Appendix G:

Mark's Christology

“Christology” is the term used to describe an author’s depiction of Jesus Christ’s nature. A Christology is considered low if it focuses on Jesus’ human aspects or high if it stresses his divine attributes. Traditionally, Mark’s Gospel has been thought to have the lowest Christology—and John’s the highest—of the Gospels, with Matthew’s and Luke’s in between. Yet Mark exhibits elements of high Christology as well, stemming from how Jesus’ story echoes HB texts. Clearly, Mark contains elements of a low Christology but also contains elements of a very high Christology, so that if Mark’s portrait of Jesus must be reduced to one word, the best choice is neither “low” nor “high” but rather “full.”

. . .

A close reading of Mark disputes the idea of a historical development from low to high Christology. While there was historical development in understandings of Christology, the track was not from low to high but rather from full to high. €e lower elements of Markan Christology are usually elided by Matthew and Luke, and John’s tradition is almost entirely lacking in these lower elements. €e trajectory of the historical development of the canonized Gospels at least shows a diminished portrait of Jesus, changed from being painted with Mark’s full palette to John’s far more restricted one.