Reid, Robert Stephen. Preaching Mark. St Louis: Chalice Press, 1999

Malina, Martin E.

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 26Issue 1 The Baptismal Journey: Adventures on theRiver of LifeArticle 175-1-2000Preaching MarkMartin E. MalinaFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationMalina, Martin E. (2000) "Preaching Mark," Consensus: Vol. 26 : Iss. 1 , Article 17.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol26/iss1/17Book Reviews 133exudes, both openly in his presuppositions and with nuance in his reconstructivehistoriography. However, if one wishes to read Crossan at his best, 1 recommendhis monumental The Birth of Christianity.Perhaps my inclinations toward Crossan dispose me to approach LukeTimothy Johnson’s lecture critically. He argues (indeed, his style is that of anapologist) for a resurrection of Martin Kahler’s defense of Pauline-style kerygmaover against the post-Enlightenment historical Jesus. As a seminary student, 1was taken by this classic in its powerful pre-Bultmannian devotion to Paul and theLutheran notion of the Gospel, but 1 find today that the two are not radicallyexclusive of each other. Although 1 think Johnson posits some appropriatechallenges, he tends to drown them in his own display of erudition and polemics.One point with which 1 agree heartily is his recommendation of Russell Shorto’spopular Gospel Truth which introduces the current quest in a creative way for ageneral reading public.The last lecture, by Werner Kelber, seeks to portray a broad perspective thatintegrates the Crossan and Johnson lectures while moving beyond them. Sincethis is my first taste of Kelber’s work 1 found it both interesting and useful.Although his broad historical survey falls short of satisfying integration, 1 amgratified as both scholar and believer by his celebration of pluralism, acommitment that he repeats and underscores with the inspiration of an artist. Hebuilds upon this pluralism by his concluding five points, points which strike me asa mandate worthy of us all.Would 1 recommend this book? Yes, easily! Would 1 recommend it in my topten books on the current Quest of the Historical Jesus? 1 guess not.Oscar Cole-ArnalWaterloo Lutheran SeminaryPreaching MarkRobert Stephen ReidSt. Louis: Chalice Press, 1999199 pages, $30.75 SoftcoverIn this recent monograph, Robert Stephen Reid evaluates the Gospel ofMarkin light of the rhetorical shape of the text. By determining the literary boundariesof a text’s “architectural symmetry’’, Reid argues that the form of Mark’sstorytelling carries the burden of argument. The rhetorical structure thatembodies the argument is the chiasm, a kind of visual “crossing” where themembers exhibit an “X” shape (see below). The chiasm is the argument strategy134 Consensusthat binds nineteen narrative collections in Mark. In each of the narrativecollections, or complexes, Reid assesses the rhetorical techniques of parallelism,step-parallelism and inversion.Reid’s visual presentation of the text’s rhetoric is convincing. For example,in the middle of the central narrative complex in Mark, Reid shapes the verse (8:34NRSV) according to a chiastic framework (A - B - B’ - A’):A If any want to become my followers,B let them deny themselvesB’ and take up their crossA’ and follow me.The reader will note thatA isjuxtaposed in parallel rhetoric to A’, as is the casewith B and B’. This ring-composition tends, interpretively, to place the centralmotif of a narrative complex at its centre (i.e. B - B’).This methodology functions like solving a mystery, in which the reader’s/listener’s primary task is to find the structural key (i.e. the rhetorical boundariesof a text) to unlock Mark’s argument both within the individual components of anarrative complex, and in the overarching design of the Gospel - called the meta-narrative.The meta-narrative is the term Reid uses to show the structural relationshipbetween the nineteen narrative complexes in Mark. Reid depicts Juxtapositionbetween each of the complexes. For example, the first narrative complex isjuxtaposed with the nineteenth, the second is juxtaposed with the eighteenth, etc.In this relationship, Reid uncovers the fictiue argument of the meta-narrative;that is, what the text does beyond that of its story. What, then, is the central motifthat emerges from Mark’s fictive argument?Reid does not reveal the central motif until his concluding chapter, thusinviting the reader to journey inductively through the nineteen rhetorical shapesand allowing the structures to tell the story. This “compositional artistry” pointsthe reader to the following conclusion: Assuming Mark’s story was composed inthe history of the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., Reid suggests that Mark’s Gospelfunctions “to disestablish the oral authority of the Jerusalem church”. Mark useshis narrative to persuade followers ofJesus to unite around a new authority otherthan the failed authority of the community of the Twelve. This interpretationimplies that whatever leadership the Twelve had exercised in Jerusalem cameunder the judgement of God with the Fall of Jerusalem.In Reid’s analysis, Mark’s preoccupation with the Gentile mission supportsthis conclusion. The tenth narrative complex in Mark (8:27-9:29), forming thecentre of the Gospel in the meta-narrative chiasm, focuses on Jesus’ Galileanministry. Jesus is primarily interested in extending his ministry beyondBook Reviews 135Jerusalem. Moreover, the last words of the original text in the Gospel emphasizethe fear of the first disciples who began the oral tradition in Jerusalem. Thus wecan understand why Mark portrays often the disciples’ misunderstanding Jesus.Clearly, in Mark’s fictive argument, the original Twelve are unsuitable forcontinuing the work of Jesus and spreading the good news in the post-70 C.E.world.Moreover, it becomes quickly obvious that Mark does not offer simplesymmetry in the arrangement of the whole. This is evident especially in theconcluding narrative complex with the surprising exclusion of the resurrectionstory. Not only does Mark assume the resurrection of Jesus in the content of hisnarrative (14:27-28), the form also suggests that Mark’s story end withresurrection. Compositionally, the final event of the Gospel has already beenimplicated in the death-resurrection imagery of baptism in the first narrativecomplex and in the transfiguration narrative at the centre. But Mark stands alonewith no record of post-resurrection conversations with the risen Lord. Why?As the church grows to include the Gentile mission throughout all of Galilee,new disciples of Christ must proclaim the risen Lord, and in so doing resolve therhetorical promise of resurrection in the Gospel of Mark. According to Mark’sframework, it is the interpretation of an empty tomb that defines reality moreclearly than the evidence of eyewitness stories, on which the oral tradition inJerusalem relied. For example, “both the voice at the baptism and the voice atthe transfiguration were interpretations of the event offered in the name of God.’’Reid implies that preaching is interpretation of the events surrounding God’spurposes. Preaching in mission continues the rhetorical thrust of the Gospel.Mark’s rhetoric impels followers ofJesus to proclaim the risen Lord by expandingthe boundaries of mission, and by relying on the creative function of the writtenword. Reid thereby harmonizes the rhetorical strategy in Mark with the functionof preaching to create a new reality for the church.Reid includes excellent sermons from renowned preachers such as PaulScott Wilson, Ronald J. Allen and Lucy Lind Hogan. Despite the densely wordedpresentation (i.e., Reid uses words like “intersignification” and “reimplicated” -1 can’t find them in my Oxford dictionary), 1 found Reid’s organization of materialimpeccable. Each of the nineteen narrative complexes was divided into threesections: 1) the text visually displayed according to the rhetorical devices; 2) arhetorical analysis; and 3) the central motif of the complex. Incidentally, theprescribed lectionary pericopes do not often coincide with the rhetorical units inMark. Given this challenge, the preacher might focus on the smaller units withinthe assigned pericope in order to determine the fictiue argument.Nevertheless, if Reid is correct by writing that contemporary preachingtheory is shifting away from trying to discern the author’s intentions toward the136 Consensus“performative” nature of language itself, Reid’s architectural methodology ofMark belongs on every preacher’s bookshelf.Martin MalinaSt. Peter’s Lutheran ChurchBrodhagen, OntarioWhy Scripture Matters: Reading the Bible in a Time of ChurchConflictJohn P. BurgessLouisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1998186 pages, $32.00 SoftcoverWhile Christians agree that Scripture matters in the life of the church, theparticular role that Scripture ought to play, the nature of its voice and authorityin our lives today can become hotly debated questions, particularly as churchesdiscern together and debate on difficult issues related to sexuality, feministperspectives on worship and theology, and inter-faith relations. John Burgess’timely book is a helpful nudge to churches experiencing pressures brought tobear by the kinds of arguments in which polarized positions each cite Scripturein support of their own side and against the other. The approach to Scripture inthese contexts of debates can often turn shallow. Burgess seeks to revive a pietyof Scripture which challenges our all-too-human tendency to use Scripture toserve our needs, rather than being grasped and formed by Scripture in our walkof discipleship. His desire is “to recover a sense of Scripture’s compelling power,in the hope that the church might experience Scripture more as a source of life- a sacrament - than as a set of right answers that one party wields againstanother” (p. xiv). His is not a new approach as such but rather is a weavingtogether of insights from select ancient, medieval. Orthodox and classicProtestant spiritual writings.Written while Burgess served as Associate for Theology in the national officesof the Presbyterian Church, USA, the immediate backdrops for his work weredenominational controversies stemming from the 1993 ReimaginingConference, a Christian feminist gathering that raised challenging christologicalquestions, and continuing debates about homosexuality. Chapter 1 sets out hiscall to the church to rediscover the practical disciplines of reading Scripture as “aWord of God” that speaks to Christians in the context of their participation incommunity. Chapter 2 asks “Whatever happened to the compelling power ofScripture?” and reflects on the dynamics of renewal in times of cultural andecclesial “Scripture-weariness”, citing Augustine, Luther, Wesley andDostoevski. Chapter 3 addresses the difficulties of hearing Scripture as a “poetic-

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