Listening to Mark's Gospel

Unlike my Century colleagues, I am not an avid book reader; I have no new history, novel or memoir to commend for our summer reading list. My spare-time reading consists mostly of seeking research gems or insights in critical biblical journals. Yes, sounds like work.

But this exercise brings great pleasure. The growing ranks of professional biblical scholars make this a dynamic field. My special interest is the Gospel of Mark. Within a single generation of scholarship, Mark has been upgraded from a cut-and-paste, less-than-elegant Gospel to a marvelously crafted narrative filled with irony, intrigue and inspiration.

Many researchers are now examining how the mostly illiterate audiences in the Greco-Roman world were likely to have heard the Gospels recited--or rather performed, with theatrical flourish. In the Journal of Biblical Literature's summer issue, Kelly Iverson draws on oral/aural studies to interpret Mark 15:39, the centurion's confession that "truly this man was God's Son!" (subscription required).