This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ The Gospel according to Mark as literature, history and scripture in the work of Austin Farrer. Titley, Robert John The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 10. Oct. 2021 1 The Gospel according to Mark as Literature, History. & Scripture in the work of Austin Farrer Robert John Titley King's College, London submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of London 2 ror LarOllne AMDG 3 Abstract The Gospel According to Mark as Literature, History and Scripture in the Work of Austin Farrer This thesis examines Farrer's structural and typological proposals for that Gospel, with special reference to his The Glass 01 Vision, A Study in St Mark, and related writings. It compares Farrer's work with more recent contributions wholly or partly within the literary paradigm of Gospel studies: The Genesis of Secrecy by Frank Kennode, Mark as Story by Donald Rhoads and David Michie, Mark's Audience by Mary Beavis, and What Are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography, by Richard Burridge. The fIrst and the last two also facilitate examination of Farrer's grasp of the historical dimensions of reading Mark. The thesis argues as follows. While Farrer's reading of particular episodes in Mark can be satisfying, the overbearing complexity of his complete scheme stems from his error in assigning Mark to the genre of poetry. Moreover, his literary instincts are too little disciplined by awareness of the historical constraints of the text's reception, and he fails in his attempt to show great literary artifice cohabiting in Mark with transparency upon historical event. Reflection upon wider questions raised by Farrer's reading of Mark leads to the proposal that an awareness of the historicality of every reading of a text may help to ease present difficulties over textual meaning. Farrer is everywhere seized by Mark's scriptural and his own Christian identity. His personal candour helps his own readers to allow for his presuppositions, and is a salutary example to critics, but he does not pursue the implications for the fonnation of the New Testament canon contained in his account of the inspired creation of one of its texts. His wider thinking about the nature of God's action in the world, however, suggests ways in which we might further his aim of elucidating the place of scripture in the life of the church. 4 Contents Page Note on abbreviations 7 INTRODUCTION 9 PART ONE - FOUNDATIONS: THE GLASS OF VISION 12 1 : The Lectures 14 2: Evaluation 17 3: Summary of the main questions raised by The Glass of Vision 24 PART TWO - MARK AS LITERATURE 26 4: A Study in St Mark 30 A: PREFACE & INTRODUCTION 30 B: THE OVERALL THESIS OF A STUDY IN ST MARK 35 C: THE HEALING MIRACLES 37 D: THE FIRST DOUBLE CYCLE 44 E: THE SECOND AND THIRD DOUBLE CYCLES 51 F: THE LAST TWO DOUBLE CYCLES 56 G: THE PREFIGURATIVE SENSE 59 H: THE ENDING 60 I : THE REMAINING CHAPTERS OF A STUDY IN ST MARK 67 5: General conclusions on Farrer's thesis and method in A Study in St Mark 68 POSTSCRIPT: Second thoughts - St Matthew & St Mark 74 5 6: Austin Farrer and his critics 77 A: HELEN GARDNER 79 B: FARRER'S CRITICS AFTER GARDNER 88 Vincent Taylor, Dennis Nineham, Ralph P Martin, John Robinson, Anthony Harvey C: W ARMER RECEPTIONS 91 Michael Goulder, John Drury D: FARRER AND THE NEW TEST AMENT GUILD 92 E: FRANK KERMODE 93 F: CONCLUSION 99 7: Mark's Literary Critics - Rhoads & Michie 100 A: MARK AS STORY - A SUMMARY 100 B: EVALUATION IN COMPARISON WITH AUSTIN FARRER - INTRODUCTORY 103 C: EVALUATION - THE AUTHOR 103 D: EVALUATION - THE READER 107 E: EVALUATION - UNITY & GENRE 110 F: CONCLUSION 114 8: Mark as Literature - Conclusions 117 PART THREE - MARK AS HISTORY 120 9: Reading Mark Historically 122 A: LEVELS OF HISTORY 122 B: FARRER AND LEVELS OF HISTORY 126 C: THE HISTORICALITY OF FARRER'S READING OF MARK 128 10: Mark's Original Audience 132 A: FARRER AND THE MAReAN AUDIENCE 132 B: MARY BEAVIS - MARK'S AUDIENCE 137 C: EVALUATION - FARRER & BEAVIS 142 D: CONCLUSION 146 6 11: Mark's Work 149 A: EVIDENCES FOR AN AUTHOR 149 B: RICHARD BURRIDGE - WHAT ARE THE GOSPELS? 153 C: EVALUATION - FARRER & BURRIDGE 160 D: CONCLUSION 170 12: The Pre-history of Mark 172 A: WRITTEN SOURCES 172 B: ORAL SOURCES 174 C: EVALUATION - FARRER, BEAVIS & BURRIDGE 177 D: CONCLUSION 181 POSTSCRIPT: THE SOCIAL SETTING OF THE CRITIC 183 13: Mark: A Window on Event? 186 A: FARRER AND THE HISTORIAN'S TASK 187 B: EVALUATION - FARRER & MARK'S HISTORY 195 C: CAN NARRATIVE BE HISTORY? 206 David Carr: 'Narrative and the Real World' 210 D: CONCLUSION 215 14: Mark as History - Conclusions 217 PART FOUR - MARK AS SCRIPTURE 223 15: Scripture and the Action Of God 226 SCRIPTURE AND IMAGES OF GOD 227 16: Farrer and the Canon 229 A: INSPIRED CANON-MAKING? 232 B: THE CURSE OF THE CANON? 234 C: A WAY FORWARD 235 17: Conclusion 237 CONCLUSION 238 Possible Further Work 242 BIBLIOGRAPHY 243 7 Note on abbreviations In referring to Farrer's writings I have preferred to use an abbreviation of the title rather than the date of publication. It has seemed better in citing a number of his papers and articles to refer to them as they are now most accessible, in collected form, and the use of the publication date of the collection will not allow the distinguishing of one piece from another. For consistency, I have therefore used the same method for reference to Farrer's books and to all secondary literature. Below is a list of abbreviations used for Farrer's writings. The reader will easily be able to infer other abbreviations from the full references in the main text or in the Bibliography. Finite and Infinite (ftrst edition, 1943) Finite The Glass of Vision (1948) Glass A Rebirth of Images (1949) Rebirth A Study in St Mark (1951) Study St Matthew & St Mark (1954) Matthew A Short Bible (1956) Short Said or Sung (1960) Said Love Almighty and Ills Unlimited (1961) Love Saving Belief (1964) Saving A Science of God? (1966) Science Faith and Speculation (1967) Speculation A Celebration ofFaith (ed JL Houlden, 1970) Celebration The End of Man (ed Charles C Conti, 1973) End Interpretation and Belief (ed Charles C Conti, 1976) Interpretation 'A Return to New Testament Christological Categories' (1933, Theology, Vol 26, 304-18) 'Categories' 'On Credulity' (1947, reproduced in Interpretation, 1-6) 'Credulity' 'History and the Gospel' (1948, reproduced in Celebration, 36-45) 'History' 'The Inspiration of the Bible' (1952, reproduced in Interpretation, 9-11) 'Bible' 'An English Appreciation' (1953, in Kerygma and Myth, ed HW Bartsch, 212-23) 'Appreciation' 'On Dispensing with Q' (1955, in Studies in the Gospels, ed DE Nineham, 55-88) 'Dispensing' 'Revelation' (1957; in Faith & Logic, ed Basil Mitchell, 84-107) 'Revelation' 'On Looking Below the Surface' (1959, reproduced in Interpretation, 54-65) 'Surface' 'On Religion, Natural and Revealed' (1959, reproduced in Celebration, 19-25) 'Religion' 'St Mark' (before 1960, reproduced in Said or Sung, 1960, 95-99) 'St Mark' 8 'Inspiration Poetical and Divine' (1963, reproduced in Interpretation, 39-53) 'Inspiration' 'Mary, Scripture and Tradition' (1963, reproduced in Interpretation, 101-25) 'Mary' 'The Painter's Colours' (1963, reproduced in Celebration, 63-66) 'Colours' 'Infallibility and Historical Revelation' (1968, reproduced in Interpretation, 151-64) 'Infallibility' 'The Brink of Mystery' (date unknown, reproduced in End, 1973, 10-14) 'Brink' 'Gnosticism' (date unknown, reproduced in Interpretation, 1976, 138-48) 'Gnosticism' 'The Mind of St Mark' (date unknown, reproduced in Interpretation, 1976, 14-22) 'Mind' Letters and other writings of Farrer reproduced in Philip Curtis' biography A Hawk Among Sparrows Hawk 9 INTRODUCTION I s~~~ Newton was ~ prolific ~ter, and is said to have written more words of diVInIty than of phySICS~ though It was the latter that established his genius. The person who has been described as 'the one genius that the Church of England has produced during this century'l wrote and spoke widely as a philosophical theologian, a biblical scholar and as a preacher. Nowadays conferences are held on his philosophical work, some of his sennons are still in print, twenty-eight years after his death, and quotations from both of these aspects of his writing have punctuated a recent novel.