The pattern is typical of Markan chiasms, opening and closing with geographical movement, and having the usual ABBA center. The A brackets contain movement, the B brackets oppose two miniature chiasms built around Jesus/God and last/first. The E brackets both contain messages about leaving everything to follow Jesus, while the F brackets represent another pattern often seen in Mark, where a problem is posed in the first bracket whose solution is expounded in the opposite bracket. Thus How can the rich enter the Kingdom? is solved by observing that with God, all things are possible. The G brackets contain a obvious miniature chiasm that integrates the chreia structure into the chiasm as a whole. The structure of the C/D brackets is flexible and may be collapsed into one bracket.
One thing I like about Mark is the role that chreia structures play in the center of his chiasms.....more to come.
Previous articles on chiastic structures in Mark:
Mark 15:1-15
Mark Definitely Knew and Used Paul
2 comments:
I would invite anyone interested in something as esoteric as Mark as confined as he was to pages in a book to read Chapter 21 of Seth Speaks; The Meaning of Religion also words on paper.
Sure! Use as many as you like, there are several others on my Mark site.
I'll get some new ones up later this week, am swamped with work at the moment.
Michael
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