</em> (for) which strangely ends the whole gospel was likely to be "shared" as a connector to verse 1:2. (which likely was the first verse of Urmark) . In this manner, on the second pass, the messenger of "Isaiah" refers to both, John the Baptist and the young man in the tomb, who as I said is most likely self-referencing Mark. <br />
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The scene is cleverly set up by the request by Joseph of Arimathea to Pilate to give him the body of Jesus. This would be the again one of the exhilarating misunderstandings in the story: the noble Sanhedrin member who himself expected the coming of the kingdom of God (ος… αυτος ην προσδεχομενος την βασιλειαν του θεου), desired the body of Jesus (το σωμα του Ιησου) . This formula suggests that Joseph really wanted the ecstatic ‘body’ of Jesus which for the Nazarenes signified the imminent coming of God’s kingdom to Israel (alluded to in Acts 2:2-4). But Pilate (15:44) figures the request to mean that Joseph (Αριμαθαια, I am persuaded by professor Paul Nadim Tarazi, stands for <em>Har-rimmat(h)aim</em> , Hebrew for <em>'mount of decay'</em>) wants Jesus’ corpse ( πτωμα). The empty tomb mystery is then predicated by the punning of σωμα and πτωμα, i.e. that which Joseph wanted (and did not get) is now in Galilee.<br />
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Plausibly, the young man in the tomb discovered by the women is Mark himself, indicating that he too ran in the terror on the night of the Spirit's capture(likely alluding to Amos 2:15) .<br />
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He later repented and received his vision. The women running away from the Pauline baptist and messenger and <strong>not telling anything to anyone</strong>, assure that it is through Mark’s text that the gospel gets out. This, I believe was the idea behind the Messianic Secret. The disciples (or their followers) may not proclaim the gospel of Jesus passion, his death and his rising. It will be Paul and then Mark through his allegory.<br />
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The gospel of Mark then is a cycle between the two baptisms - that into the life of the Spirit (i.e. John the Baptist) and that into its death (i.e. Paul/Mark's) in the tomb. The reader gets out of cycle when he or she captured the full allegorical meaning of Mark's gospel. The newness of life that Jesus experienced at baptism, will have been fulfilled by those initiated into his death.<br />
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Unlike the Pauline spiritualists, someone reading Mark in search for meaning without understanding the community, its ways and spirit nomenclature, would be left bewildered by the ending. The Petrine sages who were sent the script were no doubt intrigued. Mark’s <em>narrative gnosticism</em>* looked formidable. After some early fumbling (the interpolated 1 Cr 15:3-11 ?) they found a way to deal with Mark’s offer. The cross of Messiah, yes, but Davidic Messiah; the gnostic supremacy of Paul – no way; single gospel ? you are dreaming, if you think it is going to be yours: the magic circle of gnosis between the baptism of John and the baptism of Paul in Mark’s allegory will have to be broken. The genius who found a solution to the challenge of Mark became known to us as Matthew.<br />
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*/ The term is used by Jan Wojcik in the <em>Road to Emmaus</em> to describe Luke's gospelEarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7513207989692345204.post-81808337317059298612010-07-10T06:38:00.000-07:002010-07-29T13:55:42.704-07:00Not Thinking Differently about JesusIn one of the stories I cherish, Bertrand Russell recounts how, upon learning that J.S. Mill’s dictum <em>Think differently !</em> had come to him in a dream, he realized that he too had a profound, recurring thought obtruding on him during his sleep. Except, when he woke up in the morning, he could not remember what it was. He resolved then to wake up the moment the idea struck again, and to that end he placed a notepad with a pencil on his night table. A few days later, he indeed found a scribbled note on the top sheet of paper when he woke up. It said: <em>Petroleum pervades throughout</em>.<br /><br />The humorous anecdote illustrates a number of important points. First, it shows the difficulty with wanting something that cannot be had by <em>just</em> wanting it. Second, it tells us that we just don’t know what else lurks inside our skulls beyond the entity which we are asked refer to in the first person singular past the age of three, and vouch for legally after puberty. Third, and this is my own reading of the tricky Russell’s brainwave that spawned the anecdote, is that it hints at the impossibility of thinking differently. Maybe my wont here has to do with my high school teacher who had a way to make any punk in his charge look instantly stupid. Whenever we prefaced some idea by “I think” and he did not like what he heard, he retorted <em>you think you think but in fact you do neither</em>. He repeated this spiel often enough for us to get his point that there is difference between thinking and posturing.<br /><br />So, to make my own point here, people often do not think when they want to seem like they do, and if someone claims the ability to think differently, the results will be likely disappointing. I will forego therefore the customary assurances that my Jesus inquiry is from an angle that has not been offered before. It would be silly, even if it were true.<br /><br />Evidently, the idea that there is a mental health side to the New Testament creativity is not only not new at all but has been acknowledged by the gospels and epistles themselves, directly and indirectly. In the gospel of Mark, it is not just hostile opponents and a bemused Roman governor, but those closest to Jesus who see his new mantle of a prophet a sign of his being out of his mind. The view that Jesus was possessed by a destructive demon is acknowledged by all gospels, and Matthew (10:25) makes explicit the charge that those who follow Jesus are as much devil-possessed as their master. Only a handful of the epistles are credited by modern scholars to those in whose name they are written, and as these forgeries do not appear motivated by simple gain but extra large would-be moral concerns for humanity in the name of a loving deity, they do give rise to questions about the head space of their authors. And these are not trivial concerns. The pseudo-Pauline writer of 2 Thessalonians, goes as far as warning the recipients of his dispatch (2:2) against false writing <em>purporting to be from us</em>. This sort of “deep impersonation” with its implied knowledge of fraud is troubling. In 2 Peter, an epistle usually placed several generations after the gospel events, the author, who most assuredly is not Peter, forswears (1:16) he is not presenting the readers with <em>cleverly devised fables</em> when he gives his testimony of the majesty of the Lord’s transfiguration he personally witnessed on the mountain. The same problem of “knowing one’s lie” lurks here, and with yet another added twist. This pseudo-Peter goes as far as claiming that <em>no prophecy of Scripture</em> (of which he considers his testimony to be an example !) <em>is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. </em>(1:20-21).<br /><br />The difficulty with the religious or ideological mindset (as this of course is not a problem unique to the Christian objects of faith) is compounded by the conviction of the believers that no valid external view of it (them) exists, or even, can exist. Paul tells his followers that the <em>spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no-one</em> (1 Cr 2:15). This peculiar view had a way of propagating itself in later gospel writing. Mark’s Jesus while acknowledging that he (or the community he stands for - note that it is the followers of Jesus - not him - who get so worked up by Jesus they can’t eat, in 3:20) is looked upon as (an) ecstatic lunatic(s), and the Holy Spirit, but effects of frank mania, immediately proscribes such a view as absolutely unforgivable taboo worse than blaspheming God himself and one that requires eternal damnation ! (Mk 3:28-31) Mark’s Petrine editor and censor, we know as Matthew, considered it prudent to excise the concerns of Jesus’ family, while of course keeping the eschatological fatwa against badmouthing the spirit. Evidently, Matthew did not think the reader of his corrected gospel had the intellectual need to understand the origins of that particular idea.<br /><br />It should come as no surprise then that if faith depends on the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, that even modern theology will find a way to deny that the NT texts can be penetrated and understood by independent, disinterested analysis. Here is a sample of a view that I have encountered personally in a number of forms and shapes. It comes from Hans Conzelmann who lamented in his <em>Outline of the Theology of the NT</em> back in 1968:<br /><br /><em>Attempts have been continually made to derive Paul’s theology from his experience. He himself declares that his gospel has been revealed to him. But in what sense is that to be understood ? We can get an answer only when we put the question in terms of the history of religions, not in psychological terms. For ‘inner experience’ explains nothing, it is an ‘x’ which itself needs to be explained. Attempted reconstructions of the experience are useless, as the sources are simply not there. Just as Paul has visions without making personal use of them (2 Cor 12), so he never speaks of the inner event of his conversion, but only of its theological content: his commission to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. </em><br /><br />On one level I can of course sympathize with the objection of the theologian . Theology and psychology are rivals. The theologian instinctively disdains attempts to explain away the mystery that is life and its purposes, the ambition of some grand theorists of human psyche. He or she senses that people who think (they think when they write) that way, either do not think very deeply about what they say or do not really know how to align feelings to ideas. Further, and therein I believe lies the crux of the matter, whatever one can say about the creativity and activism of Paul, Mark, the people around them, and the copycats they inspired later: they were challenged and responded with what they had, and whatever one’s opinion of the cultural selectors that favoured their cosmology, and social psychology over their competitors, here we are with them in our cultural baggage. One wise pastor said to me when we discussed my project, in the early days : <em>I trust that you mean well. The thing that worries me is not much a world without God, but a world with an ersatz God. </em>I told him that I was a theist at least in one respect: <em>I take God as a warrant against knowing too much</em>.<br /><br />On the other hand, I hope the problems with a theological attitude that Conzelmann’s view illustrates, are immediately visible, and hopefully not only to non-faith. Does Paul’s experience really explain <em>nothing</em> ? Are the reconstructions of it really <em>useless</em> ? Do the secular (,or religiously not-committed,) view of Paul, or classing Paul’s visitations with known mental phenomena observed medically and psychologically, automatically derogate to Christianity ? I don’t think so. For one, I know that Conzelmann’s theological mentor, Rudolph Bultmann, openly discussed the delusional nature of some of the beliefs of Jesus if there were held by a real human. So, it would appear Conzelmann knew there are issues with the historical identity of Jesus, and to push theology out of harm’s way, he declared himself for the view that we can know nothing about Jesus, historically speaking. He could not say the same with Paul, since he had Paul in his face, historically speaking, so he declared himself for the view that we cannot know anything about Paul, psychologically speaking. <em>The sources are simply not there.</em> This sort of approach greatly distressed Paul Tillich who warned its cumulative effect would be <em>empty theism</em>. As theology locks itself inside its own hermetically sealed little world, it loses touch and relevance. The attitude reminds one so much of the wife of the bishop of Oxford, who on learning of the Darwin’s theory of our biological descent exclaimed: <em>Let us pray it is not true, or if it is, that it does not become generally known</em>.<br /><br />But the reality is that we have Paul’s letters and they reveal quite a bit about Paul, not the theologian, not the saint, but the courageous human suffering periodically from a debilitating disorder who through creative genius that dissociated a part of his person into a mythical personna, laid the groundwork for the world’s most successful religion. There are direct and oblique references in Paul’s letters to his health and with the cognitive patterns in his theology which – read together – may create a psychological profile which is reasonably close to what we may know of him, a profile which optimally would be candid but respectful and compassionate, and therefore perhaps theologically useful, to some. As for the rest of the New Testament, the texts, contrary to conservative belief, present an interesting window on the social psychological makeup of the early Christians and may yet shed unexpected insights on the first communities and the development of their beliefs.EarlyChristianityBloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312143443959809037noreply@blogger.com0