Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Mark 2 Chiasm

not sure if this post will work - blogger's doing some funky things tonight - if it starts behaving again i'll remove this and maybe add a picture if any buttons appear to allow me to do so!

this sunday at GBC* we're doing Mark 2.1-12, and believe it or not - i've realised it's a chiasm.
A 2.1-2a - the big picture, a crowd astonished at Jesus

      B 2.2b-5 - movement to Jesus, Jesus speaks

                  C 2.6-10 - opposition's negative reaction, Jesus' positive reaction

      B' 2.11-12a - Jesus speaks, movement away from Jesus

A' 2.12b - the big picture, a crowd astonished at Jesus

mark does this a heap, or at the very least sandwiches (A B A' - cf Mark 5.21-24a; 24b-34; 35-43)

it's not so much a theological comment as a narrative device, guiding you into and then out and onwards.



* if you're a german speaker, you may be interested in coming along to german bible cafe - check out our facebook or blog if you're keen.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Andrew Page has written a book which allows people to remember the whole gospel of Mark in something like 8 or 10 studies based on chiastic structures - a great memory help! I'll bring it tomorrow if I remember to grab it.

mark said...

you are a walking chiasm doug.