Table Of Contentl i b r a r y o f n e w t e s t a m e n t s t u d i e s
The ANecdoTe
iN MArk, The
cLASSicAL WorLd
ANd The rAbbiS
Marion C. Moeser
JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
227
Executive Editor
Stanley E. Porter
Editorial Board
Craig Blomberg, Elizabeth A. Castelli, David Catchpole,
Kathleen E. Corley, R. Alan Culpepper, James D.G. Dunn,
Craig A. Evans, Stephen Fowl, Robert Fowler,
George H. Guthrie, Robert Jewett, Robert W. Wall
Sheffield Academic Press
A Continuum imprint
The Anecdote in
Mark, the Classical
World and the Rabbis
Marion C. Moeser, osf
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Supplement Series 227
Copyright © 2002 Sheffield Academic Press
A Continuum imprint
Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
EISBN 9780826460592
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations viii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1
THE ANECDOTE IN THE FRAMEWORK OF LITERARY CRITICISM 7
1. Genre 7
2. The Anecdote—a Definition 19
3. The Anecdote in Modern Literary Studies 31
4. From Orality to Literacy 38
Chapter 2
THE ANECDOTE IN GREEK AND ROMAN WRITERS 51
1. Ancient Education and the TTpoyupvaGiJaTa 53
2. Terms and Definitions 57
3. The Xpsia or Chria in Quintilian and Greek and Latin
Progymnasmata 72
4. Anecdotes in the AHMflNAKTOI BIOI of Lucian
ofSamosata 87
5. Conclusions 105
Chapter 3
THE ANECDOTE IN RABBINIC WRITINGS 107
1. Introduction 107
2. Anecdotes in the Mishnah 112
3. Anecdotes of Division Mo 'ed Qatan 124
4. Anecdotes Concerning Gamaliel II 130
5. Conclusions 145
vi The Anecdote in Mark, the Classical World and the Rabbis
Chapter 4
THE GOSPEL ANECDOTE IN NEW TESTAMENT SCHOLARSHIP 150
1. Form-critical Approaches 151
2. Rhetorical Approaches 175
3. Rabbinic Analogies to Gospel Anecdotes 180
Chapter 5
THE ANECDOTE IN THE GOSPEL OF MARK 8.27-10.45:
'ON THE WAY' 188
1. The Gospel of Mark 191
2. Anecdotes in Mark 8.27-10.45 204
3. Form of the Anecdotes in Mark 8.27-10.45 205
4. Summary on the Form of the Anecdotes in
Mark 8.27-10.45 236
5. Function of the Anecdotes in Mark 8.27-10.45 239
6. Conclusions 242
Conclusion 243
1. Form 243
2. Content 246
3. Function 247
4. 'Usefulness9 249
Appendix A: Anecdotes of Division Mo 'ed Qatan 250
Appendix B: Anecdotes Involving Rabbi Gamaliel II 252
Appendix C: Typologies of the Ma 'aseh 254
Appendix D: Typologies of Gospel Anecdotes 255
Bibliography 258
Index of References 276
Index of Authors 285
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work is a minor revision of my 1998 doctoral dissertation in the
Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity program at the University of Notre
Dame, Indiana. I am indebted to Harry Attridge, Mary Rose D'Angelo and
Michael Signer, who read the manuscripts of my dissertation and offered
helpful suggestions. Roger Brooks and John R. Donahue, although no
longer at Notre Dame, stimulated and guided my research. Gene Ulrich
offered me the opportunity to study and work with the Dead Sea Scrolls
and encouraged me throughout the enterprise of doctoral studies.
I am most indebted to Adela Yarbro Collins, who served as my mentor
and who directed the original dissertation. The sage responsible for Prov.
8.14 has Lady Wisdom describe herself thus: 'I have good advice and
sound wisdom; I have insight, I have strength.' Adela guided me with
good advice, wisdom, insight and strength; I am privileged to have worked
with her. More than this, Adela and her husband John extended to me the
warmth of their friendship, their family and their home; I offer them my
gratitude and deep appreciation.
Moreover, I am grateful for the support of my religious congregation, the
Sisters of Saint Francis of Williamsville, NY, and to the many colleagues
and friends who encouraged my efforts, particularly four marvelous story-
tellers, Lois Paha, OP, Gabriel Scarfia, ofm, Daniel Lanahan, ofm, and
William R. Bigelow.
Finally, I wish to express my thanks to my associates at the Franciscan
School of Theology, Berkeley, CA: to the Administration and Board of
Regents for granting me the sabbatical leave that enabled me to prepare this
work for publication; to Simon and Cynthia Rebullida who helped copy-
edit the manuscript; to the faculty and staff whose vision of our enterprise
incorporates that of Francis and Clare of Assisi; and to our students, whose
eagerness to hear 'the story' that is contained in the New Testament
continues to touch my research and teaching with satisfaction and joy.
Needless to say, from all of this... anecdotes abound!
ABBREVIATIONS
ABD David Noel Freedman (ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary
(New York: Doubleday, 1992)
AJT American Journal of Theology
ANRW Hildegard Temporini and Wolfgang Haase (eds.), Aufstieg und
Niedergang der romischen Welt: Geschichte undKultur Roms
im Spiegel der neueren Forschung (Berlin: W. de Gruyter,
1972-)
ASNU Acta seminarii neotestamentici upsaliensis
ATAbh Alttestamentliche Abhandlungen
BDB Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and Charles A. Briggs,
The New Brown-Driver-Biggs-Gesenius, Hebrew and English
Lexicon with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1979)
BDF Friedrich Blass, A. Debrunner and Robert W. Funk, A Greek
Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian
Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961)
BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium
BibRes Biblical Research
BJS Brown Judaic Studies
BNTC Black's New Testament Commentaries
BR Bible Review
BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin
BZNW Beihefte zur ZNW
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
ConBNT Coniectanea biblica, New Testament
CRINT Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum
EncJud Encyclopaedia Judaica
ExpTim Expository Times
FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen
Testaments
HAR Hebrew Annual Review
HR History of Religions
HSCL Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature
HTR Harvard Theological Review
Int Interpretation
Abbreviations IX
JAAR Journal of the American Academy of Religion
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JJS Journal of Jewish Studies
JQR Jewish Quarterly Review
JSJSup Journal for the Study of Judaism, Supplement Series (formerly
SPB)
JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament
JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Supplement
Series
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series
KIPauly K. Ziegler and W. Sontheimer (eds.), Der Kleine Pauly:
Lexicon der Antike (5 vols.; Stuttgart: Alfred Druckmuller,
1967)
LA W Carl Anderson et al. (eds.), Lexicon der Alten Welt (Zurich:
Artemis, 1965)
LCL Loeb Classical Library
LSJ H.G. Liddell, Robert Scott and H. Stuart Jones, Greek-English
Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 9th edn, 1968)
NA Eberhard Nestle, Erwin Nestle and Kurt Aland et al. (eds.),
Novum Testamentum Graece (Stuttgart: Deutsche
Bibelgesellschaft, 27th edn, 1993)
NHS Nag Hammadi Studies
NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament
NovT Novum Testamentum
NovTSup Novum Testamentum, Supplements
NTAbh Neutestamentliche Abhandlungen
NTS New Testament Studies
OCD Oxford Classical Dictionary
PTMS Pittsburgh Theological Monograph Series
PW August Friedrich von Pauly and Georg Wissowa (eds.), Real-
Encyclopadie der class is chen Altertumswissenschaft
(Stuttgart: Metzler, 1894-)
PWSup Supplement to PW
RA C Reallexikon fur Antike und Christentum
SBL Society of Biblical Literature
SBLDS SBL Dissertation Series
SBLMS SBL Monograph Series
SBLSBS SBL Sources for Biblical Study
SBLSP SBL Seminar Papers
SBLTT SBL Texts and Translations
SCHNT Studia ad corpus hellenisticum Novi Testamenti
SJLA Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity
SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series
