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.
Read MoreDramatic enactment of the Gospel of Mark by actor Max McLean
A YouTube search easily yields a number of dramatic readings of the Gospel of Mark, including an excellent one by actor David Suchet. But the dramatic enactment of the Gospel of Mark by actor Max McLean is in a class of its own. McLean dramatizes …
Read MoreThe fig tree episode in the Gospel of Mark is an editorial overwrite
Summary The episode of the cursing of the fig tree in the Gospel of Mark is not good theater. It follows the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and brackets the Temple Incident (TI), both exciting and dramatic scenes. The fig-tree episode should have some relationship to …
Read MoreReview 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 …
Read MoreThe 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 …
Read MoreEveryone 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 …
Read MoreReview 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 …
Read MoreWhat 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 …
Read MoreMark 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 …
Read MoreReconstruction 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 …
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