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Reading Mark 4 as Midrash

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Midrash is a way of juxtaposing one scriptural perspective with another so as to draw contemporary meaning out of the ancient biblical text. It is a hermeneutic which imitates and continues the dialogical patterns of the Hebrew Scripture; within Jewish tradition this mode of interpretation becomes itself a form of revelation. This sacred tradition is relevant to the composition of Mark 4. The focus of Mark 4 is on ways of hearing and understanding, that is, interpreting, the Word of God. Its verbal arrange ments are reflective of midrashic strategies for reopening the scriptural text. Reading Mark 4 as midrash reveals both a literary and a theological design that other methods have not disclosed. Jesus is portrayed as a midrashic teacher speaking in parables, the prototypical form of midrashic narrative. Reworking the biblical trope of sower and seed, he reinterprets End-time traditions by placing them in the context of Genesis.

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