Down the rabbit hole we go…
In a recent comment thread at New Leaven, Bryan L presented the idea that there is a theme of a new exodus within Isaiah that some authors believe Mark adapted and structured his gospel narrative of Jesus around. Bryan cited works by Rikk Watts, Joel Marcus and David Pao.
I noted that some people think Mark’s gospel is the result of his time with Paul, e.g. a written account of the gospel message that Paul preached to the Jews and gentiles beyond Israel, and wondered if Paul might have been using this “exodus theme” as a framework for his evangelism. Bryan was unsure, but mentioned J. Ross Wagner’s book called Heralds of the Good News: Isaiah and Paul in Concert in the Letter to the Romans.
Amazon reviews mentioned that Wagner’s work was built on the work of Richard Hays, of which there were a couple of cross-promotional links - most significantly to Hays’ seminal work, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul. In the reviews, I found this gleaming nugget of a quote:
The meaning of Scripture is enacted in the Christian community, and only those who participate in the enactment can understand the text.
That’s another take on the faith and works issue, whereby works illuminate our understanding of our faith, which then bears new works. That, to me, is the process of working out our salvation and maturing as Christians - which, per Hays, only happens in the corporate community, not behind a book or individual experience.
9 Comments
I’d tend to agree with you there, E.S., about the process of working out our salvation.I don’t think it’s possible to work out your salvation - not truly - in isolation. it requires the input, questioning, and challenging of a community. Books won’t do it, because they don’t stick it to you if you ignore parts of them.But I’m not sure that’s exactly what this quote referred to. I felt it was more an allusion to the fact that through baptism and our affirming Christ as Lord of the world, we are participating in the enactment of the message of Christ. Scripture is foreign to someone who does not know the Gospel, because Gospel is a message of faith, rather than one of science or rhetoric.In this way, only those hwo participate in the enactment can understand the text.
El, I’ve always heard that Mark is an extension of Peter’s sermon in Acts 10:34-43, and since Mark was in the company of Peter (1 Peter 5:13), this view sort of commends itself.I never really quite understood “working out community exegesis,” except in the sense of the ancient ecumenical creeds, but not of a particular denomination.
@Damian — Thanks for the response! I would be interested in seeing the context of this quote - I’ve added it to my “shopping list”, but at my current reading pace, it’ll be a while before I have time to look at this. I agree with your conclusion that the Church is the acting out of the gospel of Christ - that’s all I really meant at the end. Rather than understanding the text from an intellectual viewpoint, we can only really understand the gospel by living it out with works of love. I’ve also been on an anti-individualism kick lately, trying to relearn the Bible from a corporate/community perspective. That’s really hard to do…
@TC — So Mark is described as a “son” of Peter (1 Peter 5:13), the cousin of Barnabas (Col 4:10), and “useful” to Paul’s ministry (2 Tim 4:11). He certainly got around from his initial appearance running buck naked from Jesus’ captors…
I mentioned the new exodus motif with regard to John’s gospel rather than Mark’s: http://lingamish.com/2007/04/30/iconography-of-the-gospels-3/ Also, Mark is traditionally thought to have been working from material collected from Peter (sermons). Rabbit hole indeed, but a fun trip. When you say, “Working out community exegesis” what are you referring to exactly?
@TC — So Mark is described as a “son” of Peter (1 Peter 5:13), the cousin of Barnabas (Col 4:10), and “useful” to Paul’s ministry (2 Tim 4:11). He certainly got around from his initial appearance running buck naked from Jesus’ captors…
And a good laugh while drinking some coffee.
David asked: When you say, “Working out community exegesis” what are you referring to exactly?
Probably too much mental word play for a Sunday morning…
I working backward through Hays’ quote — “exegesis” as “understanding the text”, which I read as only happening in the Christian community. I overlayed that by interpreting “enacted” and “participate in” the community with the “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” passage in Philippians 2:12-13.
That is, work out your salvation within the Christian community so that you can properly understand (exegete) the message of scripture [and God's will and good purposes] for your life.
Ah… gotcha.
I shared a short blog post once on the theology of the second exodus - did you see it? http://sunestauromai.wordpress.com/?s=Second+Exodus. Let me know what you think. It might be slightly different than some others but essentially the same.
Thanks for the link, Brian - it’s interesting how many different flavors of “second Exodus” there seem to be. The thoughts in your post, and especially your comments, nicely tie together the various gospel images of Christ, e.g. bread, shepherd, etc., into this meta narrative, albeit a spiritual one.