The Disciples according to Mark: Markan Redaction in Current Debate, Second Edition

by C. Clifton Black

Overview

Redaction criticism attempts to identify biblical authors' theological interests by examining their adaptation of sources. Focusing on representative studies of Jesus' disciples in the Gospel of Mark, this pioneering book by C. Clifton Black has become the standard evaluation of that method's exegetical reliability.

Comprehensively reviewing recent scholarship, Black identifies three distinctive types of redaction criticism in Markan interpretation. He demonstrates that diverse redaction-critical interpretations of the disciples in Mark have bolstered rather than controlled scholarly presuppositions to a degree that impugns the method's reliability for interpreting Mark. The book concludes by assessing redaction criticism's usefulness and offering a more balanced approach to Mark's interpretation.

This second edition includes a substantial, detailed afterword that revisits the book's primary issues, converses with its critics, and provides an update of Markan scholarship over the past twenty-five years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467436458
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	12/13/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	421
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

C. Clifton Black is Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. His other books include Anatomy of the New Testament and Communicating Good News.
C. Clifton Black is the Otto A. Piper Professor Emeritus of Biblical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary (1999–2024). He is an ordained elder in the Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church and past president of the American Theological Society (2022–2023). He has written, edited, or collaborated on twenty books and has published more than two hundred essays, articles, and reviews.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures xi

Preface to the Second Edition xii

Preface to the First Edition xiii

Abbreviations xv

Introduction: Problem and Procedure 1

1 Redaction Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: A Selective Review of Its Disciplinary Bases, Precursors, and Methodological Explication 7

A The Disciplinary Underpinnings of Markan Redaction Criticism 8

B The Movement Toward Redaktionsgeschichte 12

C The Pursuit of a Method for Markan Redaction Criticism 18

2 Mark's Presentation of the Disciples and Discipleship: A Selective Review of Redaction-Critical Research 34

A The Disciples in the Four Gospels: A Review of the Textual Evidence 36

B The Disciples in the Second Gospel: A Review of Recent Redaction-Critical Alternatives 45

C A Proposed Procedure for Evaluating Alternative Redaction-Critical Interpretations of the Disciples in Mark 64

3 Type I: The 'Conservative' Position of Robert P. Meye 68

A General Perspective 69

B Method 75

C Exegetical Results 99

4 Type II: The 'Mediate' Position of Ernest Best 107

A General Perspective 108

B Method 111

C Exegetical Results 133

5 Type III: The 'Liberal' Position of Theodore J. Weeden, Sr 141

A General Perspective 142

B Method

C Exegetical Results 172

6 The Three Types Collated: A Comparison and Contrast of the Perspective, Method, and Results of Meye, Best, and Weeden 178

A General Perspective 179

B Exegetical Results 183

C Method 187

7 The Rehabilitation of the Redaction-Critical Method? 204

A The Pursuit of a Refined Method for Markan Redaction Criticism 206

James Crichton Little 206

Lloyd Gaston 212

Charles Joseph Reedy 218

William Oliver Walker, Jr 225

Edgar John Pryke 233

David Barrett Peabody 241

B The Refinement of Markan Redaktionsgeschichte: The Pursuit Assessed 249

8 Method in Markan Study: Appraisal and Proposal 254

A Redaktionsgeschichte: Its Conceptualization Revisited 255

B Redaction Criticism in the Context of Twentieth-Century Theology and Scholarship 260

C The Contributions and Liabilities of Redaction Criticism 267

Assets 267

Liabilities 273

D A Model for Synthetic Markan Interpretation 276

Conclusion: Deductions and Directions 288

Afterword: Mark's Disciples and Markan Redaction After Twenty-Five Years 297

A Huntsman, What Query? 298

B The Best Was Yet to Come 302

C Marking Time 316

The Continued Quest for Mark's Sources and Traditions 316

The Disciples in Mark: A Survey More Up-to-Date 319

D Mr. Popper's Falsifiable Penguins 333

Selected Bibliography 341

Index of Modern Authors 379

Index of Subjects 387

Index of Biblical and Other References 396

Editorial Reviews

Robert Morgan
— Theological Book Review
"A brilliant and necessary critique. . . . It shows the potential of studying the history of research in order to challenge and redraw the contours of biblical criticism."

Adela Yarbro Collins
— Critical Review of Books in Religion
"Black's trenchant critique of one aspect of recent scholarship on the New Testament is sobering, but it should stimulate discussion on what it is that we aim to accomplish."

Joel B. Green
— Catholic Biblical Quarterly
"As a whole, this study is a tribute to its author's remarkable capacity to engage in sustained, penetrating critique. . . . [Black's] dissection is accomplished with a measured evenhandedness."

Review of Biblical Literature
"A significant challenge to the application of redaction criticism to Mark."

Biblical Theology Bulletin
"Clifton Black's revised dissertation became an ‘instant classic' when it was first published back in 1989. An insightful and at times devastating critique of redaction criticism, the book thoroughly weighs the merits and deficiencies of the redaction critical method and its representative proponents. Black also offers a definitive analysis of redaction-critical scholarship's use of the disciples in separating tradition from redaction. . . . This book has stood the test of time and we should be grateful to Eerdmans for reprinting the book with Black's more recent, insightful reflections."

From the Publisher