Religious Experiences and Text, Critical Analysis of Mark 10 4256 Essay

Religious Experiences and Text, Critical Analysis of Mark 10 4256 using Text Foccus Narrative Method - Essay Example Everything claimed has been inferred and interpreted by comparing what we know of the early Christian communities generally against the text itself. There are, however, broad lines of agreement on quite a few matters based upon clues found both in the text and in references to this gospel found in other exists. But undoubtedly, Mark is evidently true, being included in the most authoritative fourth-century early manuscripts (Codex Vaticanus) ( The World Book Encyclopedia , 1989). Before I go into the critical analysis of this particular passage, I will be discussing the method employed by this narrative. First, we must keep in mind that any literary analysis requires a concrete understanding of the genre it belongs to. The genre of gospels is one of the most difficult to interpret because almost all text represents both a literal and a spiritual meaning (Telford, W.R. 1995). Some gospels such as this one written by Mark, are intended to be read aloud as in a church sermon, rather than carefully studied in written form like a philosophy text ( Malbon, E. S. ,2002). This makes interpretation difficult because Biblical analyses are usually done by using written texts and typically attempt to identify large patterns of structure. For a text that is meant to be read aloud, however, what matters most are the connections that listeners make from one passage to the next. The material found in the texts of Mark must have been passed down, retold, and rearranged by mu ltiple people, but in the end someone put it into a final written form, something close to what we currently have, which bears the imprint of their own legacy skills. The author of Mark likes to use rhetorical devices, for example, repetition to highlight important ideas and a "sandwiching" technique that interweaves two different stories together in a manner that allows each to interpret and explain the other. This sandwiching technique is also called inclusion. There were two stories of healing the blind in Mark, the other story is in Mk 8:22-27. (Musso, A, Chapter 9, pg 2-3). The Gospel of Mark utilises the narrative style or method, if it will be studied according to the methods of literary critics. The narrative style or text consist of three elements namely, plot, setting, and the characters. These elements formed the basis of the narrative style of writing. In analyzing the passage of Mark 10:46-52, the plot of the story goes around a blind man named Bartimaues whose sight had been restored because of his faith. Characters in the passage includes Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, Jesus Christ who restored his sight, and the crowd present who try to silence Bartimaeus when he shouted for mercy so that Jesus would notice him. The setting of the story was a very public place in outskirt of Jericho, a town close in Jewish territory. (Musso, A, Chapter 8, pg 1, 9). Ultimately, though Mark represents the introduction of a new type of literature because nothing quite like it can be identified before early Christianity (Telford, W.R. 1995). It is very different from the collections of sayings or proverbs that can be found in other early Christian literature. Also, Mark is not meant to be a historical record of past events; instead, it is a series of events - structured in a manner to serve specific biblical goals and