Blog – The Two Gospels of Mark

Introduction to the blog

This blog mainly presents post-publication insights that supplement The Two Gospels of Mark: Performance and Text. I assume that the reader has read the book.

Review of Caesar’s Messiah, by Joseph Atwill

Introduction Caesar’s Messiah presents a tissue of preposterous theories. Fortunately, Robert M. Price has detangled Atwill’s theories and addressed them one by one in a review of the 2005 edition. Price uses the words “mad,” “ludicrous,” and “perverse and gratuitous interpretations of the text.” I …

The origin of Saint Veronica: Berenice, Judean princess

Summary In this post I speculate that the origin of the early Christian saint “Veronica” was the real-life Berenice, Judean princess and mistress/fiancée to Titus Flavius. I suggest that in the 80s CE, after Titus’s death, Berenice became a member of the Roman congregation of …

Everyone was gnostic until “Jesus of Nazareth”

Richard Carrier wrote an interesting post on August 31, 2020 called Gnosticism Didn’t Exist (Say What Now?). “Gnosticism was never actually a thing. It was an invention of modern scholars; an interpretive category, it turns out, that refers to no actual thing that existed in …

Review of R.G. Price’s Deciphering the Gospels Proves Jesus Never Existed

In his 2018 book, Deciphering the Gospels Proves Jesus Never Existed, R.G. Price falls into the trap that is everpresent for independent scholars: not having sufficiently ‘read around’ the topic. Price erroneously bases his argument on and takes for granted the integrity of the current …

What was the origin of Mark’s congregation?

This post presents my thoughts about the pre-Markan history of his congregation. It’s entirely top-of-my-head speculation, but of interest—I hope—because I’ve spent several years immersed in the Gospel of Mark and its adjacent texts. My thoughts are consistent with the picture I paint in The …

Mark characterizes Jesus as Hermes

This post is a response to a post on Vridar, Reading the Gospels through a Roman Philosopher’s Eyes, August 5, 2020. There, Neil Godfrey observes, “what the Stoic author Cornutus wrote about Hermes brings to mind several core motifs in the gospels, but in particular …

Reconstruction of the Pilate scene in the Gospel of Mark

Summary The Passover Privilege—the choice offered by Pilate to the multitudes of Jerusalem—has long been problematic. Mark invoked a name, “Pilate,” that had meaning to the audience of his play, in Rome 90-95 CE. We can assume that Mark expected the audience to bring their …

Mark 13:14 is not by Mark

But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains… (Mk 13:14 NRSV) In my book I exclude Mark 13:14 from my proposed original Olivet Discourse in …

Is “Andrew” in GMark the name of the author?

The following proposal, like many of the posts on this blog, assumes that you have read my book, The Two Gospels of Mark: Performance and Text, and are familiar with my proposed life-situation for Mark. When I wrote the book, I decided that the character …