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Reading Mark’s Gospel as a Text From Collective Memory

2021; Eisenbrauns; Volume: 31; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5325/bullbiblrese.31.2.0257

2576-0998

Charles Nathan Ridlehoover,

Media, Religion, Digital Communication

Sandra Huebenthal is professor of exegesis and biblical theology at the University of Passau, Lower Bavaria, Germany. She is an expert in the application of social memory theory and its use in biblical studies. It is with this expertise that she explores Mark’s Gospel. More specifically, Huebenthal asks of Mark’s text what can be gleamed with regard to social memory theory and the aurality of the text. She states, “this study aims to read Mark’s Gospel as a collective memory text, namely, one that reflects the efforts of a group to draft a group identity based on that group’s memories of Jesus” (emphasis hers). Her study attempts to point to what is remembered and how the memory is structured and presented.In what follows, Huebenthal divides her argument into two major sections headed by a lengthy introduction on recent Gospel memory research (“Exegetical Kaleidoscope: Images of the Genesis and Interpretation of Mark’s Gospel”). Huebenthal uses the analogy of a kaleidoscope to begin framing matters. Just as a kaleidoscope is shifted and moves pieces around for different effects, so interpreters throughout history have examined the biblical text prodding for new angles and questions. The residual effect is differing solutions premised on the scholar’s choice of hermeneutical principles. On the one hand, this “leaving no rock unturned” approach can be dizzying—too many questions and not enough answers. On the other hand, the highlighting of new perspectives to the text gives the truest representation of what may have been purposely complex and a deep dive into the culture and sociality of the first century. Huebenthal embraces the challenge of the “general” and moves forward in section one with an examination of Mark’s Gospel and social memory theory. This first major section has two chapters. The first chapter (“Social Recollection: The Construction of Memory Texts in Collective Memories”) addresses the question regarding the extent that gospels can be read as collective texts. Huebenthal opts for a multi-disciplinary approach that draws on neurological, psychological, and sociological insights into memory. She concludes that the Gospels can be interpreted rightly through collective memory given the sociocultural factors embedded in the text. The second chapter (“Mark’s Gospel as a Memory Text”) begins with some of the insights of social memory theory with an eye toward the whole of Mark’s writing as a memory text. In this chapter, she helpfully notes that the transfer of memories into other mediums (e.g., words to text) are always dependent on function. This observation is important for later parts of her argument. Section two (“Jesus Memories and Identity Formation in Mark 6:7–8:26”) consists of three chapters and the volume’s conclusion. In the first of these chapters (“Structure of the Text and Its Orientation toward Available Patterns”), Huebenthal dives deeper into Mark’s Gospel with a focused reading on Mark 6:7–8:26. Here, she analyzes the structure of the text, noting its available patterns and synchronic characteristics. One notable observation is that miracles here are not simply for the sake of authentication of Jesus’s divinity but rather frames of reference for Isaianic echoes of salvation’s arrival through Jesus. The second chapter (“Guiding Perspective”) implements a “possible-worlds” theory to the text. Huebenthal argues that these verses have several levels of worlds, ones represented by the text itself, ones represented by the narrator, and ones represented by the characters. The third chapter (“Transparency for the Community of Narration and Invitation to Engagement”) explores the extent to which we can know the community of Mark’s Gospel. Huebenthal’s conclusions lead to an invitation to readers to become part of the commemorative process. Section two and the volume conclude with some implications of the study (“Prospects”). The changes in mediums, noted throughout the study, implicate the community to be not only one of commemoration but also one of action. Toward the book’s end, Huebenthal reflects on what has happened since the initial release of the German edition in 2014. She concludes that not much has changed and therefore more work must be done in social memory theory.Overall, Huebenthal has produced an engaging and complex discussion on collective memory, commemoration, and group identity. She rearranges common questions and marries the modern and ancient for piercing insights. The arguments presented bring clarity both to form and to content and their interaction within Mark’s Gospel. The layout of the argument is masterfully constructed. Although highly technical, the information is arranged in such a way that each point builds on the other. This arrangement makes the argument more accessible for biblical scholars who are not as well versed in memory and cultural theory. It is important for the reader to know at the outset that this volume is not a short survey of methodology and then exploration of Mark’s Gospel. Just as much attention is given to “a text from collective memory” as “reading Mark’s Gospel.” In some sense, Mark is simply a test case for focused attention on methodology. This observation does not detract from the study, but is a necessary precaution to those who think that they are getting a purely Markan monograph. Huebenthal is paving a way for future readers of biblical texts to explore the narrated moments of collected memories. Her turns on the kaleidoscope are welcome and present some truly beautiful prospects.