The Messianic Secret

Yesterday I finished up with translating my passages from Mark. Today I wanted to get a good start on expanding upon my research. My first step was to decide the approach I wanted to take. My task is to extract from about 37 pages an article of about 15 pages. Now anyone that has ever written an article for a scholarly journal knows that just because you have written a longer piece does not mean that your research is complete. In my case I have decided to do a great deal more research beyond what I have already done. My approach is to take the argument I have already made, and turn it into a response to scholarship claiming that the "messianic secret" is the reason for secrecy language in the Gospel of Mark. There have been many scholars to do this already (e.g. Adela Yarbro-Collins, David Aune and Gerd Theissen). My approach is a bit different though. I will be looking at secrecy language in Mark in relation to the requirements of secrecy and concealment within Greco-Roman mystery religions. So, the article will be based on my argument that the "secret" the mystery religions were trying to protect was in fact the experience of initiation. I will tie this in with the Gospel of Mark by focusing on Jesus' interaction with demons, the people he healed, and his inner-circle of disciples as initiations. I will continue to post as the article develops. I will also post in a few days my summary of William Wrede's book "The Messianic Secret." Stay tuned!