Dean B. Deppe, «Markan Christology and the Omission of υἱοῦ θεοῦ in Mark 1:1», Vol. 21 (2008) 45-64
In the last years a new consensus has arisen in textual critical circles that favors the omission of 'Son of God' from the prologue of Mark’s gospel.
The new angle by which I want to approach this problem is to investigate its significance for Markan Christology. I will argue that the shorter Markan prologue, 'The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ' does not sufficiently capture Mark’s theology of the person of Jesus. The paper includes two sections, the first discussing Markan Christology and the second evaluating the textual evidence. In the Christological section I first challenge the assertion that Peter’s confession of Jesus’ Messiahship (8:27-30) is the turning point of the Gospel of Mark. Then I demonstrate that an additional title like suffering Son of Man or Son of God is necessary to adequately capture Mark’s Christology. Finally, I argue that Matthew and John have similarly positioned crucial Christological titles in the prologues of their gospels. In the textual critical section I provide evidence for the inclusion of 'Son of God' at Mk. 1:1 and argue that the omission of this title in a few manuscripts must have occurred through periblepsis occasioned by homoioteleuton.
48 Dean B. Deppe
heads south toward his final destination of Jerusalem19. However, an al-
teration in geography does not really occur until after Jesus’ discipleship
teaching on following the crucified one (8:34-38), when Jesus travels to the
Mount of Transfiguration. Peter’s confession allegedly changes the genre
from miracle story to teaching about discipleship, but a shift of genre
stems from the title “suffering Son of Manâ€, not “Christâ€. The emphasis
on miracles prominent in the first half of the gospel is now replaced by
teaching about Jesus’ suffering and passion. Already various audiences
have raised the question of Jesus’ identity throughout the miracle stories
in the first half of the book including the Jewish people in 1:27, the Jewish
authorities in 2:7, the disciples in 4:41, and Jesus’ relatives, family, and
acquaintances in 6:3. But Jesus’ true identity is not finally revealed with
Peter’s confession but only when Jesus gives the passion prediction in
8:31 by speaking clearly (8:32).
Rethinking the Structure of Mark
Several authors contend that Peter’s confession is statistically the cen-
ter of the gospel20 and structurally divides the gospel into a chiasm.
a. The beginning of the gospel (1:1) with Jesus exalted as the Son at his baptism (1:11)
b. First day of Jesus’ ministry: 1:14-39
c. First set of five controversy dialogues: 2:1-3:6
d. Jesus’ parabolic discourse concerning the present Kingdom of God: 4:1-34
e. The three trips across the sea: 4:35-8:21
f. Peter’s confession of faith: 8:27-30
e’ The three passion predictions: 8:31-10:52
d’ Jesus’ eschatological discourse concerning the future kingdom: Mk. 13
c’ Second set of five controversy dialogues: 11:27-12:40
b’ Last day of Jesus’ ministry: 14:12-15:41
a’ The end of the gospel with Jesus exalted in his resurrection as Son of God
However, on closer analysis, a statistical analysis of Mark’s entire
gospel reveals that the transfiguration where the voice from heaven iden-
tifies Jesus as the Son of God stands as the true statistical center of the
narrative. Through the transfiguration of 9:8 Mark includes 5881 words
As Ched Myers, Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus
19
(Maryknoll: Orbis 1990) 237-238 indicates, this change is “a journey from the margins of
Palestine to its centerâ€.
For support see the authors quoted by Sherman E. Johnson, “The Blind Man from
20
Bethsaidaâ€, NTS 25 (1979): 375, n. 31. Rudolf Pesch, Naherwartungen: Tradition und
Redaktion in Mk. 13 (Düsseldorf: Patmos 1968) 69f contends that Peter’s confession is
statistically the center of the gospel when chapter 13 is omitted from consideration.
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