Posted on 07/17/2019 9:38:37 AM PDT by Salvation
A new translation of Mark’s Gospel was published recently that I find very appealing: The Memoirs of St. Peter: A New Translation of the Gospel According to Mark, by Michael Pakaluk.
As the title acknowledges, most scholars consider Mark’s Gospel to be that of Simon Peter. Tradition says that Mark was Peter’s secretary or scribe, and the recollections he recorded are really those of Peter.
One of the things that make Mark’s Gospel unique is its sense of immediacy. Part of this is due to his frequent use of the word “immediately” (eutheos in Greek)—more than forty times in what is the shortest of the four Gospels. Here are just a few examples:
Another aspect of the Gospel of Mark contributing to its vibrancy and sense of immediacy is Mark’s tendency to render things in the present tense. Here is how Michael Pakaluk describes it:
Mark varies his verb tenses in apparently unpredictable ways. Sometimes he uses the present tense, sometimes the imperfect, sometimes the “aorist.” Most translations solve the problem by throwing everything into the past tense. And yet this removes the vividness that Mark’s frequent use of the historic present conveys. But when one approaches the text as originally a spoken narrative, one can generally retain Mark’s tense changes …. Someone speaking from memory … will change tenses to keep the hearer’s attention, but mainly because, as he is speaking “from memory,” he finds it easy to revert to the viewpoint of what it was like to be there (Introduction 24-25).
That is one of the things that make this new translation so interesting and refreshing. It puts the reader right into the scene, watching the action unfold. Consider Pakaluk’s translation of the beginning of Mark Chapter 3:
He entered the synagogue again. A man with a withered hand was there. They were watching him intently, to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath, so they could accuse him. So Jesus tells the man with the withered hand, “Stand up in the middle.” He says to them, “Is it allowable, on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil? To save a life or to put to death?“ They were silent. He looks around at them with anger, pained that their hearts are like stone, and he says to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” The man stretched it out. His hand was restored to normal. The Pharisees walk out, and immediately started to scheme against him, with the Herodians, to find some way to destroy him (Mark 3:1-6).
Notice the calm shifting between the past tense and the “historic present.” It is as if we are there in the room witnessing the events while our interpreter and storyteller, Mark, adds commentary for us.
Pakaluk’s skillful translation makes the text new and vibrant for me. It is like listening as Mark (who records Peter’s preaching) speaks directly to me. Engendering such a feeling is important because the Gospels are not meant to be like “spectator sports.” We are not just watching the lives of others unfold; this is our life, too. We are in the Gospel narrative: we are Peter; we are Mary Magdalene. These are not just distant events being recalled from memory; they are made present to us and become our story, too.
Another aspect that makes Mark’s Gospel so interesting and narrative-like is his use of the Greek work “kai.” Pakaluk describes it in this way:
In Greek, sentences in a continuous narrative must be joined, each with the one before, through a “connecting particle,” such as “hence,” “now,” “therefore,” “but,” and so on. Writers of ancient Greek typically vary these connectors for subtlety and argument. But Mark is famous for largely limiting himself to one such connective—the simplest one, at that—“and” (kai). The majority of the sentences begin with “and.” Translators usually deal with the problem by just leaving the word out. But Mark’s usage makes more sense if we think of how we speak when we tell a story: “So I left my driveway. And I turned around the block. And I saw a man with a pig. And I thought it was strange. So I stopped to ask him about it. And he said…” And so on (Introduction 24).
In this new translation of Mark, Pakaluk retains a lot more of the “and” (kai) connectors, varying its translation just a bit for variety: “and,” “so” “once again,” and so forth. This retention of “kai” also adds to the narrative or storytelling quality of the text.
I am very grateful for this fresh translation of the Gospel of Mark and hope you find it as helpful as I do. Along with the new translation, Pakaluk provides solid commentary that includes the consideration of many different interpretations of the text. If you (or perhaps your Bible study group) are looking for an interesting and informative book, consider this one.
Being part of a discussion group on the Gospel of Mark led by one of the instructors from Mount Angel Abbey who mentioned many of these details was an honor. It was most interesting!
WOW fascinating!
Monsignor Pope Ping!
Not sure translation is the correct word.
I attended an oral presentation of The Gospel of Mark some years back. I was predicated on its apparent oral heritage prior to its formal written version. It had much of the immediacy spoken of in this article and certainly was inspirational.
I’ve just answered my own question, but I’ll post it here for others:
“Writers from the earliest days of the Church tell us that Peter’s disciple Mark wrote down the apostle’s account of the life of Jesus as he told it to the first Christians in Rome. The vivid, detailed, unadorned prose of the Gospel of Mark conveys the unmistakable immediacy of a first-hand account.”
Being written in Rome at that time Greek was the language of the Scholar.
What makes you say that?
I dont know. Maybe I’m wrong.
I guess I have nothing against it
I guess I have nothing against it although I do not need anything enterpreted to suit me, I just want the actual words as near as we can get them because even if it helps some people to see it better it is a paraphase and not
the actual scripture which make it a lie.
Revelation 22:18-19 King James Version (KJV)
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Beginning a sentence with “and” was unusual, but was common in Hebrew.
From an article about the Hebrew background of Mark:
“Carmignac, a Dead Sea Scrolls translator and an expert in the Hebrew in use at the time of Christ. . . he came at the problem from a different angle.
“In order to facilitate the comparison between our Greek Gospels and the Hebrew text of Qumran, I tried, for my own personal use, to see what Mark would yield when translated back into the Hebrew of Qumran.
.....
“. . . He discovered the Greek translator of Mark had slavishly kept to the Hebrew word order and grammar.
” . . . could the awkward phrasings found in our Greek text have been nothing more than overly faithful translations (perhaps “transliterations” would be more accurate) of Semitic originals?
“If the second possibility were true, then we have synoptic Gospels written by eyewitnesses at a very early date.”
IOW, the translators into Greek tried as much as possible not to change a single word of what they had received, even when it made the grammar awkward.
Yep, and although they call every thing a translation many are just a paraphase or just words changed
to fit their belief, that is why I like the kj, it appears that he did not care what it said just as
long as we know what it says.
Interesting. :)
“He discovered the Greek translator of Mark had slavishly kept to the Hebrew word order and grammar.”
(Warning Moosie thinking out loud)
So I guess we can assume that the original was written in Hebrew and not translated from Hebrew verbiage to Greek text within the head of the original scribe.
However the passage I found states the transcription took place in Rome which would suggest the original document may be in Greek, or possibly the scribe wrote in his native Hebrew and translated later.
Maybe this accounts for the slavishly accurate transliteration (?)
The book of Mark I can’t (Probably logically) find in the list of Qumran scrolls.
So out of curiosity, if anyone knows for sure which is correct I would love to know.
Greek was also the language of the slave in Rome at the time—and usually the scholars were also slaves, but many slaves were not scholars.
The conquest of Greeks and importation of Greek-speaking teachers and Greek texts actually turned Rome into a predominantly Greek speaking city for several centuries.
The cradle of Ecclesiastical Latin was actually North Africa. The Liturgy in Rome didn’t switch to Latin until the time of Pope Damasus I in the later half of the fourth century.
BTW Check out my screen name. He was in the thick of it.
The old testament in ancient Hebrew was to most Hebrews an oral tradition, which continued in its written form, to tell a story and get the listener to engage in the story, to enter the story as their own, and in that process, more than memorizing words, to be inspired, to recieve inspiration by the same Holy spirit that inspired those who put the gospels together.
The new translation of Mark appears to be attempting something like that.
Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus
Will investigate tomorrow, thank you. :)
Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus
That would be my patron. Best known by the Latin form of the last name-—way too many Eusebii. Too many people think that simply by giving a kid a good name, he will worship well. It also takes more chutzpah than most people have to give a kid a truly Holy Name. But he had ample chutzpah. A balanced, middle ground would show more self-control.
You forget scriptures have been translated over the centuries. This is nothing new.
There is nothing new under the sun,true it is nothing new to God
But I have not been through it before, not in this life so it is new to me.
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