Gospel Formation and the Catalytic Corrective

A Review of Mack, Burton L. A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988

Authors

  • Suzanne Picard University of Alberta

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/axismundi63

Keywords:

Christian Origins, New Testament, Burton Mack, Myth of Innocence

Abstract

Burton Mack’s Myth of Innocence delves into the nebulous territory of earliest Christianities with a reformer’s zeal and an academic’s rigour. Confronting a paucity of primary documentation and a scholarly obsession over the historical Jesus, Mack attempts to change the popular and academic vision of Christian origins with what he describes as “a single shift in perspective”: looking at the Gospel of Mark not to study the indelible uniqueness of the Christ Event, but to uncover the social histories of the document and its existence as a social charter.1 Thus, Mack turns to social-historical methodology (and nuanced literary criticism) in order to elucidate the social traditions and interests underpinning the Gospel of Mark,2 and to illustrate how the gospel’s careful craftsmanship informs scholarly and Church traditions of Christianity’s novel origins. Mack argues that Mark’s gospel was a charter document for his community, functioning as an authorizing defence amidst c.70 CE social upheaval, persecution, and perceptions of failure.

Author Biography

Suzanne Picard, University of Alberta

4th year Combined Honours History and English

Downloads

Published

2017-10-05

How to Cite

Picard, S. (2017). Gospel Formation and the Catalytic Corrective: A Review of Mack, Burton L. A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988. Axis Mundi, 2(2), 29–43. https://doi.org/10.29173/axismundi63