The Disciples According to Mark: Markan Redaction in Current Debate

Mark's presentation of the disciples is the exegetical focus of this investigation of the validity of the redaction-critical method in the interpretation of the Second Gospel. >From a comprehensive review of recent scholarship, Black identifies three distinctive 'types' of redaction-critical research in Markan discipleship. The contributions of Robert Meye, Ernest Best and Theodore Weeden are selected as representative of these types, and their particular assumptions, procedures and conclusions are systematically explored. Black concludes that the diverse, redaction-critical interpretations of the disciples in Mark function at the behest, not of exegetical method, but of the presuppositions of each exegete. The value of Markan redaction criticism for controlling interpretative assumptions and generating trustworthy interpretations is seriously impugned. A detailed analysis of six recent attempts to refine the use of redaction criticism within Mark bolsters the main argument. Black offers an assessment of the benefits and limitations of the redaction-critical perspective and of its raison d'Otre in contemporary Gospel scholarship. The volume concludes by proposing a synthetic, methodological model for Markan interpretation, to which the chastened appreciation of redaction criticism may contribute.