Mark 1-3

03/12/2026 · Tue/Thu 10:30-11:45 AM · Brad Bannon · Boston College

📄 Synopsis

The class session on March 12th marked the transition into the second half of the course, focusing on the Gospel of Mark and the Bhagavad-Gītā. The instructor, Brad Bannon, utilized a 'Tumbling Tower' game as a conceptual link for the two halves of the semester, connecting the first half's focus on 'creation' with the second half's focus on 'recreation' (or 're-creation'). The discussion primarily centered on the unique characteristics of the Gospel of Mark, identified as the oldest gospel, likely written between 67 and 70 CE. Students explored the text's distinctive style, including its repetitive use of the word 'immediately' and the 'Messianic Secret,' where Jesus commands those he heals and unclean spirits to remain silent about his identity. The class examined the historical context of the Hebrew community as one under Roman occupation and the transition from oral to written tradition. The session concluded with a history lesson on the Hebrew community, Roman occupation, and the preservation of texts by groups like the Essenes.

⚡ Key Takeaways

The Gospel of Mark is the oldest of the four canonical gospels, written approximately between 67 and 70 CE.
A defining stylistic feature of Mark’s Gospel is the frequent use of the Greek word 'kai' (and) and the adverb 'immediately,' creating a sense of urgency.
The 'Messianic Secret' is a recurring motif in Mark where Jesus repeatedly instructs followers and spirits not to reveal his identity as the Son of God.
In the early chapters of Mark, only the 'unclean spirits' recognize Jesus as the Son of God, while human characters remain largely unaware or skeptical.
The transition from oral tradition to written text in the Jewish community was often spurred by existential threats, such as Roman occupation and the decimation of the population.
The Essenes were a community that lived outside the city, possibly connected to John the Baptist, who sequestered themselves in caves to write down and preserve sacred texts.
The Bhagavad-Gītā is categorized as Smṛti, unlike the Śruti texts studied in the first half of the semester, though it holds a very high status.
The Gospel of Mark lacks a birth narrative, beginning instead with Jesus as an adult and his baptism by John the Baptist.
The instructor introduced an AI study tool for the Bhagavad-Gītā that includes various commentaries and translations to assist students with their leadership assignments.

🎤 Transcript Tap any timestamp to jump the audio player

Opening Meditation and Breathwork

Student

Alrighty, howdy y'all. Let's, uh, get started. Uh, March 12th, we're missing Tim and Manny, right?

Brad

Um, cool. Let's take a moment to, you know, reset. I can't meditate there, it feels weird.

Student

Uh, if you want to sit on the table. Let's just take a moment.

Brad

Let's take a breath together. Go ahead and breathe in and out. Word?

1:21

Administrative Notes and Grade Distribution

Student

Word. All right. So a lot to do today. Yeah, I do have your quizzes and exams and, I mean, everything. ⚠

Brad

So I'll hand those out. You know, you grab them on the way out at the end of class. And we have quizzes. I'll start with the quiz, get that out of the way.

Student

My grade.

Student

A lot of classes don't give me my grade. I just have like a feeler for it.

Brad

Yeah, I gave you guys something.

Student

Looks like most folks are done. Very cool. If you would just pass them—

Brad

oh, you know what, pass them to the middle. I'll go down the middle. So I know we have the Fighting Pickles back there. Yeah. Do we have any other team names? Any— if you don't have a team name, let's pick a team name today. Fighting Pickles is taken, sorry. I don't know how to flip that, but— ⚠

Student

Dude, that's not my job.

Student

This feels like great poker. Nope.

Student

You don't have any great brainstorming ideas?

Brad

No.

Student

Mookie Chariots. You also have Mookie Chariots as like a prompt. I did. ⚠

Brad

I was like, whoa.

Student

I saw on the test, I was like, oh yes.

Brad

All right, I think we need to reset because the whole first half of the semester was just preparing you for the second half of the semester, right? In order to do comparison, you have to have a certain baseline understanding, particularly of the more ancient texts, right? So we studied everything earlier than the text that we're looking at now. And so for the second half of the semester, we're just looking at two texts, right? The Gospel of Mark and the Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā. And we're going to read all of both of them. Bhagavad Gītā is 18 chapters. It's pretty small. This is actually the entire thing in two different languages, in Saṃskṛta and in English. Kind of cool. But, um, and Gospel of Mark is 16 chapters. So do on average 3 chapters per class. However, for the Bhagavad Gītā, for Tuesday Actually, for the next unit, for the unit we're in now, which is Unit 4. For Unit 4, we're just reading 2 chapters of the Bhagavad Gītā, and one of those 2 chapters we're mostly going to ignore. ⚠

Brad

So we're going to spend most all of the time on Chapter 2, and Chapter 2 kind of contains like the whole synopsis of the Bhagavad Gītā, and then everything after Chapter 2 it's kind of an elaboration or, you know, connects the chapter 2 in some ways. But for the most part, we'll do 3 chapters per class, which is a lot, but, you know, whatever it is. And yeah, what else? I think so we'll start, you know, doing the leadership day again next week. So, the only thing is, if you do leadership on the Gospel of Mark, then in your podcast you should discuss, or you should lead the discussion on the Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā, and vice versa. ⚠

Student

But, yeah, I think when you are doing—

9:57

Tumbling Tower Game and Team Formation

Brad

sorry, I'm all over the place. Let's just play a game. You wanna play a game? Let's play a game. I think that'll help. Help me and everybody else. ⚠

Student

I brought this game.

Brad

It's not Jenga, it's Tumbling Tower. And the only thing different is that they have these different colors, so you have to roll the little die. I've never played this before, but it's not even opened yet. So you have to roll the little die, and then if you get like, you know, red, then you have to move a red. If you get You get the idea, right? So how about, usually I do team leaders, but we don't have team leaders today. So we're gonna do, we'll just rotate. How about that? Every time your team comes up, different person has to play. But it's team-based. Everything here's team-based. So let's, I don't know, somewhere. Let's do it up here, yeah? No, this is already crowded. Let's do it right here. We're going to do it right here. Um, this is scary. Oh, okay. ⚠

Student

I feel I'm a second half player.

Student

Yeah, he's a big time clutch guy.

Brad

First round. The price of entry for the game is you gotta have a team name. ⚠

Student

Oh no.

Student

He's not ready.

Brad

You can look through this and discuss team names. Absolutely. We don't have to go in any particular order.

Student

We can start—

Brad

whoever's got a team name can get us started.

Student

This didn't give away any quiz answers, did it?

Brad

What? Camel hair? That's right.

Student

All right, who wants to get us started?

Brad

All right, words. Grace, you have— y'all have a team name? The Fish. All right, cool. I have no idea. I guess probably any color, yeah? Let's just say that. I don't know. And definitely only one hand, yeah? Oh, one hand at a time? Either hand, but— All right, who's after the fish? All right, go Katie. Katie, what's your team name? ⚠

Student

What?

Brad

Ballers with a Z. Got it.

Student

It's good.

Brad

All right, go for it, Katha. Who's next?

Student

Team Chariot.

Brad

Team Chariot.

Student

Cool.

Brad

As far as anything, I think so. Yeah, yep, yes, I mean yes. All right, cool. Luke, yourself's name? ⚠

Student

Brahmasutra.

Brad

Okay, yes sir.

Student

I'm colorblind, so How do you spell that? Is it actually just like brahman? Like B-R-A-H space M-A-N-S. ⚠

Brad

Okay.

Student

Brahmas.

Brad

Christine, you have a team name?

Student

Uh, we're the 3 Ps in a Ball.

Student

Okay. Plato's Clay. Plato's Clay.

Brad

Oh, I love that. Just pick one. If you hate it, you can change it later. The Hindi heroes. Okay, cool.

Student

Does heroes have an E? I mean, does it have two Es?

Brad

Heroes. H-E-R-O-E-S.

Student

All right. All right, we've circled around. Let's try and go a little bit faster, please.

Brad

So let's— you know the order?

Student

No?

Brad

Yeah? So we're starting over. Who went first last time? The fish went first, right? OK.

Student

Whoever's next, go ahead and come up.

Brad

Let's get a line. Let's get one person from— We're after fish.

Student

Sorry, what?

Student

Was that the first one?

Student

No, it wasn't.

Student

Was yellow. Yeah, it was yellow.

Student

That's awesome.

Student

What do we get if we lose? Like, which team do we get? Like minus 5 on? ⚠

Brad

No, no, that's, that's valid. You got to go, bro. Stadium pulls. Stadium pulls.

Student

Stadium pulls.

Student

Free logic.

Brad

For you, second. I am probably going to win.

Student

That's all right.

Student

You down?

Student

One round?

Brad

Whoa!

Student

So do you want third or fourth?

Student

Wait, do you want third or fourth?

Brad

I can go next.

Student

Okay, perfect. Stop.

Brad

Hold on, hold on. Pause.

Student

Yeah, this is coming down.

Student

Why are you shaking?

Student

Don't have steady hands.

21:55

Student Leadership and AI Study Tools

Student

Oh my God.

Student

Oh, she should be a surgeon.

Student

You should probably be a surgeon.

Brad

I'm going to multitask a little bit and talk a little bit about leadership. Go ahead, keep going though. Who's next?

Student

So when it's not your turn to lead, just, you know, just read the text.

Brad

Take notes, that kind of thing, have something to say maybe.

Student

When it is your leadership day this unit, you know, for the rest of the semester, I'd really like you to, you know, engage with a commentary. So there's lots and lots of different ways to do that.

Brad

One would be to, to use an actual commentary like a Women's Bible Commentary. Is a really good one, or so many different commentaries. Boston College has quite a collection in the library, so it shouldn't be an issue at all. Doing fine? Whoa, just snagged it. ⚠

Student

I think— I think for the Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā, the easiest and probably even the best thing to do would be to use the AI tool that I set up.

Brad

So you've got that Bhagavad Gītā study tool that I set up. So you will need to log in. One hand. Can you do that? Can you do that? I think you have to do 3. You have to do 3.

Student

What do you mean 3?

Brad

There's 2 on the top. There's got to be 3 on the top. Yeah. You good? Part of why I set up the login, I said that it was because of FERPA rules, which is not wrong, but the real reason is 'cause when I set it up, it was open and somebody hit my API and ran up $150 worth of charges, so I was like, I'm gonna shut this shit down. Anyway, so, but I don't think y'all, I think y'all could go crazy on it and still probably not break the bank. ⚠

Student

But feel free to use that.

Brad

So the tool on there for the Bhagavad Gītā, right? So if you go in, if you go in. [INAUDIBLE] Huh? ⚠

Student

You can't take ones that have already. Gone like to the top, right? ⚠

Brad

I think you can take any blue. It can't be from the top row, but it can be anything other than top. I think so. Yeah. Right?

Student

Really?

Brad

Okay. Alright.

Student

I guess so.

Brad

Right? Is that okay? I think it's okay.

Student

Different people have different rules?

Brad

Yes, that's true. The last spring they had a rule that if you touched it, you committed to that one. Touch that one.

Student

That's like the normal.

Brad

Oh, is that the normal? I've never actually read the instructions. I just looked at that. ⚠

Student

Yeah.

Student

I know. And then you have to tap one, and it's like flush, and then you're just done. ⚠

Brad

Nice.

Student

That AI tool that I set up on the Bhagavad Gītā, it knows, it has a knowledge base, right?

Brad

So it has Śaṅkara's commentary in Saṃskṛta, it has Rāmānuja's commentary in Saṃskṛta, it's got Madhva's, you know, it's got a lot of information and commentaries as well as various Translations. I plan to expand that a bit more. I'd like to get some Jain commentaries and some Sikh commentaries and maybe some others in there, but right now— Nice one. So I've taught this class, I think this is, I don't know, like 10 or 11 years now. ⚠

Student

And for most of those— oh, Eva.

27:17

Introduction to the Gospel of Mark

Brad

For most of those years, I used the Gospel of Luke. Last year, I used the Gospel of John. And this year, trying the Gospel of Mark. And if you— drum roll. Let's go. Nice.

Student

The Gospel of Mark is the oldest gospel. Written sometime—

Brad

scholars pretty much widely agree that it was written sometime between 67 and 70. So that's a pretty small window. If you study ancient texts, you know, there's this pretty small window. In fact, most scholars agree that it was, like, written in either 69 or 70. So really small window. It's a very unusual text, I think. Yeah, very unusual text.

Student

I'll pass around this.

Brad

I'll pass around this. This is the Greek text.

Student

And I'll put— I'm going to put this little doohickey at the beginning of Mark's Gospel. Yeah.

Brad

One thing, even as it goes around, one thing I want you to glance at is that almost every single verse in the entire Gospel of Mark begins with the word kai, which means and. So like every freaking sentence in the text with a couple of exceptions, begins with the word "kai," which is kind of unusual. Another one of his favorite words is "immediately." In fact, the word "immediately" is in there so many times, some translators just leave it out. Almost nobody puts in the word "and" every time it's in there. That would be like crazy. ⚠

Student

It also seems to end—

Brad

spoiler alert— but it also seems to end like mid-sentence. So it has a very, very unusual ending. The last words are "ephobounto gar," which means "they were afraid." Actually, "gar" means "for," so it ends with the word "for," like F-O-R, which is pretty weird. And so the last ending is "they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." Run away, run away. Do we have a time? ⚠

Student

Like, does it have to stand for what, 5 seconds, 3 seconds?

Brad

How long does it have to stand?

Student

Oh, that was too bold.

Brad

The top's got to show.

Student

Rewind.

Brad

Oh my God. Wow.

Student

Yeah.

Brad

1, 2, 3, 4, 5. So he alternated. You can do that, right?

Student

Nice one. 3.

Brad

Larry. Um, this is a super long game.

Student

I don't know about that one.

Brad

Should I take a turn?

Student

Yeah.

Student

Yeah?

Student

Did you say should I tip it over? Should you tip it over?

Brad

Should I take a turn? Oh yeah, please. Katha's like, right now. OK, sure. What if I lose? Wow. All right, I guess that's fair. ⚠

Student

So the first half of this course, I focused quite a bit on creation.

Brad

And this half of the course, we're focusing mostly on recreation. And so starting with game, right? We'll have more Play-Doh and more games and that kind of stuff. But I think part of the point is to help you see the connection between these two words, right? Recreation and recreation. So it's not just a— yeah, it's an important connection. And so we'll continue to talk about that. But yeah, so what is the relationship between— creation and recreation. ⚠

Student

Let's—

Brad

yeah, I feel like— sorry, I'm feeling unprepared today. I'm not sure why. I feel like I want to tell more about the Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā, even though we're supposed to be talking about the Gospel of Mark today. So why don't we talk about the Gospel of Mark? Because that's what we're supposed to be talking about. So how about you get into your teams and spend a little time talking about the Gospel of Mark and the first 3 chapters, you know, which we're assigned for today. ⚠

Student

And just, you know, we're going to try as best as we can to focus on the Gospel of Mark while we're studying the Gospel of Mark, right? So if you want to compare it or contrast it to the other gospels, that's perfectly fine.

Brad

Absolutely. Right?

Student

But our focus is anchor—

Brad

we're anchoring our discourse in the Gospel of Mark. Right? So I think, you know, if you've never read any of them before, that kind of gives you a little bit of a leg up. If you know all of them really well, also kind of gives you a little bit of leg up. If you're a little bit hazy on like what's the difference between Gospel of John and what's the Gospel of Mark, it's fine. We'll just focus on the Gospel of Mark. You don't have to worry about the other ones. Right? So, but I think it would be a mistake to kind of synchronize, you know, look at them too synchronistically, you know what I mean? We're focusing on the Gospel of Mark. Does that make sense? So take a few minutes with your team, maybe pick out a verse from these chapters that you find, you know, worthy or interesting to talk about. And yeah, let's raise it. So take like 7 minutes, 7 minutes, and then we'll share with the class. Yeah. ⚠

Student

Cool.

Student

Go for it.

Brad

No, we don't have to do service.

Student

Sorry, I'm not—

Brad

I'm not—

Student

I'm like extra sober today.

Brad

It's weird.

Student

The religious priests that were leading, like, it should be in reverse. Like, people who are in need and poverty and like children should be prioritized. Uh, this coming weekend, no, but then yeah, I think the following weekend, no, but then afterwards it's the entire week. Graduation, so fun, so excited. ⚠

Student

I'm, I'm after it.

Brad

I love it.

Student

Uh, somewhere about here, but basically house in like— like way out of the way. ⚠

Student

That's cool.

Student

They got cool lakes.

Student

I'm thinking about it. I'm really worried of like not having friends, so, uh, socially that sounds like a good move.

Brad

I play on her.

Student

I'll meet so many cool people.

Student

Maybe I'll pick up an instrument.

Student

I'll do some crazy stuff.

Student

I'll work out pretty good. ⚠

Brad

My midlife crisis as quick as possible.

Student

Really get after it.

Student

Too serious. So what's, uh, what verses stood out to you? Want me to get us started? ⚠

Brad

Don't sleep on the first verse, actually.

Student

The first verse is already a little bit striking. And the— so this annotated commentary, this is the Oxford Annotated Edition of the—

Brad

New Testament is kind of considered one of the most academic sort of scholarly translations. And it does include these little notes. So you've got the footnotes, which is kind of a commentary, kind of like helpful notes about the readers, about the text, which are very helpful, I think. Yeah, helpful for anybody, whether you're leadership or not. These other little ABCD, those mostly, maybe exclusively, have to do with the actual original text. So we don't have any original copies of the text, right? We've got a whole bunch of really, really old copies and a bunch of fragments of old copies. And they aren't all the same. They don't all agree with each other. They don't all contain the same things. ⚠

Student

Things.

Brad

You know, sometimes the differences are really minor, sometimes they're more significant, but those little A, B, C, D, E notes usually tell you something about translation. For example, the beginning of the good news and it has, or gospel, gospel is just the Greek word that means good news, so not really any difference there. And then as it says, like, some ancient authorities lack the Son of God, which when you see that some ancient authorities, meaning the most ancient, most authoritative text, the most reliable sort of fragments or texts that we have. ⚠

Student

So some of them include it and some of them don't. So usually if it's omitted or something like that's omitted, you can assume that it was added by somebody later.

Brad

Usually when people are copying, they don't omit things. They are more likely to add things. So, but we're not, we're not doing like super deep textual, you know, historical analysis or whatever, but I'm just kind of explaining that.

Student

So the, yeah, I asked you what verses stood out to you. Anything, anything stand out? Any Anything from chapter 1 stand out?

Brad

It could be obvious or anything else. Yeah, Brent.

46:23

Class Discussion: Authority, Messianic Secret, and Oral Tradition

Student

I think the first indication to whatever, it stood out to me that Jesus spoke and taught with authority, like he was the one making, like he was the direct source, whereas the scribes were kind of teaching like someone else had done it first and they were relaying the message. ⚠

Student

And so that's just kind of off the bat.

Brad

Yeah.

Student

Kind of indicating that he's the Son of God.

Brad

Okay, yeah, well, yeah, definitely that phrase with authority or even just the word authority. This is a really important thing to Mark, right? He uses that a lot and yeah, good catch. He mentions quite frequently that Jesus speaks with authority or acts with authority and not so much other people, even people who are in positions of authority. You know, don't necessarily do that. Yeah, Anna, and then Pierre. ⚠

Student

Like kind of going off of that, it's like when he approaches like the fish people and he says like, follow me and I will make fish for people, or make you fish for people, it says like, and they immediately left their nets. And it's like kind of like his authority and their like immediate trust for him. And the word immediately then like repetitively comes up For me, that just means without a doubt, they just dropped everything and followed him. ⚠

Brad

Yeah, good catch. Yeah, that word immediately comes up so often. And yeah, so he just said—

Student

there's no real indication why he's picking them or—

Brad

well, they don't seem to know him or anything, but he just says, follow me, and they just immediately do it. Yeah, Peter? ⚠

Student

I think what jumps out to me at the end of the chapter is when he heals a leper and he says, like, after sternly warning him, sent him away, like, don't tell anyone else. I think it's interesting why I say that. Like, as you see, like, throughout the other chapters, really, he's out there helping as much people as possible. And I think it's interesting to be like, all right, don't tell anyone. Obviously, we know the leper told people, and then everyone was flocking to Jesus. But it's like, why even say that in the first place? Like, why say— why, like, why say don't tell anyone? Why say do tell anyone? Obviously, if this guy's healed, people are going to know. ⚠

Brad

Yeah, good. So this is what's usually referred to as the messianic secret. And he very frequently, even in these chapters, but all the way through the text, keeps telling people not to say anything to anyone. And it's a bit mysterious. Yeah, Lily, and then Colin. ⚠

Student

Yeah, I thought it was really interesting when in chapter 3 it says, when unclean spirits saw him, they fell before him and shouted, you are the Son of God. ⚠

Brad

Jesus clearly ordered them not to make him known.

Student

I thought it was interesting that he didn't want for no one to know he was the Son of God and the unclean spirits were persecuting him and shouting, you are the Son of God. Yeah, great. ⚠

Brad

So we've got this phrase, Son of God.

Student

And we'll definitely come back and interrogate that phrase phrase and what does it mean?

Brad

What does it mean to Mark? What does he mean by it?

Student

It does come up, like I said, right in the first verse. So the reader is told that he's the Son of God.

Brad

But then setting aside what the reader knows, who in the text, what characters in the text recognize him as such?

Student

And so far, at least, it's none of the human characters. So the only characters that identify him or call him the Son of God, at least so far, are these unclean spirits. And what exactly does that mean?

Brad

I don't know. Yeah, Colin?

Student

That's kind of actually the point I was going to talk about, was how he cast out many demons, how it says at the end of chapter, and he went throughout Galilee proclaiming the message in the synagogues and casting out demons. And I'm looking at that more as like a metaphorical sense where he's obviously like, he's a figure that's the Son of God and he's forgiving and atoning for people's sins and saying, I forgive you. And so he's casting out their sins. But then it goes to a more literal sense with the leopard and with the paraplegic where it's saying, oh, I actually performed this miracle and healed you. ⚠

Brad

Yeah.

Student

It's kind of interesting context to think, is this more literal or is this more kind of like you were forgiven of your sins and therefore you're a brand new person?

Student

Right.

Brad

Because I mean, I could say it, you know, I could say, Colin, you're forgiven of your sins. But like, does that mean anything if I say it right?

Student

And so he seems to speak with authority, right? And he gets in trouble for that.

Brad

Right.

Student

And so that's why I put that as one of the quiz questions. Right. He says your sins are forgiven.

Brad

And then he gets in all this trouble, right? And with the Pharisees, and then he's like, well, what's more difficult, right? Anybody could say your sins are forgiven. That doesn't even mean anything, right? It's just like, it's just a thing anybody could say. Whereas I can like, you know, tell you to get up and walk and heal, you know, cure you of disease. Like, that's way harder, right? Why are you getting upset with me for forgiving, you know, telling somebody that their sins are forgiven? When I'm also doing these other things, right? And doesn't one— ⚠

Student

so does one—

Brad

so yeah, I mean, good. I'm all over the place. Good. Others? Yeah, Logan?

Student

Well, this is kind of a little bit of a different topic. When John was in the wilderness, he ate locusts and wild honey. And then also during the 40 days and nights, if you think of the bathing concept, concept of vanaprastha and how that would be like the next— after the next stage would be sannyasa. And I would imagine that during vanaprastha, you're probably not supposed to do too much stuff, at least relating to other people. It's supposed to be focused on yourself. So John coming out of the wilderness and going to baptize Jesus, I think, also kind of showed the importance and acceptance of Jesus from him, at least, or realization. ⚠

Brad

Yeah.

Student

So great. John the Baptist is this— enigmatic character, and I like that vanaprastha connection. Yeah, he's out there in the wilderness. Most scholars— I mean, we don't know much about him, but some scholars at least argue that he was an Essene or somehow connected with the Essene community. This is a community that set themselves apart from the rest of society.

Brad

Also, yeah, quick, super quick history lesson. So the Hebrew scriptures for hundreds of years were only oral. They were only passed down orally. So very much like the veda, you know, you were expected, if parents teach their kids, and you're expected to memorize the entire text, right, in Hebrew.

Student

And it was— why would you think— why would it be—

Brad

it was kind of like it was— you were supposed to avoid writing it down. You weren't supposed to write it down. You were supposed to memorize it. Why do you think that would be an emphasis in any culture, not just Hebrew culture, but in any culture? Why would it be emphasized that, hey, we're not going to write these texts down You got to memorize them. Yeah, Layla? ⚠

Student

Because a lot of times in Catholic tradition, there are rules trying to relate to what Jesus did, but Jesus never broke down in his parables.

Brad

OK. So Jesus didn't write, so therefore be like him. Yeah, good. ⚠

Student

I was just saying, if there's a fire, if you get attacked or whatever, the written down stuff could get taken away. But if you memorize it, it won't.

Student

It's always with you.

Brad

Yeah, good. Yeah.

Student

From a community involvement standpoint, if you have it written down, people become maybe lazy or disengaged with religion versus if everybody is engaged directly with it.

Student

Yeah, good.

Brad

On the right track. Yeah.

Student

Does that have to do with bringing the knowledge to the afterlife?

Student

Like you know it, so when you pass away, you kind of bring that to heaven?

Student

I've never heard that, but that makes sense.

Brad

I mean, what you're saying makes sense. That before, but that's, yeah, interesting. Yeah, Kayla?

Student

If it gets written down, people mistake it as like human-authored.

Brad

Okay, so yeah, another reason.

Student

Yeah, another reason is, is just, you know, sort of like Sunahsepa, right?

Brad

If you, if you, if you're like in a situation where the text really matters, you can't go like, hey, let me pull out my notes, right? It's like, um, life happens and the the short moments, right? And so if you've got the entire text memorized, then it can influence your actions, right? So if you've got to make your decision, should I take this job or should I take that job, maybe you have time to deliberate, talk to your family, talk to your friends, consult the text, that kind of stuff. But in reality, most of the time, you've got to make major decisions in a snap, right? And so having the entire text memorized, it becomes a part of your thinking process, right? And so that's true across most cultures. ⚠

Student

So then if that's the case, that makes sense, right?

Brad

You want your kids to have the text memorized, not just like in their back pocket or whatever, or definitely not like at home on the shelf.

Student

So if that's the case, then why would anybody write the text down, right?

Brad

If you've got hundreds of years of the text being passed down, orally generation after generation and sort of looking down upon writing it down, then why would a community suddenly write the text down? Do you think? Yeah, give it a shot. ⚠

Student

Just like maybe they want to grow the community or they want it to make it more— ⚠

Student

[Speaker] Okay, so you could spread the word.

Brad

Okay, that's— yeah, good.

Student

Dan?

Student

[Speaker] I was going to say something similar, like to preserve the stories, but also maybe like I know this was translated into many languages. I don't know if they're thinking this far ahead, but again, spreading it to other communities, to other cultures and languages as well. ⚠

Student

[Speaker] I mean, I think those are very valid reasons, and it's definitely in like Buddhist tradition. That's exactly why it's written down. It's written down so that it can be spread.

Brad

It's written down so that it can be translated and spread. Yeah, good.

Student

Maybe like oral tradition can get like a little fuzzy and like people can put their own spins on it. So if they have like words written down, like you can't fight with the words, like that's just what it is.

Brad

Okay, yeah, good. So that way we can't— so we can have a clear unchanging text. So sort of my first first lecture, right? We can look at a text. The text, the words don't change. So if we've got it in front of us, we can look at it like a playing die rather than an abstract idea or something that we could all debate over. ⚠

Student

So all those are good reasons, not wrong. But another reason is if the community is threatened, right?

Brad

So in this case, the, the Jewish community was being severely, not just threatened, but actually decimated, right? The word decimated means reduced by 90%, right? So decimal point. And so if all of the men, you know, in society have the text memorized and it's their job in part to teach it to their sons and their daughters, then if all the men are dying and being killed or enslaved or taken away, then they can't do that, right? And so the next generation can't learn the text if the people that are teaching it to them are being wiped out, right?

Student

So the Essene community, so Israel, I mean, present-day Israel, it was kind of Israel then too, but the Israelites and that community was occupied by the Roman Empire.

Brad

Roman Empire came in, kind of kicked everybody's ass. They wanted their taxes. They wanted, you know, all sorts of things. And a bit oppressive. You probably know a bit about Roman history and that kind of thing. They weren't super friendly to the folks that they took over. And so the Hebrew community was really being decimated made it. And there was this concern that if we don't write the text down, then we won't— then the next generation won't have any opportunity to learn them, right? ⚠

Student

So John the Baptist, or at least the Essene community— Essenes were folks that they basically went off into these caves outside of the city.

Brad

They hid. I mean, they hid, right? They hid in these caves. Sequestered themselves in these caves for the sole purpose of writing down the entire text.

Student

And they made multiple copies, and sometimes they write it down and like, you know, Jean-Guyre's version is a little bit different than Scott's version, and so they have to kind of like talk through that and work it out and stuff. But this is what's— we have these texts. These are what's usually referred to as the Dead Sea Scrolls. So in the Dead Sea, there's these mountains. ⚠

Brad

And these mountains are filled with caves. And so basically, the Essenes went off into those caves, hid out there, and wrote down all these texts.

Student

And then some of the texts, they literally buried underneath the ground.

Brad

And that's actually what the Dead Sea Scrolls are, these texts that were buried under the ground.

Student

And so many scholars think that there's some connection between John the Baptist and these Essene communities. And so John the Baptist presumably was— I mean, he was definitely living outside of the city, very much like vanaprastha, as Logan said, and then coming in to perform baptisms, which was usually probably a weekly thing that was done.

Brad

You would go and just go through this. Practice. Good.

Student

What else do you notice about this John the Baptist episode?

Brad

Or anything, or any other, any other thing? Let's think about 2 more minutes on Mark's Gospel.

Student

Any other points that you want to bring up?

Brad

Any other verses?

Student

Anything that you notice that's missing?

Brad

What are the obvious things that are missing?

Student

Yeah, Eva?

Student

Jesus starts as an adult.

Brad

Yeah, I mean, that's a significant thing, right?

Student

No baptism.

Brad

I mean, no birth narrative, none of that kind of stuff, right?

Student

We can see already from the first verse that being a son of God, it's a pretty big deal for Mark.

Brad

But what does that mean, right? It definitely doesn't mean, or doesn't seem, I mean, if the birth narrative was important to him, probably would have included it, right? ⚠

Student

So then, what do we make of the fact that it was not there?

Brad

Yeah?

Student

I think partial insignificance, because I think birth is obviously very important. The origin of Jesus is very important. But then, as he's growing up, 8-year-old Jesus probably isn't doing much. And no one really knew about him. So there's not a lot of importance information about it. ⚠

Brad

It doesn't matter that much. Okay. Yeah, Dan?

Student

I was going to say Mark probably focused on the impact that Jesus had around the time until the community in the present, like when Mark met him, but also I guess wanting to spend more time of the text or a bigger portion of the text focused on a more significant aspect of his life. ⚠

Brad

Okay.

Student

Yep.

Brad

Grace?

Student

I also think that like at the end of the third chapter, it like mentions that like his mother and brothers and sisters are outside. Then he says like, who here, like everyone is his mother. So I think it's kind of like putting an emphasis on the fact that like his real family, I guess, is like everyone almost. Like less on like his direct blood and like direct people he's related to. ⚠

Brad

Yeah. Good. Yep. Great. Anna?

Student

I kind of like an offbeat one. An opposite perspective. It's kind of like the first sentence, you're told like he is the Son of God, but it's like, how do you know this? And it's kind of just like you're just told this and supposed to believe it, but you have no like backtrack of like what happened when he was born and his birth. So like kind of gives you more of like a skeptical view, like why am I believing this immediately? ⚠

Brad

Okay, yep. So that raises questions of audience, right?

Student

Is he trying to convince people or is he writing to people who already believe it? Who is he writing for?

Brad

And what's his purpose? No easy answers there. Yeah, Colin?

Student

I would say the kind of same thing. It's just kind of like pushing authority just on his figures because it's kind of like showing emphasis on maybe this kind of person that's less human than us. And he has this kind of different presence than us. And he's actually an embodiment of God. And so it's kind of emphasizing him as a god and his actions and his miracles that he did for us.

Brad

OK, good.

Student

So another question. I mean, what does Son of God mean? Does it mean some sort of embodiment or what does it mean?

Brad

And I think maybe more important for our purposes, what does it mean to Mark, right? Based on the text and that sort of stuff. Great.

Student

I think I've really covered most everything that I want to say. A couple of things. We don't really know who wrote the Gospel of Mark.

Brad

It does not identify. It does not use the word Mark. Actually, anywhere.

Student

So tradition attributes it to John Mark, one of the disciples.

Brad

But there's not really anything in the text to suggest that. But also no real reason to— I mean, we don't know. We don't know who wrote it.

Student

And we don't know too much about the audience, although part of why I went into that long thing about the Essenes is to really get a sense of like it was a community under threat, right?

Brad

It was a community under oppression. It was a community that was occupied by a foreign power that was hostile to its religion, hostile to its culture and practices. And I mean, just hostile in general, actually. Whoever he is, he's writing from an oppressed position to people that are oppressed politically and socially and economically and otherwise.

Student

Two of the things we're not going to really talk about, Matthew, Luke, or John. But just to give a sense of the chronology. So Mark, as we said, sometime around 67 and 70. Something that's really important about the year 70. Anybody know what happened in the year 70 that's super significant here? ⚠

Brad

So this is the year that the temple was destroyed.

Student

And we'll see this in chapter 13. Jesus predicts that the temple is going to be destroyed, which is part of why scholars say, well, it must have been after that.

Student

Right?

Brad

But not long after that, obviously.

Student

So whereas Matthew and Luke were written about 15 years later, and they—

Brad

we know there's really no debate among scholars at all on this point anymore. There used to be.

Student

About 60 or 70 years ago, but it's rather clear that Matthew and Luke both literally had a copy of Mark's Gospel.

Brad

And so they're taking Mark's Gospel. Sometimes they're copying it word for word.

Student

Sometimes—

Brad

more often, they'll copy it word for word, and then Mark is not a great Greek speaker, actually. He's not a great writer in terms of like his grammar and his vocabulary and that kind of stuff. ⚠

Student

As I mentioned, he begins almost every— as you probably saw from the text, he begins almost every sentence with the word "chai," meaning "and," which is like, who would do that? Like literally nobody except for him. But if you're writing in Hebrew, Hebrew doesn't have like punctuation, like periods and that kind of stuff. But people would often write a vav. ⚠

Brad

That's a vav.

Student

So vav is a letter in Greek, so it's just a letter, but it also means "and." And in Hebrew, you would often use this to separate sentences. So it could be that he just was like separating sentences and then translated the vav into "hi," which is a little bit funny. ⚠

Brad

You know, but anyway, that's a pretty good theory.

Student

But my point is he was not great at Greek, whereas Matthew and Luke and John are all really good at Greek.

Brad

And so Matthew and Luke, when they're copying Mark's gospel, sometimes they'll make grammatical improvements. So sometimes they'll actually retain the grammatical mistakes, which is also interesting.

Student

But for the most part, they use Mark's gospel as a framework, and then they add their own material. They also have a little bit—

Brad

Matthew and Luke have a little bit of material in common.

Student

So there's some things that Matthew and Luke have in common in addition to the gospel of Mark.

Brad

And then they both have their own sources. And then John's just off doing his own thing.

Student

Cool? We only got 4 minutes left. I want to say a couple of things about the Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā just because you're reading it for Tuesday, and I want to give you a little bit of prep. So obviously, starting next Thursday, we will really focus on the Gospel of Mark. ⚠

1:08:53

Introduction to the Bhagavad-Gītā and Smṛti

Brad

We'll get in a circle and all that kind of stuff. We'll get the text that's due.

Student

But today, we're just kind of getting started with the second half. So Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā. Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā is— smriti, so not shruti. ⚠

Brad

Everything we've studied so far has been shruti.

Student

This is the only thing now that's smriti, but it's almost elevated to the high—

Brad

it's almost like elevated to shruti status. So super important text.

Student

It's part of the Mahabharata, which is actually itihasa. So all of those different labels that we learned last semester or last the first half of the semester, they kind of get muddled here. Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā— Bhagavad Gītā means song, so it is a poem. It's written in verse, and in the triple parallel translation I gave you, so you can see you can see even just from looking at it that especially Barbara Stoller Miller, she's, her translation is really nice in terms of like preserving the meter and preserving the poetic sort of, so Bhagavad Gītā means song, but it's also poetry, and so you can see it's almost every verse has 4 padas, 4 quarters, 4 feet, And, but not all of them. ⚠

Brad

Some of them will, anyway, we'll get into that.

Student

The Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā, Bhagavan means the Lord.

Brad

So the song of the Lord, or God's song.

Student

Yeah, the Lord, song of the Lord. It's part of the Mahabharata, which we learned earlier this semester.

Brad

It's like a massive epic, right?

Student

Thousands of pages. It's twice as long as the Odyssey and Iliad combined.

Brad

Just the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā is just 18 chapters out, you know, extracted out of this massive text. So there's a lot that happens before it and a lot that happens after it, but we're kind of diving into just this little, right, taking it out of context. But that's— it's always taken out of context, almost always, so we're not doing anything super awkward. ⚠

Student

The time, the date of the text is it's really, really kind of in the same basic range as the Gospel of Mark. So obviously written in a different place, but right around the same time. We have a wider window here. Some people say 100 BCE, some people say 100 CE.

Brad

It's definitely somewhere in that window. Maybe right in the middle, which is, you know, takes us pretty close to there.

Student

The Mahabharata is, sorry, the Bhagavad Bhagavad Gītā is describing civil war, like a feud, a feud between cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas.

Brad

For our purposes, we'll just take them as the good guys and the bad guys. And trust me when I say the bad guys are bad.

Student

They're doing bad things.

Brad

They're doing bad things, right?

Student

So here again, we have something a little bit similar in terms of context. The Gospel of Mark, as I already said, is written by a community that's oppressed to a community that's oppressed. And here we've got a situation where the, at least in the story, we don't know too much about the historical context, but in terms of the story, you've got the oppressors, right? The bad guys who are in power.

Brad

So the people that are in power are corrupt, all that kind of stuff, politicians and things like that. Things. ⚠

Student

I just wanted to give you a couple of different frameworks. One is I just saw this news this morning that the OpenAI chief of robotics resigned, which I think is sort of relevant here. There's so many different places we could go for relevant parallels. But you've basically got one person who's standing up even against their own interests, speaking truth to power, speaking out.

Brad

You know, against those positions of power and that kind of stuff. Yeah.

1:13:07

Closing and Quiz Return

Student

I think that's enough. So I'll give you back your quizzes and grades. They're in order here.

Brad

So if you tell me your number, I should be able to get it.

Student

Have a good weekend. See you Tuesday.