Re-Marking the Place of Mark

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

Abstract

Burton Mack's A Myth of Innocence presents a novel approach to the study of early Christianity. Scholars have always imagined that the foundational beginnings of Christianity could be traced back to the historical man named Jesus. The rise of Christianity has been variously attributed to Jesus' charisma or personality, to some surprising activity he did or words that he spoke, or to something remarkable about his death. Although a consensus as to what the unique originary events must have looked like has never been reached, scholars continue to assume its existence is the only thing that can account for the beginnings of Christianity and its myths of divine events. As a historian, Mack finds the insistence upon a singular origin to be strange. New Testament scholarship over the past two centuries has focused on two related topics, the historical Jesus and the earliest Christology, by attempting to work backwards in time through the gospel mythologies. Mack, however, proposes that since the gospels are mythical stories, the foundations of Christianity should be located with the composition of the gospel stories.