Category: Mark

For centuries, the feeding of the five thousand has been read simply as a journalistic report of a divine magic trick. But modern biblical scholarship reveals these are not recordings of literal historical events. Instead, they are profound, highly constructed narratives of political subversion and a radical economy of abundance.

For centuries, the traditional reading of Jesus’s encounter with the Syrophoenician woman has smoothed over its rough edges, framing it as a simple “test of faith.” But when we read the text through the lens of first-century history, focusing on the harsh economy of bread, a far more profound and messy reality emerges.

We often spiritualize the petition for “daily bread.” But to the first-century day laborers of the Levant, crushed by a triple layer of taxation, it was a literal, daily plea for physical survival.

The word “Gospel” has undergone centuries of theological domestication, losing its original political edge. Discover how scholars like John Dominic Crossan and Richard A. Horsley reveal the Roman Empire’s use of the plural euangelia as propaganda, and how the Gospel of Mark deliberately shifted to the singular euangelion to launch a radical, socio-economic critique of Caesar.

Was Jesus really a carpenter? Discover why the Greek word tekton and the geography of ancient Galilee suggest the historical Jesus was actually a stonemason who likely commuted to work on massive Herodian building projects.

Why doesn’t the earliest gospel have a Christmas story? Discover how the Gospel of Mark presents an ‘Adoptionist’ view, where Jesus is chosen as the divine Son not at his birth, but at his baptism by John the Baptizer.