December 2011 Volume 38 Number 6

Mark by Heart

Traditionally, the December issue of Currents in Theology and Mission is devoted to the Gospel for the current lectionary year in the three-year revised common lectionary. This year is no different as we focus on the Gospel of Mark. However, instead of presenting essays on various themes and dynamics of the Gospel, we decided to combine our focus on Mark with the experience of learning and performing Mark by heart.

A number of people are now performing the Gospel of Mark by memory in its entirety before audiences in church and community. To do so involves an extraordinary commitment, and it results in a rather astonishing feat—a dramatic presentation over two hours in length. In addition, many pastors and lay people are now learning the Scripture lessons by heart and presenting them in lively ways in worship each week. Thus we decided to invite two kinds of reflective essays in this issue. We invited one group of authors to reflect on what learning and performing the entire Gospel of Mark by heart has meant for them as scholars, teachers, and preachers, as well as for their lives of faith. We invited a second group of authors to share their experiences of performing Scripture by heart and to reflect, where appropriate, on what they have learned, in presenting Scripture, about the Gospel of Mark.

Our focus on “Mark by Heart” is part of a growing trend in the academy and the church to recover the oral dimensions of the biblical writings in their origins. The biblical world of the first century was comprised of societies that were predominantly oral. Probably only 5 percent of the people were able to read and write, whereas the other 95 percent were non-literate peasants and urban dwellers who lived exclusively in the world of sound. The overwhelming majority of Christians experienced the Gospels and epistles in oral presentations.

Most likely, the early Christians presented the Gospels as a whole before gathered communities. Probably, they presented them by memory, even when a scroll was present, because the nature of the writing (continuous upper-case letters without break or punctuation) did not lend itself to reading with facility and because that is how people told stories in those days. As far as we know, these presentations were lively, emotional, and powerful performances meant to transform people and generate communities of love and commitment. The language was designed to be memorable—with stories, proverbs, parables, sayings with a ring to them, and teachings in patterns easy to learn. Words were understood to be speech-actions that had the power to bring transformation.

This new emphasis is a change of paradigm for the academy. Scholars are rethinking traditional disciplines in the context of orality. New methods are being introduced to discern oral patterns in the writings and to construct in imagination early Christian performance scenarios as a basis for interpretation. You can learn about this work at the website www.biblicalperformancecriticism.org.

At the same time, there is a movement to recover the oral experience of the biblical traditions by performing these writings in congregations and other public venues. Trained actors are performing Mark and other biblical writings in theaters and churches. Teachers in seminaries and colleges are incorporating performance into their pedagogy of the Bible. Pastors and lector groups are recounting the Scripture lessons by heart in worship. Small groups of storytellers are meeting regularly in congregations to learn and tell stories as a means to deepen their spirituality and discipleship. To learn more about this movement, visit the website of the Network of Biblical Storytellers at www.nbsint.org.

The first four essays in this issue were written by people who have learned—and performed—the Gospel of Mark by heart. Through each of these four essays: “Mark: Forming Disciples for the Way of Peace,” by Dr. Tom Boomershine; “Renovating Power: Embodying Jesus’ New Way,” by Dr. Phil Ruge-Jones; “Follow Me: Reflections on Internalizing, Embodying, and Performing the Gospel of Mark,” by Dr. Tracy Radosevic; and “Sixty Miles and Sixteen Chapters: My Journey to Learn the Gospel of Mark and What It Taught Me,” by the Rev. Zac Sturm, we are invited into fascinating and illuminating journeys of what learning Mark by heart has meant for the authors’ scholarly understandings of Mark, for their practice of ministry as theological teachers and pastors, and—since each essay is a profound personal witness—for their call to be followers of Jesus, convicted and inspired by Jesus’ claim on their lives.

The second set of essays: “The Year of Mark: A Year for Performance,” by the Rev. Dr. Peter Perry; “Telling the Story,” by the Rev. Dawn Silvius; “Gospel by Heart,” by the Rev. Clark Olson-Smith; and “Scripture by Heart: Reconnecting Word and Heart,” by Peter Olson, all describe what learning and performing Scripture by heart for weekly worship has meant for them, and each of the authors makes special references to the Gospel of Mark. Perry, Silvius, and Olson-Smith are parish pastors for whom the response of their congregations to Scripture by heart is an important aspect of the learning. Olson, Wartburg Theological Seminary M.Div. student preparing to be a pastor in the ELCA, was deeply influenced by a course taken with Professor Ruge-Jones at Texas Lutheran University, and has found the practice of Scripture by heart a way to keep “word and heart” deeply interconnected amid the rigors of his theological studies. “In, with, and under” the paragraphs of all the authors is a pulsing vitality that comes from their experience of performing Scripture in a community of hearers and co-learners and their testimony to the Gospel’s very present enlivening power.

A culminating essay related to this issue on “Mark by Heart” is a hands-on tutorial by the Rev. Dennis Dewey. Dewey, parish pastor and Vice President of the Network of Biblical Storytellers International, has given over three hundred storytelling workshops. He emphasizes learning Scripture “by heart” because the experience of learning is done as a whole person, not just with the mind, as may happen with “memorization.” Also, he clarifies what the word “performance” signifies, and why it is preferable to other descriptors. To practice the tutorial with a precious passage of Scripture in hand that we want to remember is to discover that it is indeed possible, even for those of us who do not have confidence in our memories, to learn—and perform—Scripture “by heart.”

We hope you find these reflections informative. We also hope that you are inspired by them. If you have never tried Scripture by heart, we hope you will consider giving it a try.

David Rhoads and Kathleen Billman
Issue Editors