Proclaiming the Gospel: First-Century Performance of Mark

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Scholars have long understood that the texts we now know as the Gospels were read aloud in the Greco-Roman world, but few have actually envisioned what a performance of the Gospel of Mark would have been like in the first century and how it would have shaped the experience of its audience. Proclaiming the Gospel shows us. Oral performances in the New Testament world were lively affairs. In the performance of Greco-Roman theater, readers lose their voices from the stress of emotional passages. Audiences cheer for philosophers as if at a rock concert, and in law courts, they are paid for their responses. Storytellers compete for attention with jugglers, and some speakers must fend off hostile crowds. Congregations at churches and synagogues cheer as if at the theater. Shiner reveals the ways that Mark wrote his Gospel to compete in this arena and how his audiences would have responded: applause for the miracles of Jesus, then an altogether different response at the cross. Whitney Shiner is Assistant Professor of Christian Origins at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, and the author of Follow Me: Disciples in markan Rhetoric.

Reviews

"Shiner's book serves as an eminently readable and informative introduction into ancient rhetorical culture, and it offers a genuinely original theory on Mark from the perspective of performance criticism." -The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 67, 2005
"Students often ask how the Gospels were first presented. This fine book goes a long way to giving the answer. He [Shiner] amasses pertinent information about how literary text were composed and the variety of ways and settings in which they were presented to audiences mainly in oral form. New Testament scholars and student alike will find this a very interesting and helpful resource." -The Bible Today, May / June 2004 * Bible Today, The *
"Proclaiming the Gospel represents a breakthrough in the emerging discipline of Performance Criticism. By drawing on evidence from a wide variety of ancient sources and correlating it with clues from the Gospel, Whitney Shiner constructs a plausible scenario for performances of Mark in antiquity. In so doing, he enlivens the sights and sounds of the Gospel and sheds considerable light on its meaning and power. Accessible to the general reader, this book should be of special interest to scholars, students, and preachers."--David Rhoads, Lutheran School of Theilogy at Chicago -- David Rhoads * Blurb from reviewer *
"Having been part of the intrigued audience at professional presentations of Whitney Shiner on the oral presentation of the Gospel of Mark in the first century, I am delighted that a written version of his oral work on orality is now available to me, my students, and my colleaguesin biblical studies and in the humanities more broadly. Shiner's book combines a thorough presentation of rhetorical conventions in the ancient world including not only citations of the ancient authors but also rich and well chosen quotations from their workswith a carefully researched and experienced understanding of the Gospel of Mark as presented orally. It is a powerful combination. Whether your interest is historical or literary, sociological or theological, you will find Proclaiming the Gospel: First-Century Performance of Mark informativeperhaps confirming a view you reached from another perspective, perhaps challenging a view held in ignorance of first-century rhetorical contexts. But you will not find this book boring or superfluous, and you will not find Mark's Gospel quite the same after your reading."--Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Professor of Religious Studies, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University -- Elizabeth Struthers Malbon * Blurb from reviewer *
"Shiner's book combines a thorough presentation of rhetorical conventions in the ancient worldincluding not only citations of the ancient authors but also rich and well chosen quotations from their workswith a carefully researched and experienced understanding of the Gospel of Mark as presented orally. It is a powerful combination. Whether your interest is historical or literary, sociological or theological, you will find Proclaiming the Gospel: First-Century Performance of Mark informativeperhaps confirming a view you reached from another perspective, perhaps challenging a view held in ignorance of first-century rhetorical contexts. But you will not find this book boring or superfluous, and you will not find Mark's Gospel quite the same after your reading."--Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Professor of Religious Studies, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University -- Elizabeth Struthers Malbon * Blurb from reviewer *
"Shiner's book combines a thorough presentation of rhetorical conventions in the ancient world with a carefully researched and experienced understanding of the Gospel of Mark as presented orally. It is a powerful combination. Whether your interest is historical or literary, sociological or theological, you will find Proclaiming the Gospel: First-Century Performance of Mark informativeperhaps confirming a view you reached from another perspective, perhaps challenging a view held in ignorance of first-century rhetorical contexts. But you will not find this book boring or superfluous, and you will not find Mark's Gospel quite the same after your reading."--Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Professor of Religious Studies, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University -- Elizabeth Struthers Malbon * Blurb from reviewer *
"In his study, Shiner demonstrates an impressive mastery of the theory and practice of ancient rhetoric, and he uses this mastery to illustrate how scenes in Mark's story could well have been performed...Shiner's book becomes something more than just another bit of well-written scholarship. He treats the text of Mark as sheet music that needs to be played to be properly comprehended. Because he takes seriously the notion that the Gospel of Mark grew out of and preserves oral performance tradition, Shiner includes discoveries about Mark that grow out of his own performing of scenes from the story. This book will be useful to any biblical interpreter, especially pastors and teachers. In addition, it would be a good resource to use in an undergraduate or seminary classroom. This is a very good book." -Interpretation, October 2005 * Interpretation *
'...this is a very readable, thought-provoking book.' -- Neil G. Richardson * Methodist Recorder *
"Shiner's many insights, drawn from his own performance of the gospel, will be most helpful to teachers and pastors who wish to perform Mark themselves." -Religious Studies Review, April, July 2004 * Religious Studies Review *
"...this volume is a "must read" for scholars concerned with liturgy today". - Stone-Campbell Journal, Spring 2005 * Stone-Campbell Journal *
"For those who wished they knew more about Graeco-Roman rhetoric or wanted to see how rhetoric works in a Biblical setting, this book provides an ideal entry-point. In Proclaiming The Gospel Whitney Shiner has done us a great service both by opening up the ancient world of the rhetorician and demonstrating rhetoric at work in the narrative world of the NT within Mark's Gospel. Yet, Shiner has done all this for us in a very accessible manner - in a lucid, lively style - which carries the reader along effortlessly. From the beginning it is clear that Shiner has a firm grasp of his subject, yet he wears his scholarship lightly and never overloads us with information, though the chapter endnotes provide ample opportunities for more in-depth exploration...In this book Shiner restores that creative power to us. He enables us to encounter the NT as a script calling to be understood as something living, written dynamically for performing. It opens up exciting new possibilities and insights into how we read and understand the New Testament." - Themelios, October 2005 * Themelios *

Author Bio

Whitney Shiner is Assistant Professor of Christian Origins at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.