Mark (review)

Thomas C. Oden and Christopher A. Hall, editors. Mark. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament II Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998 Pp. xxxv + 281. $39.99.

This is the third volume to be published in a projected 27-volume project, which seeks to "convey the consensual tradition of early Christian exegesis" (xxxi) for the whole of Christian scripture, including the apocryphal/deuterocanonical writings.

Writing a patristic commentary on the Gospel of Mark presents a considerable challenge, since the earliest running commentary on Mark appeared in the eleventh century (Theophylact). Undaunted by this circumstance, the project team laid out a strategy for collecting useful patristic comments. Their methodology is summarized in an appendix to the volume, which should be read first. They used Boolean search techniques to probe computer databases of Greek and Latin patristic works, looking for words and phrases that correlate with the word sequences found only in Mark, and not in the other Gospels. Then they collected all references to Mark in English editions of patristic writings and culled these for useful comments. Next they translated texts where necessary and "dearchaized" (258) older translations. Finally, they added headings, explanatory notes, and verse references. From this effort emerges a catena-type assemblage of quotations drawn from the writings of sixty-five different fathers and anonymous works, embracing the whole range of patristic literature from homilies to hymns. But is it a commentary on Mark?

Well, yes and no. Since only 132 words in Mark have no parallel in Matthew and Luke, and since the fathers frequently conflated the texts of the Gospels, what we often find in Oden are comments on the common synoptic material, with nothing identifiable as specifically Markan. For example, at Mark 1.10 we find the heading "Like a Dove," with the following quotation from Origen: "A dove--a tame, innocent and simple bird. Hence we are taught to copy the innocence of doves." The source is Homilies on Luke, Homily 27. This pro-cedure can be illustrated on page after page. Curiously, in a quotation from Jerome at Mark 1.30, we find a footnote reference to Mark 1.15 at a point where Jerome quotes "The kingdom of God is in your midst," a phrase found only in Luke 17.21. Similarly, at 5.36 the paraphrase of Aphraates, "only firmly believe and your daughter shall live," seems to depend more on Luke 8.50 than Mark, even though the footnote reference is to Mark alone.

Probably a better test is to check the commentary against Mark at places where he has unique phrases or material content that differs from that in the other gospels. In a check of the twenty-one pericopes where Mark's account is longer than its parallels, I found in twelve of these at least one patristic comment specific to the Markan account. Oden has also identified patristic comments at a number of places where Mark's account, although not longer, has distinctive words or phrases. An example is at 3.23, where Augustine comments on the phrase, "Satan cannot drive out Satan" (although with a comment entirely extraneous to the Markan context). On the whole, this specifically Markan material is disappointingly slim. The same is true with regard to the "longer ending" (16.9-20).

Not surprisingly, Augustine has the largest number of references, followed by Bede, Chrysostom, Origen, Tertullian, and Jerome. As to the value of the comments themselves to edify people gathered "within a service of common worship as an exposition of a Scripture text" (258), the reader will have to judge. It often requires quite a stretch to see a particular comment as "an exposition of a Scripture text," particularly the text printed as the lemma. In all, this is a collection of sometimes edifying material, more or less related to the Gospel of Mark.

Robert F. Hull, Jr.
Emmanuel School of Religion

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