The love commandment in Mark. An exegetico-theological study of Mark 12, 28-34

This research work investigates the problem whether the texts of the love commandment (cf. Mk 12,28-34), which are quotations of Deut 6,4-5 and Lev 19,18, have their original OT meaning in the gospel of Mark or whether they acquire, besides this, a specific Markan enrichment. The study not only affirms such a specificity but also demonstrates its richness and depth. It establishes that the distinctiveness of the Markan conception of the love commandment is closely linked to the person of Jesus and is expressed in a multiplicity of data, both formal and thematic, which can be discovered in an integral reading of the gospel.The methodology employed is modem redaction-criticism which differs from classical Redaction-criticism in that it is synchronic and takes the text as it stands as a coherent and wholistic document to be understood in terms of itself and thus studies it in an integral reading. The investigation has two parts, involving four chapters and a general conclusion. Part I, comprising Ch I and Ch II, dwells on the OT meaning and context of the texts of the love commandment and provides a lucid account of them which serves as the basis for its study in the gospel. Part II researches the commandment in Mk in two chapters. Of these Ch III represents the gospel's theoretical interpretation of the commandment and Ch IV Jesus' fulfillment of it in the Passion, his instruction by example. Together, they complete Mark's total interpretation of the love comandment. Following this, the general conclusion sees the Markan specificities in a unifying theological vision defined by the gospel's Christology and closes by drawing its consequences.