{"id":2121,"date":"2009-09-11T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-11T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/09\/scriptural-evolution\/"},"modified":"2009-09-11T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-11T22:30:00","slug":"scriptural-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/09\/scriptural-evolution.html","title":{"rendered":"Scriptural Evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There are two recent posts that appeared on blogs I read within the past few hours, and it seemed more interesting to set them side by side under a single heading than to mention each in a separate post.<\/p>\n

First, Stephen Carlson blogs about the ending (or lack thereof) in Mark\u2019s Gospel<\/a>. On the whole his post is fair, but I\u2019m personally not persuaded that the evidence is as evenly balanced as he suggests. (Stephen won\u2019t be surprised by this, having listened to me give a paper about \u201cMark\u2019s missing ending\u201d at SBL not long ago). Stephen wrote:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2026the theory of that the text of Mark\u2019s gospel suffered mutilation almost immediately seems a little too coincident to be plausible. In effect, supposing that the text continued after v.8 against the external evidence (vv.9-20 are decidedly secondary) is a conjectural emendation with a high burden of proof. For me, that onus has not been met.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t find this solution \u201ccoincident\u201d \u2013 it seems an apt explanation if the earliest version of a manuscript we have seems to already reflect some sort of mutilation. But more importantly, he mentions the burden of proof, and while I agree that there is insufficient evidence to make a watertight case for Mark\u2019s original ending having been lost, the discomfort of multiple scribes copying Mark as well as of at least two other early Gospel authors using Mark seems to provide at least substantial evidence. That Luke and Matthew diverge so markedly exactly where Mark as we know it runs out also fits as well with the truncation scenario as with the view that Mark wished to end there, and their feeling that the story does not end appropriately where Mark\u2019s does seems to tip the scale, however slightly. And so I\u2019m inclined to regard accidental mutilation as the \u201cbest fit to the evidence\u201d until someone comes up with a better explanation.<\/p>\n

Stephen\u2019s post<\/a> might be said to be about the evolution of Mark\u2019s Gospel, of its textual transmission, as well as the evolution of the early church\u2019s resurrection narratives. The second post I wish to highlight is about evolution in that other sense, but also about the evolution of the Bible. Peter Carrell insightfully notes that those who reject the idea of evolution and of God creating by that means also have a blind spot when it comes to the evolution of the Bible<\/a>. They either ignore or fail to notice the slow process (although with evidence that could support punctuated equilibrium) of ancient Israel\u2019s understanding of God, views on the afterlife, and the slow process of the writing of the Biblical books and their formation into a canon. Doesn\u2019t the Bible itself (if not in its statements, then in what it shows itself to be<\/em>) provide evidence that God works through slow, painful, evolutionary processes?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are two recent posts that appeared on blogs I read within the past few hours, and it seemed more interesting to set them side by side under a single heading than to mention each in a separate post. First, Stephen Carlson blogs about the ending (or lack thereof) in Mark\u2019s Gospel. On the whole […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nScriptural Evolution<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are two recent posts that appeared on blogs I read within the past few hours, and it seemed more interesting to set them side by side under a single\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/09\/scriptural-evolution.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scriptural Evolution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are two recent posts that appeared on blogs I read within the past few hours, and it seemed more interesting to set them side by side under a single\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/09\/scriptural-evolution.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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