{"id":2246,"date":"2018-03-03T22:54:17","date_gmt":"2018-03-03T22:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/?p=2246"},"modified":"2018-03-03T22:54:17","modified_gmt":"2018-03-03T22:54:17","slug":"the-gospel-of-mark-as-a-greek-tragedy-by-tim-claason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/?p=2246","title":{"rendered":"The Gospel of Mark As A Greek Tragedy (by Tim Claason)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"jesus-preaching-e1510869425231\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It has been observed since the mid-20th century that the earliest Synoptic Gospel, Mark, follows the framework of Greco-Roman tragedy. \u00a0The first attention I can find paid to this topic was in 1977, in Bilezikian\u2019s\u00a0The Liberated Gospel\u00a0<\/a>and some 24 years earlier in the same author\u2019s doctoral dissertation.<\/p>\n

The pattern is quite clear: sparse dialog, frequent scene changes, narration, passion. \u00a0I recommend\u00a0Ken Humphreys\u2019 Youtube video<\/a>\u00a0on this topic as an introduction.<\/p>\n

Picture this:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0you are a late 1st or early 2nd century mystery cult member. \u00a0The mystery to which you belong, the Christian mystery, is more compatible with your worldview than other mysteries; those other mysteries (and their Demigods) lack the personal touch your mystery touts. \u00a0You regularly meet with other members of your local mystery community, and you are aware of, \u00a0by name or reputation, prominent members of surrounding communities.<\/p>\n

Many Christians are slaves\u2026maybe you are too. \u00a0The drudgery of life is interrupted by your daily morning routine of worshiping toward the sun. \u00a0Amplifying your woes, if you\u2019re caught,\u00a0you\u2019ll either be whipped, imprisoned or killed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then the news comes! \u00a0The most famous proprietor of this mystery \u2014 the man who saunters around the Eastern Roman empire sharing the Good News, with sheer disregard for his own tremendous risk \u2014 is coming to your town, in Bythnia\u00a0in Roman Asia<\/a>, the geographic space known today as central Turkey.<\/p>\n

This regional celebrity has developed his system well: \u00a0he goes from town-to-town, with props, wardrobe changes, and a crew of about a half dozen others. \u00a0In this sense, the celebrity is borrowing a well-developed trope within the mystery schools. \u00a0Dramatic depictions were common in the mysteries.<\/p>\n

His most notable compatriot is an unexpectedly high-ranking woman in the mystery who simultaneously identifies as the archetypal mother and wife. \u00a0She goes by multiple names, including Helen and Mary.<\/p>\n

The charismatic leader makes curious claims, such as remembering previous lives and experiences in higher realms (Against Heresies i.25.1, i.25.4,\u00a0<\/a>Galatians 4:19<\/a>). \u00a0He claims to have been born under odd circumstances, a miscarriage \u00a0(1 Corinthians 15:7-8<\/a>). \u00a0He also claims to possess a special spirit (1 Corinthians 2:12<\/a>) which gives him amplified power of proselytization. \u00a0He usually brings a several-hundred word letter addressed to members of the community. \u00a0At some point during his stay, with his band of co-conspirators (and some local community involvement), he enacts a dramatic depiction which culminates in the crucifixion of one of the featured players \u2013 not him, though.<\/p>\n

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There is a feature in the play that did not translate to canonical paper. \u00a0To the audience members, the point could not be clearer.<\/p>\n

A little past the midpoint of the play (Mark 9:35-40<\/a>), one of Jesus\u2019s apostles comes to him and complains that an unnamed person was casting out demons! \u00a0New proselytes watching the play wonder \u201chow could that be?\u201d\u00a0 Some minutes earlier, the play\u2019s narration made it clear that it was only through Jesus Christ\u2019s authority that his apostles could cast out demons (Mark 3:14-15<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Despite the snitching apostle not giving specifics about him, senior members in the audience immediately recognize this unrevealed, unnamed demon-caster. \u00a0The new initiates soon will too.<\/p>\n

The characters in (and absent from) the scene, coupled with the audience\u2019s intuition, eventually makes it clear who this unnamed ally is. \u00a0For added effect, Jesus assures his worried apostle that this anomalous wizard is on the straight-and-narrow (Mark 9:40<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Gospel text eventually gives the name and face of the Jesus-sanctioned magician, but the epiphany rendered to the audience is lost when translated to text, which lacks relevant stage directions.<\/p>\n

The real star of the show, Simon (who went by at least one other name), had arrived in town with pomp and circumstance. \u00a0He is bombastic, educated in Alexandrian traditions. \u00a0He is a populist, but he operates with Aristocratic certainty \u2013 well funded, but pretends he is not.<\/p>\n

Simon plays several non-speaking roles, including that of a leper (Mark 14:3<\/a>) in a scene which had Simon\u2019s partner, Helen, anointing Jesus with expensive perfume (Mark 14:3-4<\/a>), and Jesus rebuking his apostles for complaining about her frivolous wastefulness \u2013 an accusation Simon was often forced to address himself (Galatians 2:10<\/a>) in real life. \u00a0Jesus\u2019s rebuke was necessary, because the waste was required to confirm Jesus was the Christ \u2013 the Anointed. \u00a0This put Helen into the unique apostolic position of amplifying Jesus\u2019s Christ-hood. \u00a0It also reminded the audience that Helen should be praised by them and across all nations (Mark 14:9<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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A few scenes later, Simon shows up just in time to let the audience know who the new sheriff in town was \u2014 he was the recipient of the Christ Spirit before Jesus was crucified (Mark 15:34<\/a>). \u00a0Simon is front-and-center in the most excruciating moment of Jesus\u2019s life \u2013 arguably the most important scene in the play. \u00a0The metaphor conveyed to audience members rings clear as a bell: \u00a0Simon bears Jesus Christ\u2019s cross! (Galatians 6:14<\/a>,\u00a0Mark 15:21<\/a>) \u00a0Simon is the Paraclete: \u00a0the new Christ.<\/p>\n

Simon\u2019s cross-bearing scene means different things to different audience members. \u00a0To the new proselytes, Simon\u2019s role as the heroic cross-bearer, plucked from his otherwise unassuming role planting seeds in the field, demonstrates how Simon received the Spirit emanating from the higher heaven while aiding the dying Jesus against his Roman oppressors. \u00a0More senior initiates recognize the field as the \u201cNew Jerusalem<\/a>\u201d (2 Esdras 10<\/a>, Revelation 21:2), where marginalized Diaspora Jews could make pilgrimages in the absence of a safe and unadulterated Original Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

For those deeply initiated in the mystery, Simon\u2019s role is more robust, because they recognize the dramatic invocation of several features of the mystery:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0The reference to historical events decades earlier makes it clear that these \u201cheads of the church (ekklesia)\u201d who put on the drama were acting as their previous incarnations on earth. \u00a0How else could someone operating in the late 1st or early 2nd century be so keenly aware of events occurring in the early 1st century? \u00a0Simon\u2019s soul had migrated from one body to another so he could bring this community the Good News.<\/li>\n
  2. Alternatively, for full initiates, these events did not even occur on Earth; rather, they were in the realm above, a well-developed trope in the Jewish Diaspora, and certainly something early Christians would have been aware of. \u00a0Simon\u2019s play demonstrates his perfect memory of the events in this realm.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Simon\u2019s chief compatriot, Helen, says she is from Tyre (Mark 7:24-30<\/a>,\u00a0Against Heresies i.23<\/a>), and in one scene begs Jesus to exorcise demons from her daughter. \u00a0Jesus is reluctant, but how can he deny the desperate pleas of such a grief-stricken woman? \u00a0She is Mary Magdalene in other scenes. \u00a0Like the character she plays, her real life persona has her former profession as a prostitute. \u00a0Like Simon, Helen had lived multiple lives, including that of Helen of Troy. \u00a0She is the female incarnation of the Paraclete.<\/p>\n

    Simon was not the only traveling leader in the Christian mystery, but he was the most traveled. \u00a0There were dozens of leaders who employed Simon\u2019s format. \u00a0A tense symbiosis existed between he and other leaders (1 Corinthians 3:3-6<\/a>,\u00a0Galatians 1:8<\/a>,\u00a02 Corinthians 11:4<\/a>). \u00a0Those leaders went by various names, including Cephas, Apollos, Cerinthus, Theudas, Dositheus, Menander, and John. \u00a0John\u2019s claim to fame was reliance on water tricks and magic associated with baptism. \u00a0After John died, Theudas (AKA Theodosius, Dositheus) took up his mandate. \u00a0For a time after John\u2019s death, tensions were high between Simon and Dositheus; some even claimed Simon killed Dositheus, a claim which would help to mar Simon\u2019s name forever (Recognitions xi<\/a>).<\/p>\n

    Simon conveyed his esteem (or lack thereof) for other leaders in the community via his treatment of them in the production. \u00a0John, for instance, was treated well (Mark 1:4<\/a>). \u00a0Cephas, not so much (Mark 8:33<\/a>).<\/p>\n

    Hiding beneath the spectacle and festivities, a reality was becoming clear to Simon and his band. \u00a0Simon\u2019s time as undisputed leader of the church was nearing its end. \u00a0His abrasive bombast, coupled with a staunch resistance to recognize any of the other leaders as his peers (Galatians 2:6<\/a>), made him wildly unpopular with others in power.<\/p>\n

    This tense symbiosis, which these leaders configured, devolved into treachery (Galatians 2:11<\/a>). \u00a0Competing gospels were constructed which minimized Simon\u2019s backstory and role in \u201cthe field\u201d (Matthew 27:32<\/a>).<\/p>\n

    As Christianity gained traction within the empire, dramatic depictions and other artifacts of its mystery origins gave way to a more Orthodox routine. \u00a0Rome occasionally picked winners in the mystery game, and Christianity was about to score a big victory after other leaders crafted a slew of apologies to\u00a0cast specific Christian sects in a carefully curated light<\/a>. \u00a0Simon\u2019s Gospel was converted from a play into literature and subsequently\u00a0embellished. \u00a0The role of the unnamed demon-caster was demoted \u2013 Jesus would say he never knew him (Matthew 7:21-23<\/a>). \u00a0Additionally, the central tenet of Simon\u2019s Gospel, which is to say an alternate to Mosaic law, would likewise make Simon the least in the kingdom (Matthew 5:19<\/a>).<\/p>\n

    Simon tried and failed to recapture the power which gradually slipped out of his control (Galatians 3:1<\/a>). \u00a0He changed his name and address. \u00a0Students tried to restore their teacher\u2019s former glory. \u00a0One student paid the \u201cchurch\u201d\u00a0200,000 sesterces<\/a>\u00a0to put his teacher\u2019s theology back in the forefront of the church \u2013 for a time, the student was successful, until letters to the emperor undid his efforts. \u00a0The old tricks did not work anymore. \u00a0A new Orthodoxy was on the rise.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Source<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      It has been observed since the mid-20th century that the earliest Synoptic Gospel, Mark, follows the framework of Greco-Roman tragedy. \u00a0The first attention I can find paid to this topic was in 1977, in Bilezikian\u2019s\u00a0The Liberated Gospel\u00a0and some 24 years earlier in the same author\u2019s doctoral dissertation. The pattern is quite clear: sparse dialog, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[121,283,73],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2246"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2249,"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246\/revisions\/2249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythikismos.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}