Lexington Books / Fortress Academic
Pages: 194
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9
978-1-9787-0264-6 • Hardback • November 2018 • $117.00 • (£90.00)
978-1-9787-0265-3 • eBook • November 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)
Hugh M. Humphrey taught New Testament for fifty years at Fairfield University.
Preface
Introduction: A New Paradigm for Reading Mark’s Gospel?
Chapter 1 The Stages of Composition Evident in Mark’s Text
Chapter 2 The Chreia in Mark
Chapter 3 Mark’s Use of the Wisdom of Solomon
Chapter 4 Mark’s Use of the Elijah/Elisha Material
Chapter 5 Mark’s Use of Homeric Epics?
Chapter 6 Reviewing Other Materials Used by Mark
Chapter 7 Assembling a Summary of Mark’s Creative Work
Chapter 8 The Secret of the Kingdom of God
Epilogue: Appreciating Mark
Appendix
Index
About the Author
Hugh Humphrey, veteran biblical scholar and retired professor of religious studies at Fairfield University, offers a thorough analysis of the composition of Mark’s gospel and what he considers its central theological focus—the mystery of the Kingdom of God. Humphrey sees Mark’s gospel as a complex weave of various traditions about Jesus: Old Testament and Jewish sources and even the possible influence of Homer’s Ulysses and other Greco-Roman traditions. These literary pieces are orchestrated by Mark to form a narrative that focuses on the question of authentic Christian discipleship, centered on the example of Jesus himself. The mystery of the Kingdom is ultimately the response that disciples are called to give to Jesus’ example and message.
— The Bible Today
Humphrey contributes to our understanding of the thought world of Mark in his pre-sentation of the evidence of several literary sources incorporated in the Gospel. H.’s shift of attention from Jesus’s identity to the kingdom as a way of discipleship provokes thoughts well worth consideration.
— Catholic Biblical Quarterly
For too long Synoptic Gospels scholarship has regarded Mark as less artful, sophisticated, and narratively effective than its canonical successors Matthew and Luke. In The Secret of the Kingdom of God, Hugh Humphrey makes a compelling case that this assumption ought not stand any longer. He suggests that, more than simply a source for subsequent writers, the Gospel of Mark is an astutely structured literary work that creatively re-employs a variety of traditions, both Jewish and Greco-Roman, in order to disclose the secret of the Kingdom of God. This book productively contributes to a new understanding of the Gospel of Mark as a text that is both literarily and rhetorically effective.— Nicholas A. Elder, Marquette University
Humphrey invites us to look at the literary creativity of Mark in an entirely new way. In what reads at times like a mystery novel, Humphrey sets about to answer the question: What was the secret of the Kingdom of God that Jesus told the disciples in 4:11 had been “given” to them? This thought-provoking book argues that Mark was a well educated first century author who composed his gospel using literary models well known to him and to his audience. Humphrey makes a compelling argument that Mark’s text should be examined against the literary heritage of the first century. Well-researched, Humphrey skillfully reveals how references to the chreia, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Elijah/Elisha cycle of stories, the Homeric epics, and Plato’s Timaeus, are reflected in Mark’s Gospel. He explains that the text of the Gospel of Mark went through several stages of composition and that the employment of these other literary sources is found at all stages of the composition. Not only concerned with where Mark obtained the materials which he used in compiling the major sections of his gospel, Humphrey gives insightful answers as to why the evangelist first composed each of those clearly distinct sections. In composing his story of Jesus, Mark arranged this material into a concentric structure, a point Humphrey has made in his earlier books. Mark’s use of a concentric structure and his employment of first century sources leads to the conclusion that “the secret of the Kingdom of God” centers on authentic discipleship. Mark has merged originally separate sections with passages about discipleship and arranged the whole into a concentric structure. That structure brings the material in Mark 8:27–10:45 into a central position. At the conclusion of this section in which the “secret” of the Kingdom of God” is disclosed, Jesus declares that the entire purpose of the Son of Man was “to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (10:45). This leads to the conclusion that the disciples should deny themselves completely (8:34) and should “love the Lord your God with all your heart...and your neighbor like yourself” (12:29, 31). Extremely helpful is the Appendix which contains the final text of the Gospel of Mark with Markan editing italicized and materials that Mark has drawn from other sources clearly identified.Humphrey makes a compelling case in this well-conceived, well-researched, and well-written book.— Dennis Sweetland, Professor Emeritus of Theology, Saint Anselm College
Building on recent studies that suggest Mark's use of the Elijah-Elisha narrative, the Homeric epics, and even traditions from Plato, Humphrey not only draws all of these possible sources together, but offers compelling arguments for additional possible source material. Using evidence of both ancient compositional practices and those of the Markan evangelist himself, Humphrey deftly pulls all of these strands of source material together. What emerges is a unique and insightful study not only on the possible source material for the Gospel of Mark, but also on the significance of such source material for understanding the message of the Gospel itself. No doubt serious students of Mark's Gospel want to engage Humphrey's findings.— Adam Winn, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Mark’s Gospel has confounded exegetes for years. While early on, scholars thought it to be primitive and inchoate, current research shows how complex and even sophisticated Mark is. In The Secret of the Kingdom of God, Hugh Humphrey demonstrates with great clarity and mastery how Mark the Evangelist, in constructing his gospel, has taken the prophetic and sapiential literature of the Jewish Tradition and has used it to reinterpret Homeric literature for the sake of sharing the Messianic secret in the proclamation of the Good News. — Michael Patella, OSB, Professor of New Testament, Saint John’s University School of Theology and Seminary, Collegeville, Minnesota