Of Conflict and Concealment

The Gospel of Mark as Tragedy

Adam Z. Wright

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781725257245
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Studi biblici

Scholars have long debated the genre of the Gospels and many opinions have been put forward, such as biography, history, epic, or comedy. However, do the Gospels actually reflect these ancient genres? This book addresses this question and arrives at the conclusion that the Gospel of Mark was written as an ancient form of tragedy. Why would this matter to ancient or modern readers? Tragedy addresses the fundamental question of humanity's suffering and offers a philosophical perspective that orients the reader towards personal and societal growth. The Gospel of Mark fits within the tradition of tragic writings and speaks to the same challenges that all humanity faces: life is full of trouble and suffering, so how are we supposed to think about these things? The answer is to be found in Jesus, who is both divine and human, and who suffers as a result of engaging in conflict with the religious and political traditions of his time.

1

How Tragic has Jesus Been?

A Summary of Scholarly Opinion

Introduction

There are a number of studies that have compared Mark with ancient tragedy and each of these studies provides an insightful description of Mark’s plot.14 This was an important achievement in the study of Mark because it showcases that Mark’s Gospel is not simply a collection of stories about Jesus arbitrarily fitted together. Instead, Mark’s plot is discernible and each of the authors in this section argue that the plot has most in common with ancient forms of tragedy. I mention these studies here because they provide the state of play with regard to how and why many scholars view Mark as belonging to the genre of ancient tragedy.

In what follows, I provide a detailed analysis of each study. If it is accepted that a structured plot is present in Mark’s Gospel, criteria must be established by which we can make accurate comparisons with Greek tragedy. This is why most studies that have compared Mark’s Gospel with Greek tragedy appeal directly to Aristotle’s Poetics, which provides the most comprehensive description of fifth-century Attic tragedy. At this point, scholars are able to compare and contrast Mark and tragedy by way of the Poetics, and draw conclusions based on their observations.

Another important feature found within these studies is the comparison of Jesus and the tragic hero. Much like an analysis of plot, a comparison of tragic protagonists requires criteria by which we can compare Jesus with other tragic heroes. This is more difficult than an analysis of plot, however, because the poets do not say much with regard to the character of their tragic heroes, and we are left to discern their character only from within the context of plot. Yet, Aristotle’s Poetics continues to play a large part in this aspect of comparing Mark with tragedy.

The Gospel of Mark and Greek Tragedy

The first study that I will consider is Ernest Burch’s 1931 essay entitled “Tragic Action in the Second Gospel: A Study in the Narrative of Mark.” In it, he concludes that “the Man of Nazareth is to be classed among the outstanding tragic figures of the race, an accompanying conclusion being that the Second Gospel comes under the classification of Greek tragedy.”15

He begins by centering his study around the plot of Mark’s Gospel as well as Jesus’ correspondence to the ideal tragic hero, and he does so by appealing to Aristotle’s Poetics. One of the problems that Burch addresses is why Mark’s Gospel appears to have a different form from that used in Greek tragedy. For example, Burch notes that the Gospel “is not divided into acts and scenes, consists only in part of dialogue, has no stage directions, and lacks the ‘embellishment of song,’ unless, with some, a kind of Hebrew parallelism be discovered in certain verses.”16 Burch avoids this problem by calling Mark’s Gospel a “closet drama”—that is, “a drama whose power is felt by the reader without stage presentation.”17

Burch divides the contents of Mark’s plot into two halves. The first half (1:1—8:30) consists of the Galilean ministry and it presents the action of the tragedy of Jesus. The hero’s fortune, however, changes with his words in 8:31, where Jesus announces to his disciples that he must be rejected and killed. This announcement contrasts sharply with the messianic expectation that Burch ascribes to the disciples and Peter’s recognition provides the opportunity for Jesus to expound on the meaning of his messianism.

The second half (8:31—16:8) is quite different from the first. Burch describes this section as containing “murky and shadowy premonitions, skulking figures, treachery within the band, double-edged questions from inquiring scribes and at last definite conspiracy on the part of the hierarchy.”18 This leads to what Burch calls the tragic incident, which includes the trial, condemnation, and crucifixion.19 Both halves of the Gospel contain a number of bystanders which Burch likens to a chorus. These can include the crowds who comment upon the action, or even the disciples who offer “Chorus-like” comments.20 The chorus in Mark’s Gospel thus serves to add prominence to a particular scene. For example, the disciples verbally ponder the character of Jesus after he calms the storm by saying, “Who, then, is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?” (4:41). This question heightens the dramatic effect of the scene similarly to how the chorus in Greek tragedy operates.21 Burch then highlights several other examples (1:27; 2:12b; 7:...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: How Tragic has Jesus Been?
• Chapter 2: The Prevalence of Tragedy
• Chapter 3: The Elements of Tragedy
• Chapter 4: Hiddenness and Recognition
• Chapter 5: Miracles and Tragedy
• Chapter 6: The Tragic Son of Man
• Chapter 7: Final Conclusions Concerning Mark’s Genre
• Bibliography