The Case for Proto-Mark: A Study in the Synoptic Problem

331 Pages·2018·1.526 MB·English

by  Delbert Burkett

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen
zum Neuen Testament
Herausgeber / Editor
Jörg Frey (Zürich)
Mitherausgeber / Associate Editors
Markus Bockmuehl (Oxford) · James A. Kelhoffer (Uppsala)
Tobias Nicklas (Regensburg) · J. Ross Wagner (Durham, NC)
399

Delbert Burkett
The Case for Proto-Mark
A Study in the Synoptic Problem
Mohr Siebeck
Delbert Burkett, born 1949; 1989 PhD; 1996–99 Assistant Professor, 1999–2010 As-
sociate Professor, since 2010 Professor of Religious Studies at Louisiana State University;
2010–16 Chair of the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies.
e-ISBN PDF 978-3-16-155591-6
ISBN 978-3-16-155516-9
ISSN 0512-1604 (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament)
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbiblio-
graphie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2018 Mohr Siebeck Tübingen, Germany. www.mohr.de
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Printed in Germany
Preface
The present study seeks to establish the Proto-Mark hypothesis on a firmer founda-
tion than it has had in previous scholarship. I am grateful to Gene Boring for reading
an early version of the manuscript, to David Neville for reading the manuscript and
for his continued support of this project, and to my colleague François Raffoul for
his encouragement. I am also grateful to Louisiana State University for a sabbatical
(academic year 2016–17), which enabled me to complete this work. I would also like
to thank Professor Dr. Jörg Frey and the other members of the WUNT editorial board
for the opportunity to publish in the WUNT series.
Baton Rouge, September 2017 Delbert Burkett

Table of Contents
Abbreviations ........................................................ XIII
Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................. 1
Chapter 2: A Survey of Three Theories ............................... 7
Proto-Mark in the Nineteenth Century .................................... 7
Beginnings ........................................................ 8
A longer Proto-Mark ............................................... 8
A shorter Proto-Mark .............................................. 10
Proto-Mark almost the same as Mark ................................. 11
Proto-Mark with the Griesbach hypothesis ............................ 11
Rise of the Standard Theory of Markan Priority ............................ 12
Proto-Mark in the Twentieth Century ..................................... 13
A three-stage theory of Mark’s origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Other multi-stage theories .......................................... 17
The Deutero-Mark Hypothesis ........................................... 19
The Present Study ..................................................... 24
Chapter 3: Arguments for Markan Priority Reconsidered .............. 25
The Collapse of Streeter’s Arguments ...................................... 25
Contents ......................................................... 26
Order of pericopes ................................................. 27
Verbal agreements ................................................. 28
Primitive language ................................................. 29
Combination of sources ............................................ 30
The Shift to Relative Plausibility ......................................... 30
Contents or length of the gospels .................................... 31
Order of pericopes ................................................. 32
Coherence of the narrative .......................................... 33
Redactional activity of the evangelists ................................ 35
Ancient scribal practice ............................................. 37
Evaluation of relative plausibility ..................................... 37
VIII Table of Contents
Markan Priority and Proto-Mark ........................................ 38
Summary and Conclusion .............................................. 39
Chapter 4: Data for Evaluating the Minor Agreements ................. 41
Identifying the Agreements .............................................. 45
Example of the Method ................................................. 49
Summary and Conclusion .............................................. 52
Chapter 5: Evaluating the Minor Agreements ......................... 53
Numerical Summary of the Data ......................................... 53
Analysis of the Data .................................................... 55
First set of pericopes ............................................... 56
Second set of pericopes ............................................. 57
Third set of pericopes .............................................. 57
Fourth set of pericopes ............................................. 58
Fifth set of pericopes ............................................... 59
Total number of agreements ......................................... 60
Results of the test .................................................. 61
Explanations for the Data ............................................... 61
Influence of Q ..................................................... 62
Textual corruption ................................................. 62
Coincidental editing ............................................... 65
Influence of oral tradition ........................................... 66
Alternative Theories ................................................... 67
Summary and Conclusion .............................................. 68
Chapter 6: An Argument against Proto-Mark Reconsidered ........... 69
Supposed Improvements of Mark’s Style ................................... 70
Historic present ................................................... 71
The conjunction καί (“and”) ......................................... 73
Parataxis ......................................................... 74
Asyndeton ........................................................ 75
Periphrastic past tense .............................................. 76
ἔλεγεν (“he said”) .................................................. 77
φέρω in the sense “bring” or “lead” ................................... 79
κράβαττοϛ (“pallet”) ............................................... 80
μετὰ τρεῖϛ ἡμέραϛ (“after three days”) ................................. 81
εὐθύϛ (“immediately”) .............................................. 82
πάλιν (“again” or “back”) ............................................ 83
ἰδού (“behold”) .................................................... 84
Table of Contents IX
Supposed Improvements of Mark’s Theology ................................ 85
Healing of many ................................................... 85
Hardness of heart .................................................. 86
Jesus’s emotions ................................................... 86
Albert Fuchs .......................................................... 87
Andreas Ennulat ...................................................... 89
Summary and Conclusion .............................................. 93
Chapter 7: Alternating Primitivity in the Markan Material ............. 97
Streeter’s Fourth Argument .............................................. 97
The Fourth Argument since Streeter ...................................... 98
Criteria of Primitivity .................................................. 100
Principle of Explainability .............................................. 101
Harder (More Obscure) Wording ......................................... 104
Theologically Harder Wording ........................................... 106
Wording Coherent with Context ......................................... 107
Summary and Conclusion .............................................. 111
Chapter 8: Secondary Wording in Each Synoptic ...................... 115
A Criterion to Identify Secondary Wording ................................ 116
Secondary Wording in Matthew .......................................... 118
Secondary Wording in Luke ............................................. 119
Secondary Wording in Mark ............................................. 121
Summary and Conclusion .............................................. 124
Chapter 9: The Case for Proto-Mark .................................. 127
Final Considerations ................................................... 129
Appendix A: Agreements of Two Synoptics against the Third .......... 131
Isaiah 40:3 (Mark 1:1–3 parr) ........................................ 132
Jesus Baptized (Mark 1:9–11 parr) ................................... 133
To Galilee (Mark 1:14a parr) ........................................ 134
People Amazed (Mark 1:22 parr) ..................................... 135
At Peter’s House (Mark 1:29–31 parr) ................................. 135
Evening Healing (Mark 1:32–34 parr) ................................ 136
Skin Disease (Mark 1:40–44 parr) .................................... 138
Word Spreads (Mark 1:45 parr) ...................................... 139