The Significance of Jesus and His Teachings as Depicted by the Authorial Persona in the Gospel of Mark

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Date

1976

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Abstract

The study also changed my evaluation of Mark. Before the study I considered Mark the least sophisticated and profound of the Gospels. Because of Mark's misleading simplicity and apparent brevity, I overlooked the significance that it depicts. Now I consider Mark's depiction of Jesus and his teachings one of the more sophisticated of the Gospels, yet intricately subtle. Perhaps its subtlety led me earlier to misunderstand and underrate its richness. In this paper, I have tried to suggest some of the many attributes of this Gospel. First, there is a brief summary of Mark for those who are not familiar with this Gospel. In the body of the paper I have discussed many of the literary techniques used by the authorial persona, their role in depicting Jesus’ significance, and a composite of the narrative Jesus' identity as portrayed by these techniques. In addition, I have discussed the narrative responses to Jesus and how they reinforce the reader's acceptance of Jesus as depicted by the Gospel and analyzed the reading audience implied by the textual characteristics of Mark. With all of these things in mind, I have tried to suggest not only the significance that the authorial persona attached to Jesus and his teachings, but also that which might be considered by the audience of today.

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Program year: 1975/1976
Digitized from print original stored in HDR

Keywords

Gospel of Mark, authorial persona, Jesus of Nazareth, literary technique, authorial intent

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