History through Stories. On the Importance of Jewish Traditions for the Representation of Jeus of Mark's Gospel

This article explores how the Gospel of Mark draws on Jewish traditions when telling the story of Jesus and thus writing history of and for its own time. The main focus is laid on those intertexts that are already evoked in the opening verses of Mark (1: 1- 3), namely the traditions of Jesaja, Elijah and Moses. These three threads are variably interwoven with the subsequent story line and have both a crucial Christological function for the characterization of the Markan Jesus and a paraenetical function regarding current distress of the Gospel audience.