Mark as Story by Marcus Story

Funny episode in teaching today. More anon.

I remember years ago reading David Rhoads’ Mark as Story and absolutely devouring it, and then getting into Robert Tannehill’s The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts, and enjoying that one too. The brilliance of the narrative approach is that it treats the Gospels as a unified and coherent story, rather than an onion of sources to be peeled away, and supposed inconsistencies to be used as premises for compilation theories. What is more, story creates meaning through perspective, editorial comment, narration, plot, suspense, characterization, and by the repetition of themes. What is more, narrative exegesis is the best way to engage in narrative preaching!

Any way, just the other day, a student named “Brett” was in the library doing some research on narrative criticism for a class presentation that I had set him. I told him to read David Rhoads “Mark as Story.” However, he thought I said, “David Rhoads and Marcus Story,” in the sense of naming two authors consecutively. Poor guy spent ages trying to find a book by “Marcus Story,” before he figured out that it was a book title not a name.

I should also note a great companion volume, Mark as Story: Retrospect and Prospect, edited by Christopher Skinner and Kelly Iverson, plus there’s a good review by Adam Winn.