Shaping History in the 1st and 2nd Centuries CE in Its Literary Culture

This chapter studies the interrelation of history-writing and literary culture. It considers the function of history-writing within the context of Hellenistic literary culture, as historiography at the time can be seen as a literary phenomenon. History-writing represents a substantial contribution to ancient literature; it circulates within the sphere of the ancient literary canon. Chronologically speaking, Mark and Luke follow in the literary tradition set by the earliest in Western history-writing, yet literary tradition among the earliest Christian authors also differs from the Greco-Roman world. Where historiographical topics and concepts vary significantly from one author to the next, in Mark and Luke, the subject of the narrative, namely, the gospel, remains surprisingly constant.

Epilogue

This concluding chapter contains some final reflections on history-writing as well as on the gospel writers themselves. It notes that the conception of history engendered in part by Mark and Luke constitutes a coherent framework within which to perceive the elements of time and history and, moreover, to demythologize the future. The chapter also dwells on the anonymity of Luke and Mark, especially in comparison to the more well-known Greco-Roman historians, yet it argues that their very anonymity as writers, however, may prove to have been their greatest strength: without a care for either the opportunities or the pitfalls that haunt the mainstream historian in his quest for fame and fortune, Mark and Luke managed to conceptualize narratives of “good news.”

Conceptualizing Time in Historiography

This chapter develops insights into the relation between memory, time, and history. Writing history implies the “ordering and controlling of time.” All types of history-writing, including fasti, geography, ethnography, and biography, function as literary means for the chronologizing and interpreting of time. In order to collect the necessary material (stories and facts), and then to systematically organize this material in a way that makes evident the interrelatedness of events, historians reflect on how best to subdivide and depict sequences of time. The organizing of time in the context of historiography is first of all a literary task. If narrative can best organize the experience of time, then historiography is definitive in terms of literary techniques for depicting the past.

Transforming Memory into Literary Narratives about the Past

This chapter reflects on the early Christian shape of literary religious memory. The earliest Christian memorial culture does not stand alone. In order to develop, especially by literary means, it reiterates basic patterns that already circulate in its surrounding world. While maintaining continuity with both the Hebrew and Septuagint versions, the influence of Roman memorial culture is decisive in terms of how Christian groups organize their memoria. Moreover, early Christian authors tend to maintain the concepts of memory which are constitutive for Israel's history with God. In the New Testament writings, the concept of memory—which predates history-writing—is affiliated with a variety of contexts: ritual practices, the memorization of Jesus's teaching, and certain events and experiences.