A speculative incipit of proto-Mark

[Giuseppe]

Thanks to Enrico Tuccinardi for this suggestion.

So a possible incipit of proto-Mark:

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In those days Jesus came from heaven to baptize John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, John saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

And the Spirit immediately drove John out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

After that John was baptized Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

This incipit may explain Mark 11:27-33:

27 Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28 and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” 31 They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”—they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

When John was baptized by Jesus, John ''became'' Jesus.

The proto-catholic interpolator had to convert simply John in a baptizer and Jesus in a guy coming from Nazaret and not from heaven.

Secondly, the interpolator had to put John in the ''wilderness'' before his baptism by Jesus.

[Giuseppe]

QUESTION: could John be Paul ?

Under this hypothesis, both John and Paul were possessed by ''Christ in me''.

But why to hide Paul behind John?

Maybe because ''Paul'' is only a nickname. The real Jewish name of ''Paul'' could be John.

[Stuart]

Well, you are up to Robert Price's speculations
http://robertmprice.mindvendor.com/art_jesus.htm

[Giuseppe]

I quote Bob Price from the link above:

It is almost like dropping sticks on the open page of the I Ching and seeing what oracle you can construe from the pithy but enigmatic signifiers ranged there.

[davidbrainerd]

QUESTION: could John be Paul ?

Under this hypothesis, both John and Paul were possessed by ''Christ in me''.

But why to hide Paul behind John?

Maybe because ''Paul'' is only a nickname. The real Jewish name of ''Paul'' could be John.

Maybe in turn Paul and John are Mark, John Mark, which explains why Barnabas is so fond of Paul (he's his nephew John Mark) and why Paul opposes taking John Mark on his later missionary journey (he cannot take his old self with him since it is the old man and he has put on the new man).

Its like Price says at the end of the article: "In short, the New Testament texts are like a constantly shifting kaleidoscope, and the application of our methods is the twisting of the tube. The results may be quite spectacular, fascinating, intriguing, entertaining. But the next twist will yield something else, and we may not judge it more 'true' or 'accurate' than the one before. None can carry any particular conviction. The history of the succession of regnant paradigms/theoretical frameworks in New Testament scholarship ought to have made that clear long before now."