Abstract
This article observes the rarely-discussed phenomenon that the Marcan paying-the-tax scene refers to tax in the singular, whilst the concluding saying uses the plural ‘the things of Caesar and of God’. The article accounts for this phenomenon by means of developing traditions. The section under the heading ‘Mark’s scene and saying about taxes (12:13–17)’ counters the common claim that scene and saying originated as a unit from the historical Jesus. It proposes that whilst the saying may have originated with Jesus, the scene as we have it did not. The section under the heading ‘Social memory, orality, and a multi-referential saying?’ suggests some contexts that the saying about the things of Caesar addressed pre-Mark. And under the section ‘Trauma and Mark’s scene’ it is argued that Mark created a unit comprising scene and saying to negotiate the ‘ trauma’ of the 66–70 war. The unit evaluates freshly-asserted Roman power as idolatrous and blasphemous whilst simultaneously authorising the continued involvement of Jesus-believers in imperial society.
Highlights
Despite extensive discussion of the Synoptic paying-the-tax scene (Mk 12:13–17), little attention has been paid to the incongruity between linguistic items in the singular – tax, denarius (Mk 12:15) – and Jesus’ final saying that employs the plural, ‘the things’ of Caesar and ‘the things’ of God.How might we account for this disjuncture? In this article, I propose doing so in terms of the diachronic development of the scene and saying.Though we cannot know for sure, I argue that the disjuncture arose when Mark attached a multivalent and permissive pre-70 saying to a scene newly created to negotiate the fresh assertion of Roman power in the 66–70 war and its triumphal celebrations
(2) Under the heading ‘Social memory, orality, and a multi-referential saying?’, using theories of orality and social memory, I argue that, pre-70, the saying sanctioned the involvements of Jesusbelievers in various imperial structures such as taxes, commerce, imperial cult, and military service
(3) Under the heading ‘Trauma and Mark’s Scene’, using trauma theory, historical, and narrative approaches, I argue that Mark contextualised the saying in a newly created conflictual scene that presented Roman power as blasphemous and idolatrous
Summary
Despite extensive discussion of the Synoptic paying-the-tax scene (Mk 12:13–17), little attention has been paid to the incongruity between linguistic items in the singular – tax (κῆσον,1 Mk 12:14), denarius (δηνάριον) (Mk 12:15) – and Jesus’ final saying that employs the plural, ‘the things’ (τά) of Caesar and ‘the things’ (τά) of God.How might we account for this disjuncture? In this article, I propose doing so in terms of the diachronic development of the scene and saying.Though we cannot know for sure, I argue that the disjuncture arose when Mark attached a multivalent and permissive pre-70 saying to a scene newly created to negotiate the fresh assertion of Roman power in the 66–70 war and its triumphal celebrations (cf. Evans 2006; Incigneri 2003; Winn 2008 for attempts to link Mark with Roman Imperial Power). Most interpreters argue or assume that Mark’s scene originates from Jesus and refers to the annual poll tax, or tax per person, levied after Quirinius’ census of 6 CE.
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