Thesis Considerations

I have decided to use this space to write about my thesis research. Hopefully this will help me hash some things out and to receive some constructive criticism as well. In this post I would like to give a summary of my thesis. I hope to expand on this summary in further posts. The title of my thesis is "Mark’s Secrecy Motif: Hellenistic Mystery Cults and the Warning Against Revealers in Mark’s Gospel." I hope to address the following questions:

• What was the function of secrecy in Hellenistic mystery cults and in Mark’s gospel?
• Were there advantages to being initiated into the mysteries, including soteriological and eschatological advantages?
• What was the secret in Mark?
• Did Mark’s Gospel function to reveal the secret or to show the consequences of revelation?

The thesis will address the influence of Hellenistic mystery cults on early Christianity, especially the Markan Community. I hope to clearly identify the advantages of initiation into a few specific mystery cults and to compare those advantages to those described in Mark's Gospel. I will ultimately move to argue that the Markan Community in fact functioned as a mystery cult, and Mark's Gospel was warning to those who might reveal the secret. I will also move to argue that the action of the women in Mark 16.8 is Mark's ideal reaction to the secret.