alfredwenski

An attempt at an a priori argument for Markan priority:

Assuming the Synoptics were written for three communities, each with their own Gospel, what then? Nietzsche made something like the following observation: the more primitive a community is–think nascent, not fully established and robust, its members experiencing insecurity and weakness–the more seriously it takes the transgressions of those within, obviously because they destabilize and threaten the whole. A weaker community inflicts harsher punishments. Now as its power and security increases over time, the maturing community begins to defend transgressors from those they’ve harmed, and there’s more room made for mercy and forgiveness.

If Mark wrote for the most primitive community, then it would explain why he makes the least room for mercy and forgiveness in his Gospel. We hear those virtues emphasized more from Matthew and Luke, suggesting each of their maturing communities has had more time to attain power and security. They’re probably more robust and stable, so they can handle transgressions within more leniently.

Two counterarguments:

1. “You imply the Gospels are essentially autobiographical, reflecting the communities that produced them. Even if I accept that along with your other premises, it’s still not necessary for Mark to have written first; a budding, weak community can form at a later date. What if Mark started up a new community from scratch long after Matthew and Luke had written for their communities?” Awww…. Granted, and we should remember there probably was an interconnectedness and interdependence across Synoptic communities–they seem to have shared literature!–so that a powerful tide in one community had downstream effects, raising boats in neighboring communities. The above “What if?” works–if Mark and co have insulated themselves from the Matthean and Lukan communities.

2. Astute readers will recognize that much of Matthew’s and Luke’s added mercy and forgiveness material rests inside the double tradition, and they might say if that material sprang from a source predating the Synoptics, then one thing goes: either Q or my little community argument. No, I’m keeping both, because it’s an all-things-being-equal generalization, “nascent, younger communities tend to be less powerful and forgiving,” etc. Destabilizing events will disrupt neat trajectories, and the Jewish War surely counts as one, no? I would imagine that before 66 AD, there was more room in some secure, stable Christian corners for mercy and forgiveness, and the later annihilation–impending or realized–led to backsliding.

Btw, I took and developed this argument from maybe my favorite section in On the Genealogy of Morals, Second Essay, Section 10, translated by Walter Kaufmann.