7 - Conclusions

Summary

We have now completed our exegetical and literary treatment of all the πίστις, πιστɛύɛιν references in the Markan text. In this concluding chapter, we will briefly review the narrative methodology we have used, and then attempt to draw together the main conceptual threads of Mark's understanding of faith.

Methodological review

At the outset, we asked whether a predominantly literary or narrative approach would prove serviceable for the analysis of such a distinctly theological conception as ‘faith’, and for a motif which is developed in the course of the gospel not by progressive enrichment but by reiteration. We are now justified in answering the question affirmatively. The element of belief and unbelief plays an important role in shaping how Mark tells his story, and the use of narrative critical procedures and insights has allowed us to delineate this role with some precision. The method we have adopted has entailed two main strategies.

First, we have applied the categories and insights of literary criticism to individual pericopae, treating them as small narratives in their own right, comprising of plot, characterisation and a range of literary devices. The merit of doing this is that it has enabled us to appreciate how Mark communicates his notion of faith through the literary mode he has chosen: the narrative or story mode.