In his Preface to Mark: Notes on the Gospel in Its Literary and Cultural Settings (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), Christopher Bryan presents a refreshing and virtually unexplored approach to understanding the Gospel of Mark. Bryan's Preface is precisely what it claims to be--necessary prefatory comments with which a contemporary reader of the Gospel of Mark should be acquainted in order to fully comprehend the nature of the document.
It is neither commentary nor literary or historical criticism in the ordinary sense, yet it critically challenges long-held (mis)conceptions which have blindly overlooked the literary and cultural milieus that were the essence of Mediterranean, particularly Palestinian, life in the first century of the Common Era. Specifically, Bryan's intent is to prove his hypothesis that, contrary to the long- and widely-held perspective, the Gospel of Mark is not a unique genre (sui generis) of literature--"creating a totally new genre is akin to the notion of a writer choosing to write in an unknown language" (p. 12)--but a perfect example of a form of Hellenistic (or, Greek) writing known as a "life." By comparing and contrasting the text as we have it today in its extant Greek manuscripts and English translations with other Hellenist works of the period (plus or minus several decades), Bryan demonstrates quite convincingly that the Gospel was written in a form that would have been easily understood, and at once recognized, by hearers of the Word as it was being read to them.
The thesis is directed to the serious student of the New Testament--pastors, theologians, Bible scholars--and those of the "laity" whose interest in the Scriptures challenges them to a deeper understanding of them. It may have broad implications for the interpretation of the other Gospels as well. If Mark is the earliest of the four canonical Gospels, as is commonly accepted, and serves substantially as ...